Move the sun, earth, moon and space station to see how it affects their gravitational forces and orbital paths. Visualize the sizes and distances between different heavenly bodies, and turn off gravity to see what would happen without it!

Students use scaling from real-world data to obtain an idea of the immense size of Mars in relation to the Earth and the Moon, as well as the distances between them. Students calculate dimensions of the scaled versions of the planets, and then use balloons to represent their relative sizes and locations.

In this activity students use a simple model of the moon to do an experiment to see how impact craters are formed. The lesson worksheets are differentiated and students are put into pre-determined teams by ability to conduct the experiment.

This activity is a lab investigation where students design their own lunar phases model using household materials.

This activity is a reinforcement activity where students will make a flipbook of the lunar phases.

Our Solar SystemThis is a YouTube video/link of a unit I created using Canva. The video is a read aloud of Pluto and the Planets. There are 5 student led activities at the end with ways to assess each activty. Essential questions are included in addition to possible student questions, and teacher inquiry questions. Also, there are additional texts that can be incorporated into the lessons as well. 

The Moon is a constant celestial companion in classrooms around the world. Lunar phenomena has much to offer teachers as both an engaging narrative and visible presence in the sky that students have personally experienced.

In this lesson, students learn about the physical properties of the Moon. They compare these to the properties of the Earth to determine how life would be different for astronauts living on the Moon. Using their understanding of these differences, they are asked to think about what types of products engineers would need to design for us to live comfortably on the Moon.

The Apollo 15 astronauts were trained in geology and sampling techniques. Complete your own geology training by completing these activities to become a Lunar Explorer.

Study geologic formations to learn more about what Al Worden saw as he flew over the Moon. Part of the Lunar Explorer Training Unit

Regolith slides and activity that explore how regolith is created and its presence on the Earth, the Moon, and Mars. These slides support the Lunar Explorer Training Unit

Can you avoid the boulder field and land safely, just before your fuel runs out, as Neil Armstrong did in 1969? Our version of this classic video game accurately simulates the real motion of the lunar lander with the correct mass, thrust, fuel consumption rate, and lunar gravity. The real lunar lander is very hard to control.

Can you avoid the boulder field and land safely, just before your fuel runs out, as Neil Armstrong did in 1969? Our version of this classic video game accurately simulates the real motion of the lunar lander with the correct mass, thrust, fuel consumption rate, and lunar gravity. The real lunar lander is very hard to control.

Why does the Moon not always look the same to us? Sometimes it is a big, bright, circle, but, other times, it is only a tiny sliver, if we can see it at all. The different shapes and sizes of the slivers of the Moon are referred to as its phases, and they change periodically over the course of a lunar month, which is twenty-eight days long. The phases are caused by the relative positions of the Earth, Sun, and Moon at different times during the month.

Students work in teams of two to discover the relative positions of the Earth, Sun and Moon that produce the different phases of the Moon. Groups are each given a Styrofoam ball that they attach to a pencil so that it looks like a lollipop. In this acting-out model exercise, this ball on a stick represents the Moon, the students represent the Earth and a hanging lightbulb serves as the Sun. Students move the "Moon" around them to discover the different phases. They fill in the position of the Moon and its corresponding phase in a worksheet.

As a weighted plastic egg is dropped into a tub of flour, students see the effect that different heights and masses of the same object have on the overall energy of that object while observing a classic example of potential (stored) energy transferred to kinetic energy (motion). The plastic egg's mass is altered by adding pennies inside it. Because the egg's shape remains constant, and only the mass and height are varied, students can directly visualize how these factors influence the amounts of energy that the eggs carry for each experiment, verified by measurement of the resulting impact craters. Students learn the equations for kinetic and potential energy and then make predictions about the depths of the resulting craters for drops of different masses and heights. They collect and graph their data, comparing it to their predictions, and verifying the relationships described by the equations. This classroom demonstration is also suitable as a small group activity.

In this activity, learners use food to make simulated regolith (a fine dust that covers the moon) and observe its properties. This activity can be enhanced by sharing the "Health Hazards of Lunar Dust" Podcast with learners (see related resource link). This resource includes background information, instructions, resources and handouts for learners.

Converting a visual experience to a tactile one, this activity lets visually impaired students learn and explore our Moon and its characteristics.

June 1841, from Robert Merry’s Museum

Robert Merry’s Museum children’s magazine (1841-1872) featured works by nearly every 19th century children’s writer. It also excerpted works for adults. Pat Pflieger has indexed several works from the magazine online, and notes that “The Moon”, as a piece, “wanders from lyricism to science to speculation as it explores the effects of the moon on earth, and, evidently, on the human imagination”.