Space & stars
Moon craters
- Builds: How craters form
- 15 min
- Ages 4–6
- Calm
- Messy
From the house
- A baking dish or tray
- Flour, about 3 cm (1 in) deep
- A spoon of cocoa powder (optional)
- 3–4 balls or smooth stones of different sizes
- Newspaper or a towel underneath
How to play
- Smooth the flour flat in the dish and sprinkle a thin layer of cocoa over the top, like dark moon dust.
- They hold a ball up high and drop it straight down into the flour, then lift it out gently.
- Look closely: a round hole with a rim around it, and pale flour splashed out over the dark top.
- Try big and small balls, and high and low drops. Which makes the biggest crater?
Fit it to your child
- Easier: They drop the balls from low down and just enjoy the splash and the hole.
- Harder: Ask why the Moon still has so many craters: it has no wind or rain to smooth them away.
Words to use
- crater
- Moon
- rock
- crash
- rim
- splash
Why it helps
Making their own craters shows how rocks from space crashing into the Moon made the round craters all over it.
Grown-up eyes: Drop from standing height, with no climbing on chairs. Raw flour isn’t for eating, so wash hands after, and keep marbles and small stones away from younger children.