Phases of the Moon

E is working towards her stargazer badge for Brownies so as part of this we looked at phases of the moon. We learnt that:

We can only see half of the moon from earth, since the other side is always turned away from us.

As the moon travels around the earth, we see different fractions of the moon, as it is lit by the sun.

“Waxing” means growing and is used to describe the moon as it grows from new moon to full moon.

 “Waning” means shrinking and is used to describe the moon as it gets smaller from full moon to new moon.

The “first quarter” is when the moon has completed ¼ of its orbit around the earth. This is when the moon looks like a “half moon.”

The “last quarter” is when the moon has completed ¾ of its orbit around the earth and also looks like a “half moon” to us.

We used Oreo cookies to show the phases of the moon. First we had to split them (this resulted in some broken ones - however lucky we just ate them :) ).  Apparently cooling them in the fridge helps makes this easier!.

Then looking at a book for guidance, we recreated each phase in the frosting by scraping some away using a plastic spoon.

E then labelled them and took a photo of it, before eating the moons !