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Activity at a Glance
Moon Pie
Purpose
Children apply their knowledge about the Moon, its environment, and the LRO Mission and, literally, build a picture of the Moon through an interactive game.
Overview
Teams match Moon questions to their correct answers to collect slices of Moon Pie and construct a full Moon. The game is offered in two versions:
Version A explores our Moon’s history and is used in the middle of the puppet show. Alternatively,
Version B explores the history and the LRO and can be used after the puppet show or after the LRO Moon Tune.
Concepts
Version A
- Our Moon has an extreme environment that we will need to understand before humans can return to live and work there as a next step in exploring other planets.
- The Moon does not have a source of water and most places are too hot for it to exist.
- Comets striking the Moon may have delivered ice that may be preserved in cold, permanently dark areas such as deep craters and at the Moon’s poles.
Version B
- The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will orbit the Moon to gather information about the lunar environment, including temperatures, radiation, topography, and the possible presence of water ice.
Age Level
This activity is primarily intended for children ages 8–11
Time
20 minutes
Materials
For each team:
Version A:
Version B:
Correlations to National Standards
Earth and Space Science – Content Standard D (Grades K–4)
Objects in the Sky
- The Moon has properties, movements, and a location that can be observed and described
Science and Technology – Content Standard E (Grades K–4)
Understanding About Science and Technology
- People have always had questions about their world. Science is one way of answering questions and explaining the natural world.
- Tools help scientists make better observations, measurements, and equipment for investigations. They help scientists see, measure, and do things that they could not otherwise see, measure, and do.
- Scientists and engineers often work in teams with different individuals doing different things that contribute to the results. This understanding focuses primarily on teams working together, and secondarily on the combination of scientist and engineer teams.
Grades 5–8
- Science and technology are reciprocal. Science helps drive technology as it addresses questions that demand more sophisticated instruments and provides principles for better instrumentation and techniques
Language Arts Focus
- Understand scientific terms and descriptive scientific language
- Students use a variety of information resource (e.g., libraries) to gather and synthesize information
Activity
Moon Pie
Before You Begin
- Version A: If you are using the Moon Pie game in the middle of the Puppet story, use the A version of the game boards.
- Version B: If you are using the Moon Pie after the Puppet story or after the LRO Moon Tune, use the B Version of the game boards.
- On cardstock make one copy of the Moon Pie Questions Game Board, the Moon Pie Answer Board, and the blank Moon Pie Outline for each team. Note that the Answer Board should be double-sided, with answers on one side and an image of the Moon on the other. If you cannot make double-sided copies, use single sided copies and tape the sheets together appropriately.
- For each team, place the Moon Pie Outline on the wall, within reach, allowing several feet of space between each team’s playing area.
- Share Luna’s story or sing the LRO Moon Tune song with the children to prepare for the game.
- Review the Moon’s history with the children:
- What was the Moon once a part of? (Earth)
- How was it formed? (A large, planet-sized body struck Earth, vaporizing the impactor and hurtling pieces of the impactor and Earth’s outer surface into orbit around Earth. Those pieces eventually clumped together — accreted — to form our Moon)
- How are craters on the Moon formed? (Craters are formed when asteroids or comets strike the Moon. Most of the larger craters formed early in the Moon’s history, until about 3.9 billion years ago; however the Moon and other planetary bodies still are hit by asteroids and comets occasionally)
- What important resource may comets deliver to the Moon when they strike? (Ice; comets contain water ice).
- Why would ice from comets not melt? (If it is in the deep craters, or in the polar regions, where the Sun’s heat does not reach it, it could stay frozen).
- How did the Moon’s dark patches form? (Some craters were later filled by lava that cooled to form smooth, dark areas on the Moon. These dark areas are called “seas” — or mare — but they do not contain, and never have contained, water
- Why does the Moon not have active volcanoes? (Because it has cooled; the pockets of magma inside that spewed lava onto the surface have cooled)
If the children completed the entire puppet show or sang the song, encourage them to recall what they learned about the LRO:
- What is the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter? What will it orbit and for how long? (The LRO is a craft that will be sent by NASA to orbit the Moon for about a year and collect information)
- What kinds of information will the LRO collect for scientists? (Measurements of temperature and radiation from the Sun, maps of rock types, maps and pictures of features, where water may exist)
- Why does NASA want to collect more information about the Moon? (NASA plans to send humans to the Moon around 2018 to build bases. LRO will provide important information about where certain resources — like water and elements in rocks — exist, where the surface is safe for landing and building, and where scientific questions about the Moon’s formation and changes can best be studied. All of these activities will prepare future astronauts to explore Mars and other planets.)
- How old will the children be when the LRO launches? For the first planned base on the Moon? Do any of the children want to be part of the next team of lunar explorers? What do they want to do?
Moon Pie
- Divide the children into teams of 3 to 4. Explain that the teams are in a competition to gain a complete picture of the Moon! The team that answers the questions correctly and creates a full Moon image first wins!
- Provide each team with a copy of the Moon Pie Questions Game Board.
- Provide each team with the Moon Pie Answer Board. Have them cut out the circle of answers and cut carefully along the lines so that they have several “slices” of “Moon Pie.” On the front of each slice is a possible answer to a question; on the back of each slice is an image of the Moon.
- Challenge the teams to answer the questions in turn from the Moon Pie Question Board. The child who goes first, matches question #1 to the appropriate answer from the Moon Pie Answer Board; if help is needed, the team can refer to the story or song for hints. Encourage the children to think of the answer with their teams before they look at the Answer Board.
- Once the correct answer is identified, the child takes the slice from the Answer Board, turns it over to reveal the Moon surface, and tapes it to the blank Moon circle in the position indicated by the number of the question. (You may wish to keep a copy of the Moon image on hand to verify each team’s completed Moon)
- The next child answers question #2, and the process is repeated until the complete Moon is formed from the slices.
When a team finishes their game, have them shout “Moon PIE!” as a signal for you to join them to verify the correct order of their Moon slices. The first team to have the slices in the proper order, wins the game!
Looking for a bigger challenge? Provide each team with the image of the Moon but not with the answers on the opposite side. Have the children determine the answers based on their knowledge from the story or song. |
Moon Pie Game Questions
Facilitator Key
(A Boards)
- Are the temperatures on our Moon colder and hotter than those on Earth! (You bet!)
- Comets and asteroids created round indentations all over the Moon. What are these holes called? (Craters)
- How old is our Moon? (4.5 billion years — Just a little younger than Earth)
- What makes the dark patches on the Moon? (Dark rock that formed from molten lava.)
- Does our Moon have an atmosphere? (Nope!)
- What may have left ice in craters on the Moon? (Comets)
- What’s a meteorite? (A piece of an asteroid or planet that has fallen onto Earth’s surface (or onto another planet!)
- How did our Moon form? (A planet-sized body smashed into Earth, sending pieces flying into orbit. Later these pieces came together to form our Moon)
Moon Pie Game Questions
Facilitator Key
(B Boards)
- What will the LRO collect information about? (Moon temperatures, radiation, ice, and surface features)
- Why do we want to go back to the Moon? (To build lunar outposts as a step toward exploring other planets; explore the Moon more)
- What will the LRO orbit and for how long? (The Moon for one year)
- How did our Moon form? (A planet-sized body smashed into Earth, sending pieces flying into orbit. Later these pieces came together to form our Moon)
- What may have left ice in craters on the Moon? (Comets)
- What do the letters “L R O” stand for? (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter)
- Comets and asteroids created round indentations all over the Moon. What are these holes called? (Craters)
- “Reconnaissance” means to collect what? (Information)
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Last updated
February 21, 2006
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