Self-guided online event
A screen, a pencil, a little look at the sky. Spend about 15 minutes discovering the Moon together.
Free • Suggested ages 5–8 with a grown-up • No account or email needed
Join any time on September 19. Choose your own local evening for skywatching. You can try the activities before and after the event, too.
Save the date ↓5 minutes
Slide through the Moon’s cycle. Can you find a thin crescent, half a bright circle, and a full bright circle?
Practice model — choose any phase
This is a model you control, not a prediction of tonight’s Moon.
The Moon itself stays round. As it goes around Earth, we see different amounts of its sunlit half. Ordinary Moon phases are not caused by Earth’s shadow.
Explore the Earth-and-Moon model →5 minutes
Draw three circles. Shade the dark parts to show a crescent, a half Moon, and a full Moon. Leave the bright parts white. Tell your grown-up: did the Moon change its shape, or did our view change?
Download the Moon worksheet ↓Optional: print page 1 for your explorer. Page 2 has the lesson and suggested answers. Plain paper works just as well.
About 5 minutes
After sunset, look for the Moon from a safe place with your grown-up. Notice its bright shape and any dark patches. Draw what you actually see and write the date and time.
Look together with a grown-up. Never look at the Sun through binoculars or a telescope.
Keep your drawing and compare it with another evening. You don’t need to upload anything to take part.
Read the Moon phases guide →