Moon Phases Explained (with Oreo cookies)

This infographic includes a great activity for students of any age. Hand out Oreos to each student, and have them create each moon phase as depicted at the top of the infographic, assigning one phase per student. Then create a sun (a lamp), facing the Earth, and have students place themselves at each phase, as they believe theirs lays between the Earth and sun (as explained at the bottom of the diagram). Have students think about why they believe they belong where they belong, and ask a few to explain.

Then have students return to their seats and show them this infographic, and ask how many students were correct. For some people, the relationship between the sun, Earth, and moon are very advanced, it involves a higher level of think. It involves thinking about where the shadow would be on the moon, where the light would be on the moon, and how this affects how we, on Earth, see the moon.

After your students sit down, have the students study this infographic and try to understand exactly what happens. The moon phase names don’t matter (except for the test if you wish), but rather what happens to the moon as far as what we see, as it orbits Earth. Also, one important point, is that we don’t orbit the sun on the same plane the moon orbits us, which is why we see a full moon when the moon is on the opposite side of the sun as Earth.


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