Category: Activities for Kids

Activities for children in Newton, Massachusetts.

Sift & Mix with Boston’s Best: Erwin Ramos’ Celebrity Chef Cooking Class for Kids!

Boston Center for Adult Education Continues Popular Celebrity Chef Kids Classes as Part of Its Bean City Kids Program!

WHAT:            The same place that brought you classes like, “Mind Your Manners” with a noted tea sommelier and etiquette expert, the Boston Center for Adult Education’s (BCAE) Bean City Kids program is continuing the popular monthly series of interactive kids’ celebrity chef classes! Previous SOLD OUT celebrity chef classes have included reality TV show stars Andy Husbands of Tremont 647, Jason Santos of Blue Inc., Jose Duarte of Taranta and Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery and Myers & Chang. On Monday, May 21st, 2012 from 3:30PM to 5:30PM, kids will have the opportunity to tap into their creative side, working spoon to spoon with celebrity chef Erwin Ramos of Ole Restaurant Group in the BCAE state-of-the-art-kitchen facilities.

The interactive cooking classes are hands-on, allowing kids to explore a whole new world of food appreciation while learning the tricks of the trade. They will take part in the cooking process from start to finish, building confidence and pride in the dishes they’ve created. At the end of the session the group will sit down with Chef Ramos and enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Conveniently scheduled after school, the classes are perfect for children six to nine years of age! The themes & items prepared vary from month to month. This class will involve creating authentic Mexican dishes such as chicken quesadillas, ground beef soft tacos, strawberry nachos and guacamole with fruits that are both prepared by Chef Ramos and students. All classes are nut-free. There MUST be a parent/caregiver present during class who is responsible for each child (no more than 3 kids per adult). Child’s registration fee covers caregiver.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to sift and mix with Chef Erwin Ramos!

WHEN:             Monday, May 21st, 2012; 3:30PM-5:30PM; 1 session

COST:              $45 Members/Non-Members, $15 Materials

WHERE:           Boston Center for Adult Education122 Arlington Street Boston, MA 02116.

RSVP:              Registration is necessary. Please visit www.bcae.org or call the Boston Center for Adult Education at 617-267-4430 to sign up. There must be a parent/ caregiver present during class time. No more than 3 students per adult.

ADDITIONAL:            Suitable for children 6-9 years of age

                        Completely nut-free

Children must be supervised by a parent or a caregiver.

May 20, 2012
Math Power! Open House at Green Planet Kids

Math Power!

What are your kids doing this summer? Come learn about our Math Power! summer program.

OPEN HOUSE this Sunday afternoon, May 20th @ 4:00 pm

Please call us @ (617) 332-7841 to save a space for your family.

Come play games, solve puzzles, explore logic and HAVE FUN!

(If you can’t make it to the open house, stop by and pick up a brochure and registration form.)

About Math Power!

This fun and engaging program is led by Christine Moynihan, Ph.D., former principal of the Williams School in Newton!

You don’t have to be good at math to enjoy this program. It’s all about having fun with numbers, learning to think creatively, and making connections in order to solve problems.

The program will be offered at Green Planet Kids during the weeks of June 25th to 29th, and July 16th to 20th.

Math Power is for students entering Grades 2 – 8.

Morning session for Grades 2- 5, and Afternoon session for Grades 4-8.

Green Planet Kids is located at 22 Lincoln Street in Newton Highlands. You can reach us at (617) 332-7841.

May 19, 2012
The Way to Maine and 3 Book GIVEAWAY

Maine is great for family vacations and weekends, it is only a short drive away and we always have great food and a wonderful time. This site groups together almost thirty Maine camps, is easy to navigate and full of helpful information like camp readiness tips and how to choose a camp. Here is my most recent find from a soccer sideline conversation:

Maine Camp Experience. Maine camps set a high standard with an enviable combination of their natural beauty, strong traditions and values, and variety activities. Best of all – MCE is offering two camp tuition giveaways – yes, camp tuition!

The first drawing is May 15 – so you still have time to enter to win. Here is the scoop:

Maine Camp Experience, the organization of premier camps for children in the best state for summer camp, is putting its money where its mantra is. It will award two tuition giveaways of up to $5,000 each for use at member camps in the 2012 or 2013 seasons. Families with prospective or returning campers can log on to www.mainecampexperience.com/wintuition to enter, as well as find a variety of tools to help them learn about Maine sleep-away camps.

Drawings are May 15 and Sept. 15

Go here to enter to win one of the three books (Michael Thompson’s Homesick and Happy)and go here to get more info on the $5000 camp tuition from Maine Camp Experience.

Disclaimer: I received no compensation for this post, opinions, as always are my own. I did receive three copies of the book, Homesick and Happy for this giveaway.

May 12, 2012
The Discovery Museums: Free Evening for Children with Autism

“Especially for Me” is part of the Museums’ Open Door Connections program to expand museum access

Funding provided by CVS, Nypro, DCU for Kids, Acton-Boxborough Regional High School’s Youth in Philanthropy Club, and the Local Cultural Councils of Acton, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Dracut, Framingham, Harvard, Hudson, Lawrence, Leominster, Lexington, Littleton, Natick, Waltham, Wayland, Westford and Weston, with in-kind support from Not Your Average Joe’s

The Discovery Museums are pleased to announce that the next event in the 2012 “Especially for Me” series, for families with children on the Autism spectrum, will be held on May 19. Families can explore both the Children’s Discovery Museum and the Science Discovery Museum for free with pre-registration.

“Especially for Me” is part of the Museums’ Open Door Connections program to provide opportunities for those who face a variety of barriers—financial, geographic, developmental, or cultural—to experience the Museums. Other free events in the “Especially for Me” series include free events for families with children with hearing loss.

What:                    ESPECIALLY FOR ME! A Free Evening at The Discovery Museums for Families with Children on the Autism Spectrum

Where:                  The Discovery Museum, 177 Main Street, Acton, MA 01720 978-264-4200  www.discoverymuseums.org

When:                   Saturday, May 19, 5:30-8:30 PM at both the Children’s Discovery Museum and Science Discovery Museum

Other info:           Pizza and lemonade will be provided, courtesy of Not Your Average Joe’s.

To Register:        Pre-registration is required. Please visit http://tinyurl.com/EspeciallyforMe2012-4 to register.

May 9, 2012
BSO: New Sheriff in Town for Youth & Family Concerts, Family Concert April 21

Boston Symphony Orchestra’s New Sheriff

What do you get if you cross Bill Cosby with Pastor Archibold Epps and teach them to conduct a first rate orchestra? Why, Thomas Wilkins, the new permanent Boston Symphony Orchestra Youth Concert Conductor.

Technically, he’s the Germeshausen Youth and Family Concerts Conductor. He makes classical music fun and accessible to kids and families while also relating the program to big ideas like perseverance, dreams and goals. And, all the while, he’s scampering up and down the aisles making everyone laugh. He’s truly a charismatic and entertaining performer!

The next Family Concert is “Notes in Bloom” is on April 21 at Noon. This is the final concert of the season. Go here to purchase tickets.

Thomas Wilkins, Music Director

Thomas Wilkins is the music director of the Omaha Symphony, a position he has held since 2005. Additionally, he is principal guest conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and was recently appointed the youth and family concerts conductor for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.Past positions have included resident conductor of the Detroit Symphony, as well as the Florida Orchestra (Tampa Bay), and associate conductor of the Richmond Symphony (Virginia). He served on the music faculties of North Park University (Chicago), the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

Committed to promoting a life-long enthusiasm for music, Thomas brings energy and commitment to audiences of all ages. For his significant contribution to the children of Tampa Bay, the Pinellas County Music Educators Association named him 1998 Friend of the Arts and the Hillsborough County Elementary Music Educators recognized him as 1998 Music Educator of the Year.

During his conducting career, Thomas has been featured with orchestras throughout the United States, including the Dallas Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Houston Symphony and the National Symphony in Washington, D.C. He is also a frequent guest conductor of the Baltimore Symphony, the New Jersey Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Recently he debuted with the Utah Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Rochester (NY) and Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestras.

Thomas serves as a director at large for the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, and has served on the board of directors of such organizations as the Center Against Spouse Abuse in Tampa Bay, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Academy Preparatory Center for Education, both in St. Petersburg. Currently, he serves as chairman of the board for the Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund.

A native of Norfolk, Va., Thomas earned his bachelor of music education degree from the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music in 1978. In 1982, he was awarded the master of music degree in orchestral conducting from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Thomas and his wife, Sheri-Lee, reside in Omaha with their twin daughters, Erica and Nicole.

April 16, 2012
April Vacation Week Activities at Acton Discovery Museums!

Calendar of Events April 12 – 22

Mixing in Math, April 12 & 17

Celebrate National Robotics Week with Robots and Brain Bots, Inc.!

April 12

Good Vibrations: Musical Instrument Exploration with Olin College, April 14

Write Your Own iPhone/iPad App! April 15

Spring Tree Walk, April 17

SMART Gals: Lost in Lexicon: An Adventure in Words and Numbers,

April 18

Suncatchers, April 19

Engineers’ Exchange with the Acton-Boxborough Robotics Team, April 19

Capillary-Action Butterflies, April 20

Music and Movement with Miss Carolyn, April 21

Tree Rubbings, April 22

Patriot’s Day/Public School Vacation Week

Both Museums OPEN 9 AM – 4:30 PM Monday, April 16 – Friday, April 20

All programs are free with admission except when noted otherwise.

Thursday, April 12

Mixing in Math: Pictures on a Page

10 a.m. Children’s Discovery Museum

Practice your counting skills as we read Eric Carle’s The Hungry Caterpillar and then create a collage using pictures of the objects you counted in the story. © 2008 TERC.

Thursday’s Tales

11 a.m. Children’s Discovery Museum

Join us for our weekly story time. We’ll bring the books; you bring your imagination!

Celebrate National Robotics Week with Robots and Brain Bots, Inc.!

Drop-in 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Science Discovery Museum
Meet Robots and Brain Bots Inc., the high school robotics team from Gann Academy in Waltham, winners of the 2011 FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship Inspire Award. The team will demonstrate their robot that flips crates, loads racquetballs, and lifts the crates in the air using a scissor lift. The Inspire Award is the most prestigious award given to a team that competes well on the field, has an innovative robot design, documents well in the engineering notebook, and does extensive community outreach.

Friday, April 13

FETCH!™ Rescue Mission

10 a.m. Children’s Discovery Museum

Listen to Eric Carle’s 10 Little Rubber Ducks and then design a hook to rescue the rubber ducks that have gone adrift. A preschool-level adaptation of this popular FETCH!™ activity. Sponsored by Middlesex Savings Bank, with additional support from Red Hat, Inc. © 2011 WGBH Educational Foundation.

FETCH!™ What’s the Buzz?

Drop-in 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Science Discovery Museum

What’s the Buzz? Make your own kazoo and try it out in our SoundLab exhibit! Sponsored by Middlesex Savings Bank, with additional support from Red Hat, Inc. © 2011 WGBH Educational Foundation.

Saturday, April 14

Build It!

All Day Children’s Discovery Museum

LEGO building for toddlers! Bring your imagination to build, stack, and sort using our enormous collection of DUPLOS. Construct your own architectural wonder or work together to build a museum-community sculpture.

Good Vibrations: Musical Instrument Exploration with Olin College

Drop-in 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. Science Discovery Museum

Experiment with vibration, waves, and frequencies to learn how musical instruments generate an amazing range of sounds. The dynamic Olin College Engineering Discovery Team will lead this energetic music workshop!

Sunday, April 15

Face Painting

10 a.m. Children’s Discovery Museum

Use your face or hand as a canvas for a colorful spring-inspired painting.

Write Your Own iPhone/iPad App!

Pre-registration workshop: 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Science Discovery Museum

Would you or your child like to learn how to write a cool game or application for the iPhone or iPad? Learn the basics of iOS programming from a local 12-year-old who taught himself and has a published app in the App Store used by thousands of students, teachers and educators around the world! This workshop will provide a good overview of iOS programming and will walk you through the steps involved in writing and publishing a simple app. Ages 10+.

Fee: $5 per person, a maximum of 2 children must be accompanied by an adult (this is not a drop-off program). Pre-registration and payment required by April 12^th; please register and pay online at http://tinyurl.com/iOS-programming. Registration will close automatically once maximum capacity is reached; please email tdicureia@discoverymuseums.org if you are interested to be placed on a waitlist for a second class at 3pm on the same date.

Monday, April 16

Dinosaur Discoveries

10 a.m. Children’s Discovery Museum

Join the paleontology dig in our giant outdoor sandbox filled with sand, tools, and dinosaurs.

Tuesday, April 17

Mixing in Math: Treasure Hunt

10 a.m. Children’s Discovery Museum

Practice you’re directional skills as you use movement shapes to guide your family to the location of the buried treasure: our giant sandbox filled with gold coins. © 2008 TERC.

Spring Tree Walk

1 p.m. Science Discovery Museum

Spring brings buds and new leaves to all plants including trees. Find out about these massive plants on a walk around the grounds with beloved science teacher Frank Meehan. See the variation in bud shapes, sizes, and colors, and learn how to identify trees in your own backyard. Rain or shine; dress appropriately. Note: the walk is not handicap accessible.

Wednesday, April 18

Messy Masterpiece: Nature’s Paintbrush

10 a.m. Children’s Discovery Museum

Use a flower as a paintbrush to create a unique work of art.

SMART Gals: Lost in Lexicon: An Adventure in Words and Numbers

Pre-registration class

1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Science Discovery Museum

In this Lexicon Villages event, children and parents work together through a series of interactive stations representing math and language concepts from this award-winning book that combines learning and adventure. Feed synonyms to a thesaurus, create sentences out of flower petals, discover pi, measure the museum in paces, make up your own words using Greek and Latin roots, try your hand at puzzling Tangrams, do a maze in a mirror, and more!

Meet the book’s author and get a sneak peak of the second book in the series, The Ice Castle, coming to stores August 2012, and leave with an autographed copy of Lost in Lexicon and a packet of even more activities to try at home. The SMART (Science-Math-Art) Gals Series is sponsored by The Ramsey McCluskey Family Foundation.

Instructor: Penny Noyce

Ages: 8 to 12

Fee: $10 for members; $12 for non-members

Pre-registration required by April 16; please register and pay online at http://tinyurl.com/LexiconVillages-April2012.

Thursday, April 19

Suncatchers

10 a.m. Children’s Discovery Museum

Collect an assortment of natural materials from the Museum grounds to create a dazzling collage to hang in a window at your home.

FETCH!™ Rescue Mission

Drop-in 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Science Discovery Museum

Can you meet Ruff Ruffman’s challenge? Design hooks that can grab different capsules out of the water. Sponsored by Middlesex Savings Bank, with additional support from Red Hat, Inc. © 2011 WGBH Educational Foundation.

Engineers’ Exchange with the Acton-Boxborough Robotics Team

Drop-in 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Science Discovery Museum
Meet a FIRST Tech Challenge robot and its designers from the Acton-Boxborough Robotics Team. Watch the robot maneuver, learn about the design process and competition, and participate in an engineering activity.

Friday, April 20

Capillary-Action Butterflies

10 a.m. Children’s Discovery Museum

Beautiful butterflies made by you! Decorate your butterfly’s wings, add water, and watch as the water mixes the colors (using capillary action) creating your own specially designed butterfly.

Saturday, April 21

Music and Movement with Miss Carolyn

1 p.m. Children’s Discovery Museum

Explore sound through singing and playing. Move, make music, listen, learn, and get a multi-sensory workout! Music improves your child’s memory, cognitive development, learning skills, and ability to express emotion. Plus, it’s fun! Miss Carolyn is a professional musician, serves as a faculty member at Indian Hill Music School, and has been a licensed Kindermusik Educator for 5+ years.

Sunday, April 22

Tree Rubbings

10 a.m. Children’s Discovery Museum

Explore the variety of trees in a section of woods adjacent to the Museum perfectly sized for young children. Use your fingers to feel the different textures of tree bark and create rubbings to capture the differences on paper.

FETCH!™ Toy Chemistry

Drop-in 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Science Discovery Museum

Stretchy and slimy toys are the best says Ruff Ruffman! See and feel everyday materials change as you combine them to create polymers! Sponsored by Middlesex Savings Bank, with additional support from Red Hat, Inc. © 2011 WGBH Educational Foundation.

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About The Discovery Museums

The Discovery Museums are the children’s and science museums of Metrowest Boston, paired on a single campus in Acton, MA. The Museums—the Science Discovery Museum and the Children’s Discovery Museum—serve families and schools from towns throughout the region, with a commitment to informal education that enhances classroom learning. The hands-on, playful exhibits, developed by professional educators, inspire curiosity, exploration, experimentation and imagination. The Discovery Museums combine manageable scale, convenient location and free parking to provide a fun and engaging experience where children and adults can discover their world together.

Hours and Admission

The Discovery Museums are located at 177 Main Street Acton, MA 01720. Tel 978-264-4200. All programs are free with admission: $11.00 adults & children, $10.00 seniors 60+, free for children under 1 and Members. Teachers are always free.

School Year hours

Children’s Discovery Museum: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tues – Sun

Science Discovery Museum: 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tues – Fri, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sat & Sun

Both Museums closed on Mondays.

For more information, please visit www.discoverymuseums.org.

April 11, 2012
April Vacation Soccer Camps in Newton and Boston

Lady Eagles BC Womens Soccer Team has great soccer camps.

April Vacation: April 17 – 20, 9 am to 3 om

and also for the summer …

June 25 – 28, 9 am to 3 pm

July 16 – 19, 9 am to 3 pm

Where: BC Law School off Centre Street in Newton

For: Girls ages 6 -14

For more, please email soccercl@bc.edu or go here to register.

Be Ahead of the Game

We’ve known Brian Kelly for almost 10 years when he first started teaching my kids movement classes at their preschool. He is running these great April vacation sports camps for boys and girls. Kids really, really love his camps!

MultiSports camp, 8:30 am – 12:00 pm at the Hyde Center, Newton Highlands, grades 1-4

Soccer camp with Boston Bolts, ages 8-12, 1-3 PM, Chestnut Hill

For more details please go here. To register, please go here.

Boston University Men’s Soccer Camps for Kids

My daughter did a winter training session at Boston University and really enjoyed it.

Sundays, 8 – 10 am, April 1, 15, 22, 29

Boston University Nickerson Field
300 Babcock Street, Boston

Fee: Cost is $100 for all sessions. Email dcolwell@bu.edu for form.

For: Boys and Girls ages 7- 10

Dan Colwell, Assistant Coach,
Boston University Men’s Soccer

Dan Colwell was a standout at Umass/Amherst, helping to win the Atlantic 10 Conference in 3 of his 4 years. He has been at Boston University since 2006. He is also a nationally certified
personal trainer specializing in speed and agility training.

April 2, 2012
Bridges. Not Walls. Anti-Bullying Dance Show by Cambridge Youth Dance Program

April 28 & 29 at Boston University. Anti-Bullying Dance Show by Cambridge Youth Dance Program. Buy tickets here.

2012 Spring Production, “Bridges. Not Walls.” 1 in 3 students is bullied in school. This is our story.

The Cambridge Youth Dance Program is a pre-professional dance training program developed and designed for dedicated dance students. Students are placed in one of five dance programs, each with its own set of core classes and minimum class requirements. The diverse curriculum offers intense training for the aspiring ballet dancer, as well as for dancers committed to musical theater studies.

Placement is based on the level of ability and dance focus. New and returning students are required to audition each year. During the first few weeks of classes, teachers may suggest a different level.

Performance opportunities include the annual year-end showcase at Boston University’s Dance Theater, as well as community concerts throughout the Cambridge and Boston areas. All of our company members receive tuition subsidies.

March 30, 2012
Calling All Vendors: Waban Village Day!

Do you have something to sell; jewelry, crafts, specialty items, artisan breads or foods, cosmetics, clothes, to name a few.

Come share your creations with a booth at Waban Village Day, Sunday, May 20^th 11am-3pm.

This is the 9^th Waban Village Day, it takes place in Waban Square on Woodward Street, right off of Beacon Street.

This is a very popular event, fun for the whole family, with over 2000 people participating in rides, food and crafts.

If you are interested in a booth at Waban Village Day, please contact us at wabanimprovementsociety@gmail.com .

Established in 1889, the Waban Improvement Society is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization whose membership comprises all people who live and/or work in Waban, Massachusetts. The Society promotes any activity intended to improve Waban and fosters a sense of community for those who live and work here.

March 29, 2012
Phases of Moon Study Guide for 4th Grade Science

image from Moon Connection

My kids study phases of the moon in 4th grade and both girls seemed to have problems with getting Waxing versus Waning straight in their heads despite a week of study. It could be that Waxing Crescent Moons look pretty similar to Waning Crescent Moons. I think Oreos would help with this!

I have a fun moon project that a Dad Friend first did for my oldest when she was in preschool. Clearly, it didn’t sink in but perhaps repetition is key. I’d use the mini-oreos myself for creating a cookie based phases of the moon chart. If you want to try it, it’s below.

Some kids might need a more detailed explanation and I found this from Moon Connection.

Other kids might like a video.

Diagram Explanation

The illustration may look a little complex at first, but it’s easy to explain.

Sunlight is shown coming in from the right. The earth, of course, is at the center of the diagram. The moon is shown at 8 key stages during its revolution around the earth. The moon phase name is shown alongside the image. The dotted line from the earth to the moon represents your line of sight when looking at the moon. To help you visualize how the moon would appear at that point in the cycle, you can look at the larger moon image. This means for the waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent phases you have to mentally turn yourself upside down. When you do this, you’ll “see” that the illuminated portion is on your left, just as you see in the large image.

One important thing to notice is that exactly one half of the moon is always illuminated by the sun. Of course that is perfectly logical, but you need to visualize it in order to understand the phases. At certain times we see both the sunlit portion and the shadowed portion — and that creates the various moon phase shapes we are all familiar with. Also note that the shadowed part of the moon is invisible to the naked eye; in the diagram above, it is only shown for clarification purposes.

So the basic explanation is that the lunar phases are created by changing angles (relative positions) of the earth, the moon and the sun, as the moon orbits the earth.

If you’d like to examine the phases of the moon more closely, via computer software, you may be interested in this moon phases calendar software.

Moon Phases Simplified

It’s probably easiest to understand the moon cycle in this order: new moon and full moon, first quarter and third quarter, and the phases in between.

As shown in the above diagram, the new moon occurs when the moon is positioned between the earth and sun. The three objects are in approximate alignment (why “approximate” is explained below). The entire illuminated portion of the moon is on the back side of the moon, the half that we cannot see.

At a full moon, the earth, moon, and sun are in approximate alignment, just as the new moon, but the moon is on the opposite side of the earth, so the entire sunlit part of the moon is facing us. The shadowed portion is entirely hidden from view.

The first quarter and third quarter moons (both often called a “half moon“), happen when the moon is at a 90 degree angle with respect to the earth and sun. So we are seeing exactly half of the moon illuminated and half in shadow.

Once you understand those four key moon phases, the phases between should be fairly easy to visualize, as the illuminated portion gradually transitions between them.

An easy way to remember and understand those “between” lunar phase names is by breaking out and defining 4 words: crescent, gibbous, waxing, and waning. The word crescent refers to the phases where the moon is less that half illuminated. The word gibbous refers to phases where the moon is more than half illuminated. Waxing essentially means “growing” or expanding in illumination, and waning means “shrinking” or decreasing in illumination.

Thus you can simply combine the two words to create the phase name, as follows:

After the new moon, the sunlit portion is increasing, but less than half, so it is waxing crescent. After the first quarter, the sunlit portion is still increasing, but now it is more than half, so it is waxing gibbous. After the full moon (maximum illumination), the light continually decreases. So the waning gibbous phase occurs next. Following the third quarter is the waning crescent, which wanes until the light is completely gone — a new moon.

The Moon’s Orbit

You may have personally observed that the moon goes through a complete moon phases cycle in about one month. That’s true, but it’s not exactly one month. The synodic period or lunation is exactly 29.5305882 days. It’s the time required for the moon to move to the same position (same phase) as seen by an observer on earth. If you were to view the moon cycling the earth from outside our solar system (the viewpoint of the stars), the time required is 27.3217 days, roughly two days less. This figure is called the sidereal period or orbital period. Why is the synodic period different from the sidereal period? The short answer is because on earth, we are viewing the moon from a moving platform: during the moon cycle, the earth has moved approximately one month along its year-long orbit around the sun, altering our angle of view with respect to the moon, and thus altering the phase. The earth’s orbital direction is such that it lengthens the period for earthbound observers.

Although the synodic and sidereal periods are exact numbers, the moon phase can’t be precisely calculated by simple division of days because the moon’s motion (orbital speed and position) is affected and perturbed by various forces of different strengths. Hence, complex equations are used to determine the exact position and phase of the moon at any given point in time.

Also, looking at the diagram (and imagining it to scale), you may have wondered why, at a new moon, the moon doesn’t block the sun, and at a full moon, why the earth doesn’t block sunlight from reaching the moon. The reason is because the moon’s orbit about the earth is about 5 degrees off from the earth-sun orbital plane.

However, at special times during the year, the earth, moon, and sun do in fact “line up”. When the moon blocks the sun or a part of it, it’s called a solar eclipse, and it can only happen during the new moon phase. When the earth casts a shadow on the moon, it’s called a lunar eclipse, and can only happen during the full moon phase. Roughly 4 to 7 eclipses happen in any given year, but most of them minor or “partial” eclipses. Major lunar or solar eclipses are relatively uncommon.

Oreo Phases of Moon Fun Project from How to HomeSchool My Child

Oreo Phases of the Moon – Homeschool Activity

Obviously, you’ll need a package of Oreos. Each child will need 8 Oreos, a butter knife and a paper plate. You may need more than 8 Oreos if they crack on you. You can use the mini Oreos too.

Depending on the age of your child, let them use a Sharpie to label each phase on the paper plate.

Be very careful as you separate your Oreos.
I had a few crack, so I had to eat them. Gosh!
The full moon & new moon are already done when you pull apart your Oreo.

It may take practice, but each child needs to scrape off the filling to create 2 crescent moons, 2 half moons and 2 ginnous moons.

March 26, 2012