Phases of the Moon Activity: Homemade Oreo Cookie Recipe (Yum!!)

We filled out a worksheet (photo above) and went on to the Phases of the Moon lapbook pages below. I didn’t like this lapbook quite as much as the others because it didn’t include the gibbous phase (look at the egg collage: middle picture/top row) when there’s a lot of light and only a sliver of shadow. I printed out the worksheet from the teacherfile box (all the Evan Moor books available as printables such as history pockets, take it to your seat science centers and more).  I got my subscription for 30% off from homeschool buyers coop. You can also make your own Homeschool IDs there.

Next we went on to showing the light and shadows on oreo cookies. I’ve seen this activity done with “real” oreos (sorry can’t remember when or where), but I’ve had this homemade oreo recipe to try out for two years.  This is the first time we actually used it. Oh my goodness, those cookies were awesome!! I’ll share the recipe below.  First, here are oreo moon phases:

First we followed the sheet exactly, making sure the light and shadows were aligned properly.  Then we started with the full moon at the top and I had the kids try to figure out what came next (picture below). They had to concentrate pretty hard to do this.

Homemade Oreos:
And now the recipe:
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (it called for “Dutch process cocoa, I used Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar (I used 1 1/4)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons room-temperature unsalted butter (1 1/4 sticks)
1 large egg

Place very small spoonfuls of batter on the greased cookie pan.  Be sure not to make the blobs too large because they flatten and spread out a lot. Since we made ours into proper looking oreos (cream in the middle) after this activity, the cookies wound up huge (larger then I wanted the kids to be eating in one sitting).

Bake for 9 minutes at 375.

Frosting:
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

The print out has been in my recipe box forever, but there is a tribute: “Adapted from Retro Desserts, Wayne Brachman.” Again, sorry I don’t have an original link.

You may be interested in the posts in this series:

• Earth Science Unit — Gravity
• Earth Science — Gravity: the planets, moon and space
• Astronomy Unit: Refraction, Vacuum, Saturn’s Rings
• Astronomy Unit: Inner and Outer Planets, The Asteroid Belt
• Astronomy Unit: The Moon (Day 1)
• Astronomy Unit: The Moon (Day 2)
• Phases of the Moon Activity: Homemade Oreo Cookie Recipe (Yum!!)

You might also be interested in these related posts (we did these when my kids were older… ie. elementary):

• Earth Science Packet: Layers of the Earth, Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, 4 Types of Mountains and More!
• Earth Science Layers of the Earth Activity
• Earth Science: Plate Movement Hands-On Activiites
• Earth Science Packet: Layers of the Atmosphere
• Earth Science Activities: Earthquakes, Plate Movement and Mountain Making
• Learning about Latitude and Longitude, Using a Compass
• Earth Science: Timeline of Earth Activity – A Montessori activity that is meant to impress kids with the enormity of time on Earth.
• Earth’s Geologic Timeline  – How scientists divide Earth’s history into eons and eras
• Earth Science: Plate Movement Hands-On Activities

• How to Make a Earthquake Shake Table
• Awesome Gelatin Volcano and other Activities
• Earth Science Activities: Tissue Paper Volcano
• Free Water and Water Cycle Resources
• Topographic Maps
• The Three Types of Rocks: Sedimentary, Metamorphic, Igneous
• Free Rocks and Minerals Packet
• World Biomes Pin Map
• Preschool Geography