Explore! Marvel Moon

Marvel Moon

Free middle school classroom activities and resources to meet Earth and space science standards: plate tectonics, lunar phases, seasons, and more.

Discover our scientific, cultural, and personal understanding of Earth’s nearest natural neighbor. Explore Marvel Moon will acquaint you NASA's investigations into the ongoing saga that has shaped our Moon. The activities are suitable for children ages 8–13 unless otherwise noted.

Background information about our Moon
World Tales of the Moon

Overview of Activities

Moon over My Town
Community members are invited to contribute photographs of the Moon for a display featuring the Moon's changing appearance.

Time Travelers
Determine the order of geologic events on the Moon and meet NASA lunar scientists through comic-book style visualizations.

Wham! Moon!
Create comic strips of our Moon's birth, and use balls of Play-Doh® to model the impact between Earth and a small planet 4.5 billion years ago.

Recipe for a Moon
Make edible models of the cores, mantles, and crusts of the Moon and Earth.

Edible Rocks
Analyze and discuss candy bars with the same terminology used by geologists to study rocks from space.

Rocks Tell Us the Moon's Story
See snapshots of the Moon's history and hold an important artifact of American history with a Lunar Sample Disk.


Growing up Moon

Children visit a sequence of stations to discover how the Moon’s dark and light areas and craters formed, and identify the lunar features that were produced at different period on a Moon map:

Infant Moon: Moon Mix!
Investigate the Moon’s infancy by modeling how different materials floated and sank in the early molten Moon.

Kid Moon: Splat!
Model ancient lunar impacts using water balloons.

Teen Moon: Moon Ooze
Model how the Moon's volcanic period reshaped its features using Rice Krispie treats and chocolate syrup.

Moon's Long History: Impact Paintings
Model how craters can help determine the ages of lunar surface, using paint and cotton balls.

Grown-up Moon: What Do You See in Today's Moon?
Use your imagination to discover an object or character in the Moon.

Future Moon: The Footsteps of Explorers
Make “Moon dust” by dropping impactors onto layers of graham crackers.


Moon in Action
View the Moon outside with the naked eye and binoculars or telescopes.

Mirror Moon
Investigate the source of the Moon's light using an aluminum foil ball and flashlight.

Earth’s Bright Neighbor
Construct a scale model of the Moon, Earth, and Sun, and consider what it would be like if there was no Moon.

Loony Lunar Phases
Hear a story, song, or poem that celebrates the Moon’s different phases, recreate lunar phases using cookies, and write a Moon-inspired poem.

Lunar Phases: A Dance Under the Sun
Model the Moon’s phases using a Styrofoam ball and sunlight.

Spin! Day and Night
Explore Earth's rotation and the Moon's role.

Steady Partner, Steady Seasons
Explore how Earth's tilt creates the seasons, then model how Earth's axis would wobble if its tilt was not stabilized by Moon.

Dance of the Moon and Oceans
Model how the Moon's gravitational pull causes ocean tides.

Moon Mythbusters
Sort puzzle pieces into the "Far-out Far Side" and "True-Blue Blue Moon".

Penny Moon
Use a penny and a quarter to model the Moon’s rotation on its axis.

My Take on the Moon
Create zines about an aspect of the Moon.

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