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Making Craters

October 4, 2012 By Emma Vanstone 9 Comments

This is a great activity for learning about how craters form. Did you know the surface of the moon has millions of craters, varying from just a few metres across to hundreds of kilometres.?

What you need:

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A shallow metal pan

Plain white flour

drinking chocolate

marbles and different sized balls.

Instructions

  • Fill the pan about 2 cm deep with flour, lightly sprinkle the drinking chocolate to cover the entire surface.
  • To make a model of the surface of the moon, drop the marbles into the pan, the marbles act as the crashing asteroids and comets.
  • Notice how the marbles make craters in the pan. The soil below the surface ( white flour ) is brought to the surface.
  • Try with different sizes and weights of balls and see if the craters are deeper or different shapes.

The Science bit

The surface of the moon is marked by millions of craters, some are just a few metres long and some hundreds of kilometres. Most formed a long time ago when comets, asteroids and meteorites crashed into the moon’s surface.

You should find that if you drop the same size marbles from different heights the one that has furthest to fall will make the largest crater as it is moving faster, it has more energy.

 

Do you have any space creations to share?

You can find more space themed activities here.

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Filed Under: Early Years Science, Key Stage 1 Science, Physics, Space, Understanding of the World Tagged With: Astronomy, craters on the moon, Making craters, The Moon

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Susan Mann

    October 5, 2012 at 7:12 pm

    This looks fab x

    Reply
  2. Cerys @ Rainy Day Mum

    October 6, 2012 at 9:33 pm

    I love it – the way that the flour comes to the surface really explains how there is difference in the colours of the moon surface. Got to try this out

    Reply
  3. Mrs Haworth

    January 26, 2015 at 10:00 pm

    Brilliant I am going to try it with my Hedgehogs

    Reply
    • Emma Vanstone

      January 28, 2015 at 10:33 am

      I am very much looking forward to trying this with them tomorrow 🙂 Thank you for your lovely comments. x

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Stargazing Live! | Climbing Rainbows says:
    January 3, 2013 at 5:03 pm

    […] more space science activity ideas have a look at Science Sparks, as well as having a go at making your own craters there is a long list of  games, crafts and […]

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  2. The ABC of Science Play - Science Sparks | Science Sparks says:
    January 8, 2013 at 9:37 pm

    […] is craters- make some craters using flour, cocoa powder and some […]

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  3. Space, our latest frontier | Memphis-style Homeschool says:
    August 28, 2013 at 8:06 pm

    […] story-time and nap we moved outside to explore moon craters. The boys dropped various sized rocks into a pie plate filled with flour overlaid with cocoa to see […]

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    March 8, 2014 at 12:25 pm

    […] Making craters […]

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  5. 10 Night Sky Activities for Kids - Creative Family Fun says:
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    […] Learn how craters are formed and make your own moon craters with Science Sparks. […]

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