Learn the different phases of the moon by using one of your child’s favorite snacks – Oreo cookies! This Oreo cookie moon phases activity comes with a free printable worksheet for your kid to learn the names of the moon phases.
Any science activity that involves food is exciting for the kids. And for the moon phase activity, we are using one of my kids’ favorite food out there – Oreos!
In this edible astronomy activity, you will recreate the different phases of the moon with yummy cookie sandwiches.
Quick story: We don’t usually have Oreos at home, so I bought a packet just for this moon phase activity. But we didn’t get to it for a couple of days and before I knew it, my husband ate the entire packet of Oreos!
So I went to the grocery store and bought another packet. Again, things came up and we didn’t get to the moon phases Oreo activity right away. When I went to open the packet, I found 5 Oreos left! My husband thought that he left enough for us to do the STEM activity.
Finally, after hitting the grocery store for the third time for a packet of Oreos, we got to the activity before the Oreos got eaten. That’s a lot of effort to learn about moon phases!
But it’s worth it! My kids loved charting out the phases of the moon with Oreos and they got to eat some of the phases afterward. Guess which phases they picked?
Oreo Moon Phases Activity
Materials:
- Oreo cookies
- A kid-friendly knife or popsicle stick
- Paper plate or the free printable phases of the moon worksheet (fill out the form at the bottom of the post to grab your downloadable file)
Instructions:
1. Separate 8 Oreo cookies by slowly twisting the top and bottom cookies. Set the cookies without frosting aside (or eat them!)
2. Use the knife or popsicle stick, carefully scrape off a portion of the frosting to recreate each moon phase.
3. Place the Oreo cookies on a paper plate or the free moon phase worksheet in the correct order. I like to start off with the New Moon and go counterclockwise from there.
For younger kids, you may want to help draw a line in the frosting so they know exactly how much to scrape off. Older kids can form the moon phases from memory or by looking at the diagram at the top of the worksheet.
I think the Oreo moon phase activity might have been my kids’ favorite STEM activity yet! Not surprising though, this is the first time they ever tried Oreo cookies!
Of course, it’s also not surprising that they want to recreate the moon phases again and again after they polish off the first set!
The Different Phases of the Moon
Here are the different moon phases for you to go over with your kid:
NEW MOON: When the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun, the moon blocks the light from the Sun. Therefore, no part of the moon is visible from Earth.
WAXING CRESCENT: As the Moon continues to orbit Earth, it becomes visible again. This is called the waxing moon (waxing means it’s getting bigger), and the initial phase is called the Waxing Crescent. The waxing moon gets bigger every night until it reaches the First Quarter, when we can see half of the Moon.
FIRST QUARTER: Half of the lit portion of the Moon is lit by the sun.
WAXING GIBBOUS: “Gibbous” means that more than half of the Moon is visible but not the entire circle.
FULL MOON: When the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon, half of the Moon is lit. From Earth, we can see the full circle.
WANING GIBBOUS: More than half of the Moon is visible and the lit portion gets smaller every day.
THIRD QUARTER: The opposite half of the Moon is lit compared to the First Quarter Moon.
WANING CRESCENT: Less than half of the Moon is visible and slowly decreases to the New Moon.
I hope your kids loved this yummy Oreo moon phase project! To learn more about moon phases and when the next full moon occurs, check out the Farmer’s Almanac.
For more out of this world activities, check out:
Love this, trying it with my first graders!
I hope they have lots of fun learning about the moon phases! 🙂
Looks like a fun idea
we loved it!
I tried this with my third graders. They loved this. I’ll be looking for more fun activities. MS. Donelson from Mississippi.
Aw I am so happy! :). Thanks for letting me know!
This is one of my favorite projects for phases of the moon.
aw thank you!
I can’t wait to do this with my K student.
yay excited!
This will be fun for my special education students.
My 5th-grade students have missed out on this project due to covid and I am so excited to let the kiddos do this with their friends.
aw I am happy to hear this!
this is good
Great Activity for my class
Great and fun activity
I can’t wait to do this with my students!
Love this idea. Definitely would like to try it.
Love this!
Great activity.
Great activivty!
Great project for all ages!
Great idea!
Great idea!!
looks fun
I cannot find the form to fill out for the printable worksheet, but I’m excited to do this with my 2nd graders tomorrow. We used to do it yearly, but it’s been a while!
Thanks! My fourth graders loved this!!
awesome can’t wait to do with my class.
Can’t wait to use this!
LOVE IT!
Thanks!
Looking forward to this activity
great resource for moon phases!
Thank you!
Great resource for this project! Thanks,
Great activity