Printable Moon Phase Craft/Activity

I hesitated in making this printable because I wasn’t sure if Lorelai is too young to really understand moon phases. She did really well! I think she was having a hard time understanding WHY we were painting the moon. I pulled up a Moon Phase App on my Kindle and tried to explain with those pictures – having a “real” moon image in front of her helped a lot. I had debated when making the printable on whether or not to only have the white part of the moon on the sheet. In the end, I decided to include the entire moon and just have her paint the shaded parts black. I didn’t want her to think that the moon was changing shapes (as I thought when I was little) but that part of the moon goes into shadow and you can’t see it in the night sky.

After the chart/poster was finished, we sat at the kitchen table and went through the different phases on the Kindle App. Tonight is a Waning Crescent and she looked at the picture on the app and then found it on her chart. We’ll be doing that during every moon change now! =)

I hung the poster (and crafts) up under the solar system. It looks great! The tape isn’t too attractive, but sticky tape doesn’t like our walls apparently. Framing is an option, but it’s definitely not in the budget right now. Tape will have to do!

HEADS UP!! Here is a great resource for teaching your child about moon phases!

Materials We Used:

• 1 Piece of Cardstock (to print on)
• 2 Pieces of Black Construction Paper
• 1 Piece of White or Yellow Construction Paper (for title & moon tags)
• Black Paint
• Scissors
• Glue
• Tape

Directions:

1. Print one of the printables below. I printed the shaded moons so that Lorelai could paint them. If she doesn’t have lot to do with the activity, it can get really boring for her. Boredom = not really open to learn. So, she painted.
2. Have your child paint the shaded areas. Lorelai is 4 and I had to keep telling her to slow down and be careful so that she wouldn’t paint the white parts. If your child is younger, you might want to just go with the blacked-out one.
3. For the background, I taped the two pieces of black construction paper together on the BACK so that the tape wouldn’t show on the front.
4. Once dry, cut out all of the moons. Make sure you label the backs to save yourself a headache.
5. Lay out all of the pieces so you can get an idea on spacing.
6. Glue down. For those doing the blacked-out moons, give your child a glue-stick and let them go at it!

MOON PHASE ORDER:

1. New Moon
2. Waxing Crescent
3. 1st Quarter
4. Waxing Gibbous
5. Full Moon
6. Waning Gibbous
7. Last Quarter
8. Waning Crescent