Explore! Marvel Moon

My Take on the Moon

Overview

Children ages 8 to 13 engage their communities about the Moon's formation, changes over time, gravitational connection to Earth, or influence on our culture and urban legends. In this 30-minute activity, they describe — comic-book style — an aspect of the Moon they explored through Explore! Marvel Moon activities. The children create zines: small, self-published magazines inexpensively duplicated on standard letter paper and folded into eight-page booklets. The zines are added to the libraries collection and made available for lending.

What's the Point?

  • Art can be used to correctly express scientific concepts.
  • The Moon is culturally and scientifically significant.

Materials

For the group:

  • Stapler

For each child:

For the facilitator:

Preparation

Activity

1. Discuss the Moon's history and effect on Earth. Remind the children of the different concepts they investigated through the Marvel Moon activities.

  • What topic was most appealing to them culturally, scientifically, and personally?
  • What would they most like their community to know about the Moon?

2. Invite the children to be comic-book artists! Explain that they will create miniature comic books for the library's collection for others to check out. Have them consider what others might want to know about the Moon. Remind them to be scientifically accurate in their drawings and text. Have them write and illustrate a concept on the zine template. Possible topics might include one of the strands of the Marvel Moon activity module:

Our Moon's "life story," from "infancy" to the present day
The story of the scientists' contributions to our understanding of the Moon
A personal story about the Moon's meaning or future exploration
What Earth would be like without the Moon's light or gravity

3. If possible, photocopy each zine for the child to take home. Have them follow the instructions to fold their zine into a booklet.

Facilitator’s Note: Visit http://smallsciencezines.blogspot.com/ for information on submitting the children's zines to an online forum. Consider scanning the zines and posting them on your institution’s own website!


Conclusion

Celebrate the Moon in your community! Tell the children where they will find their zines in the library collection and have them invite family and friends to check them out.

Send the children home with their completed Marvel Moon comic books. Provide them with the Until next time... comic panel and a pencil or pen and art supplies. Invite them to color and fill in the concluding page, then attach it to their comic books by stapling the upper left corner. Encourage them to bring their comic books home to show their families all that they have discovered!

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