This is my absolute favorite craft that we do all year in third-grade… phases of the moon with Oreo cookies! Let’s be honest, what kid doesn’t love Oreo’s?! This project takes about an hour and a half, but the kids are SO excited about completing it. Food makes everything more fun!
For this activity, you will need paper plates, Oreo’s, popsicle sticks, and bottled glue. The labels, sun, and Earth are available at my store on Teachers Pay Teachers, but you could have your kids draw their own as well. If you’d like the cute (and glittery!!!) labels, check it out at my store! I sell this product in a bundle as well, in case you’d like all the Earth’s cycles materials.

I always teach phases of the moon before doing the activity. My kids do a couple pages from my Earth’s cycles interactive notebook that describe what phases of the moon are/are caused by, and fill out a diagram. We also watch a BrainPop, and of course a visit from Bill Nye! Well, on YouTube. If only Bill Nye would visit my classroom!

I find that this works best when I give the kids one Oreo at a time. Otherwise, they get too excited and tend to not be careful with the Oreo, which leads to breakage (as seen by the picture on the right!). I tell my kids to stay seated and raise their hands when they need another cookie. 
Plan on 4-5 cookies per student. Remember that not all the cookies in the package are whole, and some of them break easier than others. I also have an additional package for yummy snacking at the end! To make costs easier on myself, I send out a Sign-Up Genius for parents to sign up. However, you could also save money by using JoJo’s from Trader Joe’s, or Oreos from the Dollar Tree. We teachers can always save a few dollars 🙂

 
And ta-da…. the finished product! How stinking cute are these?

Interested in more Earth’s cycles materials?

One Response

  1. Information on the different phases of the Moon and Planet Earth presents an overview of several aspects of our moon and earth