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The Moon and the Sun -- Fun Facts, Books and Craft & Activity Round-Up

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for honest reviews. All opinions are my own.

I have some fun books sitting on my review shelf. One is about the Mid-Autumn Festival. This year (2020) Mid-Autumn Festival is October 1st. Then I received a cute book about the sun and moon for younger kids. And finally I am sharing the new National Geographic Kids Almanac 2021 because of course it has something about the sun and moon. It has something about everything! As I was thinking about these books I thought it would be fun to share a bit about the moon and sun as well as some crafts and activities to go with them. 


Let's start with Moon Messenger: A Family Reunion During the Mid-Autumn Festival by Wei Jie. This is a bilingual book in English and Chinese. It tells the story of a family who is apart for the Mid-Autumn Festival. The boy and his mom are missing the dad who is away for work. The boy sends a special message through the moon so they whole family will be looking at the same moon during the festival.


I love that the book is in both English and Chinese. It gives it a bit more authenticity to the Chinese festival. I also love the simple message of the story--the timeless thought of being with loved ones under the same moon even when not together. Let's face it this year that message is an important one to remember. I also love how there is information about the Mid-Autumn Festival at the end of the book. 

As usual Tuttle Publishing's books works to educate the reader about an Eastern culture. Be sure to check out this wonderful book and learn a bit about the Mid-Autumn Festival and the importance of the moon during it.


Our next book is the second in the Happy County series. It is Sun and Moon Together by Ethan Long. This book is suggested for ages 3 to 6. It has words next to many of the pictures and reminds me of Richard Scarry books. I loved those type of books when I was beginning to read. The book goes through what the sun sees and then the moon for about two days. It also has informative pages about each the sun and the moon.

This book is a fun introduction to words as well as to the sun and moon. I love how there are questions asking you to find things in the pictures. Then there are pages about the water cycle (for the sun) and the phases of the moon and tides and more so it introduces a bit of science to this younger age child. The pictures are fun and the animal characters are cute.

Be sure to check out this fun filled book that has so many lessons and more in it.


Our final book being reviewed today is the National Geographic Kids Almanac 2021. The Almanac covers just about any topic so I am throwing it into this post but will probably bring it out for some other ones as well. As always it is divided into sections: Your World 2021, Awesome Exploration, Amazing Animals, Wonders of Nature, Space and Earth, Fun and Games, Science and Technology, Culture Connection, Going Green, History Happens,  and Geography Rocks. Each page is full of information as well as amazing photographs and graphics. There is something in it for everyone. 

To show my point here are some things I found about the moon and sun in this edition:
  1. "Astronauts say the moon smells like wet ashes." (page 112)
  2. "There is real gold in the sun." (page 131)
  3. "The sun also converts about four million tons (3,628,739 t) of matter to energy every second." (page 131)
  4. "Solar storms occur about 2,000 times every eleven years, or once every two days." (page 131)
  5. There will be a supermoon on April 26 in North and South American and April 27 in other continents. There will also be more supermoons on May 26 and June 24. There will be a total lunar eclipse on May 26. There will be a blue moon on August 22, 2020. (page 130)
  6. "The Inca called gold 'the sweat of the sun' and silver 'the tears of the moon'." (page 192)
  7. In Greek Mythology, Apollo was the god of the sun. In Roman Mythology Diana was the goddess of hunting and the moon. (pages 196-197)
  8. "Some of the recent climate changes can be tied to natural causes--such as changes in the sun's intensity, the unusually warm ocean currents of El Nino, and volcanic activity--but human activities are a major factor as well." (page 217)
  9. "Egypt's Lighthouse of Alexandria, the world's first lighthouse, used mirrors to reflect sunlight for miles out to sea." (page 222)
  10. "On sunny day, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, leans towards the shade." (page 278)
As you can see there are lots of different topics and these are some of the mentions of sun or sunshine and moon. The book goes on with many other topics as well. Definitely worth having as a resource for the year. It even goes into the United States Government and explains the Bill of Rights, has information about all of the Presidents as well as information about the states and countries around the world. There are maps too. This is a one stop place for information. There are even pages with tips on research projects and more. Definitely worth checking out. You can check out some of our reviews of past National Geographic Kids Almanacs here.

Fun Facts about the Moon

  1. Our moon is the fifth largest moon in our solar system.

  2. The moon orbits the earth once every 27.3 days.

  3. We can only see 60% of the surface of the moon. We only see 50% of the surface at any one time.

  4.  The moon is about ¼ the size of earth.

  5. It has mountains, huge craters and flat planes called seas which are made of hardened lava.

  6. The moon does not produce any light. It reflects the light of the sun.

  7. The temperature on the moon ranges from 127 degrees Celsius (water boils at 100)  when the sun is shining on it and -153 degrees Celsius (freezing is 0) when the sun is “down”.

  8. The moon’s gravity force is about one sixth of the Earth’s gravity.

  9. One belief is that the moon was formed when a large rock crashed into Earth.

  10. The moon is drifting away from the Earth. It moves about 3.8 cm from Earth every year.

  11. The moon has been walked on by 12 people—all American men.

 Sources:

 Moon Crafts & Activities

1) Water Color Resist Moon Painting
2) Solar Eclipse Activity Round-Up from Carrots Are Orange
3) Solar System Craft from Red Ted Art
4) Learning About the Moon from Multicultural Motherhood
5) Layers of the Earth and Moon from Red Ted Art
6) Phases of the Moon Mobile
7) Moon Phases for Kids from Little Bins for Little Hands
8) Moon with Craters from JDaniel4's Mom
9) Ramadan Phases of the Moon Mobile
10) Glow-in-the-Dark Puffy Paint Moon Craft from Little Bins for Little Hands
11) Moon Lesson Unit from 123 Homeschool 4 Me
12) Craters of the Moon Activity
13) Aluminum Foil Moon Craft from Mom Brite
14) Origami Moon
15-16) Moon Rocks from Glitter on a Dime and Mom Brite
17) Fizzy Paint Moon from Little Bins for Little Hands
18) Chalk Moon Beams with Reflection Art
19) Preschool Moon Craft from Non-toy Gifts
20) Valentine Climber from Red Ted Art



More Books Featuring the Moon

1) Collection of books about the moon and travel to it.
2) The Little Moon Princess -- one of our favorite picture books when Hazel was younger.
3) To the Moon! (as well as other space related books)
4) Call Me Ixchel: Mayan Goddess of the Moon this is a novel that shares the myths around her life
5) Ramadan Moon--learn why the moon is a big part of Ramadan
6) Margaret and the Moon (information on Margaret Hamilton)


Fun Facts about the Sun

  1. The sun accounts for 99.86% of the mass in the solar system.

  2. Over one million Earths could fit inside the sun.

  3. In about 130 million years the sun will engulf Earth and become a red giant star.

  4. The sun travels at 220 km per second. It takes the sun approximately 225-250 million years to make a complete orbit around the center of the Milky Way.

  5. Eventually the sun will be about the size of the Earth. It will collapse after its red giant phase. It will be known as a white dwarf.

  6. It takes 8 minutes for light to reach Earth from the sun.

  7. The sun is about 4.5 billion years old and it is about half way through its life.

  8. The sun is almost a perfect sphere. It is the closest thing to a perfect sphere that has been observed in nature.

  9. The temperature inside the sun can reach 15 million degrees Celsius. The surface of the sun is closer to 5,600 degrees Celsius.

  10. Sol is the Latin word for sun. It is where solar system comes from.

 

Sources:

 

Sun Crafts & Activities



1-3) Paper Plate Sun Crafts from Tot School Resources, Team Cartwright, and Simple Everyday Mom
4) Paper Bowl Sun Craft from 123 Homeschool 4 Me
5) Winter Solstice Finger Puppets
6) Sun Salute in Yoga (two posts 1 and 2)
7 -9) Handprint suns from Our Wabi Sabi Life, The Preschool Toolbox, and Little Bins for Little Hands
10) Handprint sun card from Taming Little Monsters
11) Coffee Filter Sun Craft from Look We're Learning
12) Solar Prints
13) DIY Solar Prints from Books and Giggles and Mom Brite (not pictured)
14) Solar Recycling Crayons from Mama Smiles
15-16) Natural Sun Dying (Fabric and Yarn)
17) Sun Suncatcher from Rainy Day Mum
18) Shrinking Sun (Summer Solstice Lesson)
19) Sun rays with reflection art
20) Total Solar Eclipse Snacks and Crafts
21) Water Color Resist Sunset
22) Sunset Art with soft pastels
23) Squish Painted Sun from 123 Homeschool 4 Me

More Books Featuring the Sun


1) Winter Solstice 
2-3) What if the sun suddenly disappeared? and Space Ultimate Atlas

So there it all is books about the sun and moon as well as stories involving them as well as fun facts, crafts and activities. The best part is that there are things for different age groups so there is something for everyone. I hope you will check out the new books as well as the amazing crafts and activities shared!

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