Moon Phases Science Experiment

This moon phases science experiment shows the different stages of the moon and is perfect for little space fans or a school science fair project.

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It’s science fair season, and SCIENCE is my favorite subject!

This month’s FloraCraft® Make It: Fun challenge was to use their large foam balls to create a project worthy of a science fair.

It was tough to come up with something different than a cell or the Earth’s layers or something like that which these balls are perfect for.

I opted for visualizing the phases of the moon.

It’s not a project you see very often, and one of these large foam balls make a perfect Earth!

Let me show you how to put it together and make it work.

Moon Phases Science Experiment Supplies:

Toothpick

2 small dowel rods (1/4″ diameter)

Small flashlight

Twine (not shown)

FloraCraft® Make It: Fun® Foam Sheet

FloraCraft® Make It: Fun® 8″ Foam Ball

FloraCraft® Make It: Fun® 2″ Foam Ball

Acrylic paint (blue, green, light gray, dark gray, and black)

Moon Phases Science Experiment: Paint

Start by painting the foam balls. Insert the toothpick into the 2″ foam ball.

Paint the ball with the light gray paint then, once dry, randomly dab the darker gray paint over the gray to mimic the look of the moon.

Paint the toothpick black.

Paint the 8″ foam ball blue.

Once dry, go back and paint the continents with the green.

They don’t have to be perfect, just a generalization of the landmasses.

Moon Phases Science Experiment: Foam

Trim the foam sheet into an approximately 8″x14″ piece.

You may need to stack a smaller extra piece of foam for inserting the globe (see above).

Cut one of the dowel rods to ~6″ long.

Insert one end into the bottom of the globe and the other into the end of the foam sheet.

Attach the moon to the globe so that it appears above the globe.

Fasten the flashlight near the end of the other dowel rod by wrapping it with the twine and tying it off.

You want the flashlight to be perpendicular to the dowel rod.

Moon Phases Science Experiment: Setup

Insert the dowel rod with the flashlight to the opposite end of the foam sheet as shown above.

You want the flashlight tall enough to be able to hit the moon with it’s light.

For the experiment to be seen at it’s best you need to wait until dark, place the experiment in a dark room, or enclose the experiment in a large box.

Turn on the flashlight, which is now acting as our sun.

Just like the Earth, one side of the moon is always facing the sun, meaning half of the moon is always lit and half is always not lit.

But because of the moon’s rotation around the Earth, we don’t always see all of the moon that is lit.

To observe the phases of the moon you need to look at it from the perspective of the Earth.

When the moon is the furthest away from the sun, as shown above, the Earth is seeing a full moon.

As the moon rotates around the Earth, shadows are cast on the moon giving it it’s various phases: full, gibbous, half, crescent, and new.

Shown above are the full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent.

As the moon continues to rotate around the Earth it will also experience the new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter and waxing gibbous before reaching a full moon once again.

Here you can see the Earth experiencing the new moon, when the moon’s shadow side is completely exposed to Earth so that it is not visible.

All of the lit side is facing the sun.

It takes about a month for the moon to rotate completely around the Earth.

This is a fun project and a great visual for kids to see why the moon looks the way it does during it’s phases.

 

If your kids have any interest in stars and space, they will enjoy this moon phases science experiment!

 

 

>> See where I party! <<

 

Looking for another fun science experiment?

Crystallized Eggs

Water Fireworks

Fun Harry Potter themed experiments: Potions Class Part 1 and Potions Class Part 2