Moon phases in order, with an activity you can eat

The eight, and what the names mean

Waxing means growing and waning means shrinking. A crescent is a thin curved slice. A quarter Moon looks like half a circle, but it is called a quarter because the Moon is a quarter of the way round its trip. Gibbous, an old word for humped, is the bulging shape between half and full.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, a growing Moon is lit on the right and a shrinking Moon is lit on the left.

1. New Moon: no lit side facing us.
2. Waxing crescent: a thin slice on the right.
3. First quarter: the right half lit.
4. Waxing gibbous: almost full, a dark sliver on the left.
5. Full Moon: the whole disc lit.
6. Waning gibbous: almost full, a dark sliver on the right.
7. Third quarter: the left half lit.
8. Waning crescent: a thin slice on the left.

Why the shape changes

The Moon doesn't really change shape. As NASA says, the Sun always lights half of it. As the Moon goes around Earth, we see more or less of that lit half. At new Moon the lit half faces away from us; at full Moon it faces us; in between we see part of it.

The cookie Moon

You need eight round sandwich cookies with white cream, a paper plate, a marker, and a spoon or a craft stick for scraping. A grown-up checks for allergies first; round crackers with a white spread work too.

Draw a small Sun at the edge of the plate. Write the eight phase names around the plate in order, going round anticlockwise as you look down on it, so the Moon goes round like the real one does. Twist each cookie apart and keep the half with the cream. The white cream is the lit part; scrape off cream to make the dark part.

1. New Moon: scrape off all the cream.
2. Crescents: leave a thin curved slice, on the right for waxing and the left for waning.
3. Quarters: scrape off half, keeping the right half for first quarter and the left for third.
4. Gibbous: scrape off just a thin curve from one side.
5. Full Moon: leave the cream alone.
6. Put each one by its name, check them against the Moon calendar, then eat the month.

Check it with the real Moon

Look at tonight's Moon, or the Moon calendar if it's cloudy, and find which cookie it matches. Then look again in three or four nights: the Moon will have moved on to the next cookie. Children who draw the Moon for a week with the Moon journal sheet often find the order for themselves.

Questions children ask

Why is it third quarter and not three-quarters? Because the name counts how far the Moon has gone round, not how much is lit: at third quarter it is three-quarters of the way round, and half of the face we see is lit.

Is it the same in Australia? The order is the same, but people in the Southern Hemisphere see the Moon upside down compared with us, so their growing Moon is lit on the left.

Can I see the Moon in the daytime? Yes, often, especially around the quarters. Never look at the Sun to check.