[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-608099-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":80,"doc-detail-608099-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","science-activity-phases-of-the-moon","Science Activity - Phases of the Moon","","A classroom science activity explaining why the Moon appears to change shape over about a month. Learners explore key phases—new, crescent, half, and full—through simple explanations and visual demonstrations. The activity emphasizes that the Moon emits no light and only reflects sunlight, with illumination changing as the Moon orbits Earth. Includes suggested age range, UK curriculum links, guiding questions, and options for movie, chart, or hands-on demonstrations using a ball and lamp.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/","Healthcare",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/science-activity-phases-of-the-moon/608099/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/science-activity-phases-of-the-moon/608099.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Terk","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-17",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":22},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"Why does the Moon change shape over a month?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"The Moon changes which parts are illuminated by the Sun as it orbits Earth, so the visible brightness and shape shift through predictable phases.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"Does the Moon produce its own light?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"No. The Moon emits no light of its own; it only reflects sunlight back toward us.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"What are the main Moon phases covered in this activity?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"The activity focuses on new Moon, crescent, half Moon (half), gibbous (described as more than a half but not a full circle), and full Moon.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},608099,1792216145,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,87,91,95,100,105,109,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":84,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},7,40,"healthcare",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":131},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":106,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":22,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":115,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":79,"read_time":143},1099525198933,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","Science Activity: Phases of the Moon  \nSuggested Age Range: 7-8 years; 9 – 10 years  \nUK Primary Curriculum: Key Stage Two (lower); Key Stage Two (upper)  \nSuggested UK Year Group: Year 3 ; Year 5  \nUK Primary Curriculum Link: Light (Y3); Earth and Space (Y5)  \nScience Subject: Phases of the Moon; Movement of the Moon  \nScience question: Why does the Moon change shape?  \nActivity type: individual  \nSuggested linked story: The Man with the Moon; The Weaving Maiden; Why the Moon is free  \nBrief summary: The Moon is a spherical rocky body, like the Earth but significantly smaller. Throughout the month the Moon changes shape, from new Moon, through the crescent phase, to a half Moon, and then full Moon, before disappearing again back to New Moon. The Moon emits no light of its own, this effect is purely down to how we see the change in illumination from the Sun as the Moon slowly orbits the Earth.  \nKey concept: The Moon is illuminated by the Sun, and changes shape in a predictable way over a month.  \nKey words: Moon, Sun, light, shadow, Full Moon, Half Moon, New Moon, Crescent Moon, phase  \nVisuals:  \nAnimation of the Moon changing shape from New Moon to Full Moon and back again, covering the 29 days of the lunar cycle:  \n[https://wesharethesamemoon.org/resources/activities/extras/LunarPhases.mov](https://wesharethesamemoon.org/resources/activities/extras/LunarPhases.mov)[ ](https://wesharethesamemoon.org/resources/activities/extras/LunarPhases.mov)[See also images of](See also images of various lunar features from the Lunar Planetary Institute.)[ ](See also images of various lunar features from the Lunar Planetary Institute.)[various lunar features](See also images of various lunar features from the Lunar Planetary Institute.)[ from the Lunar Planetary Institute.](See also images of various lunar features from the Lunar Planetary Institute.)  \nScience Activity: Phases of the Moon  \nThe science story:  \nWhat shape does the Sun look in the sky?  \nIt looks like a circle. The Sun is really a giant ball, a long way from the Earth.  \nWhat shape is the Moon? Is it also a circle?  \nSometimes the Moon is a circle, but sometimes it is other shapes.  \nWhat shapes do we see when we see the Moon?  \nSometimes we see a half-Moon, sometimes we see a banana-shaped Moon (this is also called a crescent Moon), and sometimes we see the Moon as more than a halfMoon but not quite a circle (this is called a gibbous Moon) .  \nThe Moon is not like the Sun. The Sun is a star and shines very brightly.  \nIs the Moon a star?  \nNo, the Moon is made of rocks, like the Earth.  \nDo rocks shine?  \nNo, rocks do not shine. We see rocks (and animals, and people, etc) on the Earth because they reflect sunlight, just like I can see all of you because you are reflecting the light in this room. We see the Moon because the Sun shines on it, and we seethe light reflecting back to us, as if the Moon were a dusty mirror.  \nThe Moon is a ball, like the Earth, but quite a lot smaller. The Sun shines on the Earth and gives us day and night. The Sun only shines on half of the Earth, so one half of the Earth has daytime, and the other half has night. The same happens on the Moon. When one side of the Moon has daytime, the other side of the Moon doesn’t see the Sun and it is night-time.  \nAs the Moon goes around the Earth, sometimes we see the daytime side of the Moon, the Moon looks very bright and we call this a Full Moon. Sometimes we can only see a bit of the Moon lit up by the Sun, and this is a crescent Moon.  \nSometimes we only see the side of the Moon where it is night-time, so the Moon looks very dark to us; this is called a New Moon.  \nScience Activity: Phases of the Moon  \nVisual demonstration: show this movie to the class. This animation shows the Moon changing phase from New Moon to Full Moon and back to New Moon. (In reality this takes about 29 days, so the movie is much faster than real time.)  \nMoon phases chart: you could also show the Moon Phases Chart available","cbCaisZW6aMMb7hz","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisZW6aMMb7hz","pdf",5651966,"English","# Overview\n## Key question and core idea\n## Suggested curriculum links\n# Teaching resources\n## Animation and charts\n## Visual demonstrations\n## Optional hands-on model","[{\"question\":\"Why does the Moon change shape over a month?\",\"answer\":\"The Moon changes which parts are illuminated by the Sun as it orbits Earth, so the visible brightness and shape shift through predictable phases.\"},{\"question\":\"Does the Moon produce its own light?\",\"answer\":\"No. The Moon emits no light of its own; it only reflects sunlight back toward us.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the main Moon phases covered in this activity?\",\"answer\":\"The activity focuses on new Moon, crescent, half Moon (half), gibbous (described as more than a half but not a full circle), and full Moon.\"}]","Science Activity - Phases of the Moon | PDF",23]