Have you noticed how the moon changes shape? Sometimes it is a big circle and sometimes its a small sliver. I love seeing these shapes the moon makes. It’s one of my favourite patterns to spot in nature. It’s a pattern because it repeats itself every month. It’s a pattern in time, like a rhythm. Called the phases of the moon.

In this video, I set up the phases of the moon to show you the shapes to look out for. I recorded it outside at night so its a dark and windy! The info sheet attached in the notes below has instructions for you to do it too.

It’s important to remember that the moon doesn’t have any light source of its own, it only reflects the light of the Sun. We view the Moon from here on Earth. As the moon moves around us we see the light of the Sun it reflects as different shapes.

These shapes have names. Some of the shape words I use in the video are ‘crescent’ and ‘quarter’. Check out the info sheet for the other words.

Notes
Noticing the phases of the moon helps us to see other patterns in natural time. The seasons throughout the year is another pattern in time. Patterns in nature work on all different sizes and timelines. That’s what makes them so interesting to me. You can download the instructions here. 

For more info on patterns in nature and to download a moon phase tracking activity visit https://thesmarthappyproject.com/resource-library-access/