I've mentioned before that I adore the work of Alice Cantrell. We have a few of her items, they are so whimsical but also factual. We have her Luna Log and it's really inspired us. We hear so much about nature journalling - this is an interesting take! 

When my boys were younger we would simply try to match the moon. Using Phases of the Moon cards we would try to match the card to the moon and therefore identify which phase it was in. Now the boys are older we have tried some demonstrations of the sun, moon and earth with our planets and we also use our Hugg a Planet Earth with Moon. 

We have now set up on our display board a Luna Calendar. So far we've kept this separate from our daily calendar but perhaps one day will we will merge them. This has helped the boys identify the phase of the moon but also to have a greater understanding of all the phases. I made the calendar nice and clear to suit our needs, I used online information and cut/pasted it to a format that I liked. 

Below, also on our display board Caspar (7 yrs) has arranged the phases of the moon with definition cards according to the phases in the October calendar, starting with the waning gibbous and going all the way through to the full moon. This was a fantastic process for his understanding but it also makes a nice display and daily reminder.  

Not all of our nights are clear enough but the boys have been keeping a Luna Journal. Making note of the date, phase of the moon along with their illustration. Otis has numerous black note books as he is still loving everything nocturnal and he is always drawing on black with his white and grey shades of pastel pencils. My left hander in Caspar has some trouble with the smudging of the pastel but it's still lovely. We could add the stars and I'm hoping Caspar will make these observations on his own soon.

You can see Otis' entry here (he is 4 yrs). His moon looks similar every night. I appreciate that he is still absorbing the subtleties of the moon and it's phases. We found keeping a Luna Journal or Log a fantastic way to make observations of the night sky - which is often overlooked in our busy lives. It gives us time and allows us to fully appreciate the wonders of our earth and our solar system.