Every night Moon seems to be a different shape than it was the night before.  These apparent shapes are called "phases".  Moon goes through the whole series of changes each lunar month (approximately 28 days).  This activity is to demonstrate why we see the changing phases of Moon.

1. Stand with your back to Sun.  Hold a ball in front of you, high enough so that it is not in your shadow.  Look carefully to see how much, if any, of the shaded side of the ball you can see.

2. For phase one on the chart below, darken the part of the circle to show the amount of the shaded side of the ball you saw.  Write the name for this phase in the blank.

3. Standing in the position of the previous phase, turn half left (45 degrees) as shown for the next phase.  Record the data as before.

4. Repeat step 3 until you have recorded all 9 phases.