This moon craft was another activity we did as part of our N is for Night Sky theme. We made a textured moon and then attached it to one of our night sky paintings. The moon masterpiece from I Heart Crafty Things was my inspiration for this project.
I wanted the kids to be able to make craters on the surface of their moons, so I found these Styrofoam circles in a 2 pack at the Dollar Tree. Originally I was thinking of using spheres to show the kids the shape of the real moon, but I didn’t think they would work well for this project. We did talk a lot about the shape of the moon and why it appears the way it does in the night sky though.
The kids started by using the ends of different sized paint brushes, and they had a blast crashing craters on the surface.
When they had as many craters as they wanted to make, we mixed white paint and flour together. I used about 2 parts paint to one part flour, but you can also check out the link above to see how the original author made this mixture.
The mixture was a bit tough for the kids to mix on their own at first, but with a little help they soon had a paste that we could use to paint.
My kiddos love anything to do with paint, so they spent quite a while painting and repainting the moon’s surface until they decided they were done.
Then we used some of our playdough tools to smooth out the surface just a bit. A plastic knife or anything with a straight edge would work well.
This helped the craters of the moon become more visible. We left the moons to dry for a while. I think they looked great just like this, but since our theme was the night sky we had one more step.
Each of the kids chose one of their night sky paintings that we made earlier in the week, and we glued the finished moon to that painting. They turned out beautiful!
Click the links below to see some of the books we enjoyed reading during our night sky theme.
Have you made any special play spaces for pretend play or reading?
This post has been shared at some of these fantastic link parties.
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Clemmy
I love it! So cute.
Shaunna
Thanks! I just popped over to check out your blog…loving all of those cute cardboard creations!
Ticia
I love how the moon turned out, it looks so great!
Shaunna
Thanks! I think it ended up rather realistic.
Jen
This is a great idea…especially for our space unit coming up! Thanks!
Beth
What a fun project! Thanks for linking up to TGIF! I look forward to seeing you again next week,
Beth =-)
Valerie @ Glittering Muffins
Great idea! Love it and shared it on my Saturday recap post last Saturday (http://glitteringmuffins.com/2013/01/26/saturdays-recap-of-the-week-41/)
Shaunna
Thanks so much! I really appreciate you sharing the post 🙂
Tulip
That is awesome! It looks just like a moon. Thanks for sharing at Mom’s Library!
Shaunna
Thanks! I was a little surprised at how realistic it looked…pretty neat!
Erica @What Do We Do All Day?
Fun! We did a (very messy) moon crater a while ago which involved dropping rocks into a dish of flour. Needless to say, my son loved it.
Shaunna
Aah, yes! I remember that moon crater activity from my days as a kindergarten teacher. I am sure we will have to give that one a try at home, too. 🙂
Aleacia
Neat! My girls love poking styrofoam, who knew they could learn about the moon while doing it!? Thanks for sharing!!
Shaunna
Thanks! I think that was one of their favorite parts of this activity, too.
Claire
This is such a great idea and perfect as a go along for Good Night Moon! Thanks for sharing!
Shaunna
Thank you! Good Night Moon was one of the stories the girls really enjoyed this week. I am glad you like the craft.
Ann @ My Nearest and Dearest
What a great idea, Shaunna! So much fun for the kids and the picture looks gorgeous and very realistic.
Shaunna
Thanks! I was excited to find a way for the kids to really be involved in the process of creating the moon’s surface. They look even better in person…still working on my photography skills!