Space & stars
Why the Moon changes
- Builds: The Moon’s changing shape
- 15 min
- Ages 5–6
- Calm
- No mess
From the house
- A lamp with the shade off
- A light-colored ball
- Paper and a pencil
- A window, if the Moon is out tonight
How to play
- If you can see the Moon, look at it from the window and they draw its shape: a thin crescent, a half, nearly full or full.
- Back by the lamp (the Sun), they hold the ball (the Moon) at arm’s length above their head and turn until it shows the shape they drew.
- Together, draw the whole set in a row: new (dark), crescent, half, nearly full, full, then back the other way.
- Explain: the Moon goes around Earth about once a month, and as it does, we see more or less of its sunlit half.
Fit it to your child
- Easier: Skip the window and just find a thin Moon, a half Moon and a full Moon with the ball.
- Harder: Each night this week, peek at the Moon and add a drawing: is the bright part growing or shrinking?
Words to use
- crescent
- half
- full
- new moon
- sunlit
- month
Why it helps
Matching the real Moon to the model shows that its shapes come from how much of its sunlit half faces us, not from Earth’s shadow.
Grown-up eyes: A grown-up handles the lamp and cord, and nobody touches the hot bulb or stares into it.