Oreo Phases Of The Moon

A great activity to help children learn the moon phases. They can eat their homework when they're done!

Ingredients:

1. A package of Oreos (Double Stuff works best)
2. Each child will need 8 Oreos, more if they crack
3. A butter knife and
4. A paper plate  
5. Sharpie

Instructions:

• Depending on the age of your child, let them use a Sharpie to label each phase on the paper plate.
• Gently separate the Oreo so all filling is on one side.
• Be very careful as you separate your Oreos. If they crack, you'll have to eat them!
• The full moon and new moon are already done when you pull apart your Oreo.
• Scrape off the filling to create 2 crescent moons, 2 half moons and 2 gibbous moons.
• Discuss why the moon looks like it does in each phase.

For more help on this project, go to How To Homeschool My Child's Oreo Phases Of The Moon

Moon Facts

Courtesy of Space.com  

• The Moon is 4.5 billion years old.

• The Moon always shows us the same face, even though both the earth and the moon are rotating?

• The Moons Orbit of the Earth is 29.5 days.

• The Moons own Rotation Cycle is 29 days (to revolve once)

• The Moons Shape - The Moon is not sphere! It's shaped like an egg. If you go outside and look up, one of the small ends is pointing right at you. It appears round to us because of the angle we are looking at it from. It’s about 20% taller than it is wide!

• The Moon affects the ocean tides through forces of gravity. 

Resource:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1otfxSwaG5g

How Tides Work on YouTube.  This visual helps students see exactly the relationship between the moon and the earth the sun and the tides.

• This is of course fairly well known, but the Sun also causes the tides.

• The Moons Orbit of the Earth stabilizes our planets rotation and speed, in fact some scientists have commented that without the moon pulling the earth round, our days and nights might not exist and furthermore our seasons would not be as they are, in short the stabilization of the earth’s rotation by the moon provides us with life as we know it.