Making Moon
EXPLORE! To the Moon and Beyond with NASA's LRO Mission
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Making Moon

Wham! Moon!
In this 1-hour activity, children, ages 8 to 13, portray our Moon's remarkable beginnings through a giant impact. Children color images of the latest scientific data depicting the Moon’s formation to create their own comic strips of our Moon's birth. The children use different-colored balls of Play-Doh® to model the impact between Earth and a small planet 4.5 billion years ago. "Debris" from both "planets" is rolled into a small ball to model how our Moon formed through the process of accretion of smaller particles.

Recipe for a Moon
The Moon is made of cheeseā€¦no! Rice Krispies treats! Children ages 8 to 13 discover that the Moon, like Earth, is made up of layers of different materials through this 45–minute activity. They work in teams to make models of the interiors of the Moon and Earth. Common food items are used to construct the cores, mantles, and crusts of both planetary objects. An optional 15-minute investigation, Differentiation Demonstration: Moon, enhances this activity.

 

Last updated
May 3, 2012

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