Best Moon Phase Activity with Glue Resist Painting
I’m so excited to share the best moon phase activity for kids! My children and I made moon phases and bumpy craters with simple yet magical ingredients: glue and watercolor paint. This is our favorite moon phase craft, and I’ll show you how to make it, step by step.
What’s the best age for this moon phase crater activity?
If your children are curious about the moon in the sky, then they are probably ready for this fun activity.
We first shared this original moon activity when my oldest child was in preschool. Since then, other parents and teachers have shared their children trying our moon activity with kindergarteners and elementary school kids.
For younger kids, you can simplify the activity by focusing on moon phase shapes and crater textures. For older kids, you can delve into details such as introducing moon phase names.
Learning about the moon bilingually
Since we’re raising bilingual children, we chatted about the moon in Chinese so they can have fun learning while appreciating the language. We also talked about the moon in English, our family’s main language.
Below are translations for moon phases in simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Hanyu Pinyin, and English.
- 月球 (Yuèqiú / Moon)
- 月相 (Yuè xiàng / Phases of the Moon)
- 新月 (Xīn yuè / New Moon)
- 眉月 (Méi yuè / Waxing Crescent) – Right side 1-49%
- 上弦月 (Shàngxián yuè / First Quarter) – Right side 50%
- 盈凸月 (Yíng tū yuè / Waxing gibbous) – Right side 51-99%
- 滿月 / 满月 (Mǎnyuè / Full moon) – 100%
- 虧凸月 / 亏凸月 (Kuī tū yuè / Waning gibbous) – Left side 51-99%
- 下弦月 (Xiàxián yuè / Last quarter) – Left side 50%
- 殘月 / 残月 (Cányuè / Waning crescent) – Left side 1-49%
Supplies for moon phases glue resist painting
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Ready to try the best moon phase activity? Here’s what you need:
- Watercolor paint
- Watercolor textured paper
- Regular glue
- Puffy paint
- Paintbrush
- Pencil
- Circle stencil (We love the Learning Resources Primary Shapes Template)
How to prepare the moon phases glue-resist painting
Now that you have your supplies, it’s time to start the best moon phase activity!
- Cut watercolor paper into rectangles.
- Draw circles and moon phase outlines.
- Write moon phase names.
- Optional: Trace moon phase names with white puffy paint. TIP: Elongate the tip of the paint tube with a piece of tape. This will slow the paint flow so you can control your writing better.
- Fill in moon phases with white glue.
- Paint with black watercolor paint.
- If white glue (moon) becomes too dark from the black watercolor paint, use a wet towel to wipe off excess paint. The moon should appear whiter and brighter.
- Let dry.
- When dry, the child can enjoy feeling the texture of the bumpy (crater-filled) moon and words.
Have you tried the best moon phase crater activity?
We hope your family has fun with this moon activity! If you try Moon Phases Glue Resist Watercolor Painting, let us know in the comments below. We’d love to learn about your experience.
This is really neat! I think I’ll give this a try with my preschool twins. I don’t know Chinese, but we can find a work around for that. Thanks for the moon art idea. 🙂
Hi Annie! You’re welcome! Hope your twins can have fun with this activity!
Hi, thanks for this great resource. Pleco is saying gibbous moons should be pronounced tu1yue4 (versus tu2 noted above) and doesn’t recognize kuituyue. Am I missing something with regard to how the tones might change when pronounced together? Is there a more accurate way to express “waning gibbous moon”? Thank you!
Hi Tiffany! Sorry for just seeing your message now, and thank you for taking the time to write! I think you are correct, 凸 should be tū. Google Translate sometimes suggests the wrote tone marks (as in this case), but Pleco is more accurate. I have updated the Pinyin in this post; thank you again!