Do you have an inquisitive toddler? My little one always has so many questions for me. For instance, what is the moon and what is it made of? What is it like on the moon? These are some of the questions your little one may be asking you during your moon study. “What is the Moon?” from Usborne Books & More answers all these questions, and more. This Puffy Paint Moon Activity is the perfect craft to pair with this book during your moon study.
How to Make Your Puffy Paint Moon Activity
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Supplies
- 1 cup white shaving cream
- 1/2 cup white school glue
- Yellow paint or food coloring
- White cardstock
- Black construction paper or cardstock
- Star stickers
- Cup or bowl to mix puffy paint
- Foam brush
- Scissors
- Marbles (optional)
Directions
- Mix together the shaving cream and glue in your bowl or cup.
- Mix in 1-2 drops of yellow paint or food coloring. How much you use is a personal preference, based on how yellow you want your moon to look.
- Draw a large circle in the middle of the white cardstock and have your child paint it with the puffy paint. Make sure they cover the full circle you drew. The paint should not be spread on, but rather glopped on to create a thick texture.
- Cut out a circle in the middle of the black construction paper the size of the moon you drew on the white paper. Once your child is finished painting the moon, have them glue the black paper on top of the white paper so their moon shows through the hole you cut.
- Let your kid place star stickers on the black paper to their heart’s content. (For my daughter, this was until all the stickers were used! Haha!)
- If you have enough paint left over, which we did, make a second moon painting from a different moon phase. We chose a crescent moon.
- Let the paint dry for several hours.
Create Craters
Before we glued on the black paper, E dropped marbles on the wet paint to create craters. You will need to pick the marbles up after you drop them so they do not stick. As you pick up the marbles, the paint will come up with the marble a bit, which doesn’t leave as dramatic a crater. I still like this method because I taught E about meteoroids and how the craters were made this way. However, after the paint dried for a couple of hours I went back to it and gently pressed the paint down in spots to create more noticeable craters. You will need to do this before the paint completely dries, but wait until it isn’t as sticky and begins to puff. You can either do the marbles to teach about how the craters are made then go back later, or skip the marble part completely.
All the Moon Lessons
There are several lessons about the moon you can include while doing this Puffy Paint Moon Activity. We read the book before doing this activity, so we had already touched on all the points during our reading. The hands on activity made it easier to grasp the lessons. I used the opportunity of turning the paint yellow to talk about how the light of the sun helps to make the moon shine. While painting, we discussed how the moon is made of rock. We talked about the phases of the moon when we made the full moon and the crescent moon. The marble drop was the perfect time to discuss what a meteoroid is and how they create the craters in the moon. As she was putting the stars on the page we even learned about constellations. She attempted making her own constellation with her stickers. Later, when we showed daddy her artwork, she was able to tell him about all the things we learned. Hands-on activities make learning so much fun and really engage their little minds to soak up all the knowledge.
Happy crafting!