Moon phases glue resist watercolor painting is an educational and artful activity that the whole family can enjoy together!
This is one of my daughter’s favorite hands-on moon learning activities, and it’s easy to create! Glue and paint are the magical ingredients for this tactile way to review moon phases.
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Learning about the moon bilingually with my children
Since Chinese is one of my children’s minority languages, we chatted and read about the moon in Chinese so that they can have fun learning while appreciating the language.
We also talked about the moon in English, our family’s main language.
Appropriate age for the tactile moon activity
If you’ve been following our family on Instagram, you may have noticed that my daughter has a moon obsession! She has been fascinated by seeing the moon change in shape and location in the sky!
Although my daughter is still in preschool, I think this activity would be enjoyed by Kindergartners and elementary school kids!
Even if a child has learned about the moon before, there are always different details that your child will pick up at different stages of life.
In addition, a child’s way of creatively expressing their knowledge changes with age and experience. This could be a fun activity to repeat year after year and see your child’s progress!
Important moon vocabulary
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%
We used the Moon Book by Gail Gibbons and Guavarama’s Moon Unit Study for nomenclature reference.
What you need for the Moon Phases Glue Resist Watercolor Painting Activity
- Watercolor paint
- Watercolor textured paper
- Glue
- Puffy paint
- Paintbrush
- Pencil
- Circle stencil (We love the Learning Resources Primary Shapes Template)
How to prepare the Moon Phases Glue Resist Watercolor Painting Activity
- Cut watercolor paper into rectangles
- Draw circles and moon phase outlines
- Write moon phase names
- Trace moon phase words with white puffy paint
- ***TIP: Elongate the tip with a piece of tape to slow the paint flow. This will allow for more writing control and precision.
- 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. Moon should appear whiter and brighter!
- Let dry
- When dry, child can enjoy feeling the texture of the bumpy (crater-filled) moon and words!
Learning about moon phases in a child-led way
My daughter loved the activity so much that she wanted to redo the Moon Phases Glue Resist Watercolor Painting activity!
She was motivated to copy all of the moon phase names in Chinese!
These activities motivate her to want to learn how to write – she doesn’t even realize that she is practicing because she is having so much fun!
Instead of tracing the moon phase vocabulary puffy paint, my daughter darkened each word with a silver Sharpie!
Montessori moon phase 3-part cards
We paired these tactile cards with our Montessori moon phase 3-part cards. Montessori 3-part cards are a wonderful way to encourage independent matching and word recognition!
Bookmark this idea on Pinterest!
Have you tried the Moon Phases Glue Resist Activity?
If you try Moon Phases Glue Resist Watercolor Painting, let us know!
We hope your family has fun with it, and we would love to see how it turns out!
Leave a comment and don’t forget to tag @CHALKAcademy on Instagram and Facebook!
Related solar system learning activities
Chinese solar system activities
Chinese solar system books
Educational Solar system toys
- Solar system magnets
- 48 piece solar system puzzle
- 100 piece solar system puzzle
- 200 piece solar system puzzle
Of these 3 puzzles, the last one is the best in my opinion. The pictures are most realistic and show the planets in proper order.
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Tiffany says
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!
Betty Choi says
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!
Annie says
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. 🙂
Betty says
Hi Annie! You’re welcome! Hope your twins can have fun with this activity!