The moon changes

Ages 3 to 5 Read and do together · about 15 minutes

Read together

The moon looks different each night.

Sometimes round. Sometimes a thin curve.

Do it

1. Look at the moon on a clear evening, with a grown-up. Draw its shape.
2. Look again a few nights later. Draw again. Has it changed?
3. Try this at home: in a dark room, shine a lamp on a ball. Walk around it and watch the lit part change.
4. Say, “The moon does not make its own light. It shines because the sun lights it.”

Talk about it

• What shape is the moon tonight?
• Why does it change?

For the grown-up

The moon goes through its phases in about 29 and a half days. It looks different because we see more or less of its sunlit half as it moves around the Earth.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Moon: phases and facts
• NGSS Lead States, Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States (National Academies Press, 2013), performance expectation 1-ESS1-1 (patterns of the Sun, Moon and stars)

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.