The First Friday in May is National Space Day. To celebrate, you and your family can create a fun activity that is also tasty! For a Phases of the Moon Craft you will need a pencil, strips of paper (to write down the phases of the moon), a marker, paper towel, paper/regular plates and cream filled cookies to twist open.

Twist off all the cookies and practice math skills by explaining that you now have eight cookies to create your craft. Start with The New Moon by scraping the cream off. Explain that a New Moon is when the moon is directly between the earth and the sun. A solar eclipse can only happen at the new moon.

On the plate you can draw an arrow to the next phase and ask your child to guess the next one. Create a waxing crescent by using the fork to shape a waxing crescent. In a waxing Crescent, the moon looks like a crescent and the crescent increases (“waxes”) in size from one day to the next. This phase usually is only seen in the West.

Use the knife to scrape half of the next cookie as you place the name and cookie on the plate: First Quarter occurs when half of the lit portion of the Moon is visible after the waxing crescent phase. Waxing Gibbous is a phase when more than half of the lit portion of the Moon can be seen; and the shape increases (“waxes”) in size from one day to the next. The waxing gibbous phase occurs between the first quarter and full moon phases. To create this phase layer the cream towards the right as shown in the picture.

The full moon is often associated with altered states/ behaviors. A Full moon occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun, called opposition. A lunar eclipse can only happen at full moon. Leave all the cream on the cookie to represent a mysterious full moon.

A Waning Gibbous occurs when more than half of the lit portion of the Moon is seen and the shape decreases (“wanes”) in size from one day to the next. You can leave most of the cream on the cookie on the left side. The Last Quarter/Third Quarter, (or a half moon) is when half of the lit portion of the Moon is visible after the waning gibbous phase. This cookie will have a little bit less than the last phase.

A waning crescent moon is when the Moon looks like the crescent and the crescent decreases (“wanes”) in size from one day to the next. You can create a crescent or a C shape with the cream on the left side of the cookie.

Have fun and afterwards you can dunk your cookies in milk or enjoy it with some tea!

Helpful websites:

• https://kids.kiddle.co/Phases_of_the_Moon
• https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/oreo-moon/en/
• https://thestemlaboratory.com/oreo-moon-phases/
• https://www.natgeokids.com/au/discover/science/space/the-phases-of-the-moon/

Fun songs:

• Rocketship Run by Laurie Berkner
• Zoom Zoom Zoom jbrary
• Walking on the Moon by the Police
• Galaxies by Laura Veirs

TumbleBooks:

• Faces of the Moon – by Bob Crelin
• Moon (Playlist) – Various Artists
• The Moon – National Geographic
• Mooncakes – Loretta Seto

OverDrive:

• ABCs of Space by Chris Ferrie
• Step Into Reading Space by Joe Rhatigan
• Small World by Ishta Mercurio
• Lego Women of Nasa by DK Readers L1/by Hannah Dolan

Hoopla:

• Space Jokes by Pam Rosenberg, Mernie Gallagher-Cole
• How to be a Space Explorer by Mike Brake
• Lego Man in Space! By Mara Shaughnessy
• Mary Jackson by Virginia Loh-Hagan and Jeff Bane
• Women in Science Technology collection:
  • Annie Easley
  • Mae C. Jemison
  • Katherine Johnson