On the morning of July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins lifted off for the moon. Four days later, they set foot on the moon’s surface, the first American astronauts to complete this feat. This Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. 🌙
For younger kids, like my own, this is kind of hard to understand. They think the moon is just a “cool circle or crescent that lights up in the sky at nighttime.” 😆 Introducing them to what the moon is and the history of this amazing event is a little complex at their age.
So I gathered up a few resources to just begin young children on the science and information about the moon to celebrate this admirable day.
These books are AMAZING for beginning learners about the moon and astronauts!
The Usborne Book of the Moon is a beautiful book that shows and explains the moon in all its different phases, about the moon landing and more. 
What is the Moon? is my favorite for early learners. It has tons of different questions that young children would ask with fun lift the flap answers. This is my kids favorite! 
Astronaut Academy is a super cool book that teaches kids the skills and training required to become an astronaut on a mission through a series of fun and challenging tasks. It includes physical and metal challenges, as well as drawing and craft activities designed to mimic the skills involved in real-life training. So cool!
Sun, Moon and Stars and The Big Book of Rockets and Spacecraft are full of great information and pictures for early learning. The Big Book of Rockets and Spacecraft actually has 4 large fold out pages to allow children to marvel at the scale of outer space and see in detail a wide range of spaceships, shuttles, rockets and more. Check this link HERE to see an inside look of the book!
Raccoon on the Moon is a great story and phonics reader for those early readers!
I Want to be an Astronaut is a good book for the very little ones too (like my 1 year old son.) 
Reading lots of books is the best way to spend time together learning but here are some crafts, snacks and printable activities to continue celebrating!
Craft: This super simple craft to create the moon is made with household items. Draw a big circle on a piece of paper for the moon. (I just grab a bowl, flip it over and trace around the edges.) Crumble up some tin foil into a ball and use it as a stamp in some grey paint and onto your page. Cut out the circle and glue it on to a piece of black construction paper. If you have some, let your child decorate the paper with star stickers!
Printables: This Moon Phases set is from Stephanie Hathaway Designs. It has tons of great printables inside for multiple grade levels all about the moon! And right now they are offering 50% off for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. 
These FREE printables are from Fiddlesticks Kids. It contains: a bingo game, 2 copy work pages, quote prints and journal pages. How cute are the graphics! It would be so fun to have your child draw a picture of themselves on the moon.
This printable unit is part of the Let’s Play School’s My First School curriculum. Perfect activities for those early learning toddlers.
Snack: This snack with Oreos would be so fun and hands-on to learn about the phases of the moon!
I hope all these simple ideas will help inspire you to take some time to appreciate our beautiful moon with your children and the amazing accomplishments of humanity in space exploration!
Have a great weekend!
What fantastic ideas! Thank you. As a teacher, I appreciate these. I want to share them with my grandson.
Great! These are a lot of fun especially to help the younger ones 😊