The Moon is one of our most visible neighbours in the Solar System, we can usually see it at night and sometimes during the day as well. If you’ve got a child fascinated by the Moon, then here are 21 mega moon facts for kids for them to enjoy:

Don’t miss our best content straight to your inbox! Sign up now and get our FREE newsletters packed with fun ideas and things to do with the kids, family-friendly recipes, expert advice, parenting tips and great competitions.

The old saying goes that the Moon is “made of cheese”, and some people swear they see the Man in the Moon as a face on the Moon sometimes. Here are some actual facts about the Moon that your child might like to know.

You May Also Enjoy Goodnight Moon and More Marvellous Moon-Themed Books for Kids

Moon Facts For Kids to Wow Their Friends With

1. The Moon is over a quarter of the size of the Earth. It is just under 3,500km wide, while the Earth is about 12,600km wide.

2. The Moon is thought to be over 4.5 billion years old!

3. The gravity on the Moon is one-sixth of the Earth’s gravity. If a person dropped a ball while standing on the moon, it would still fall down but it would fall much more slowly.

4. The gravity of the Moon also pulls on the Earth, this causes two high tides on Earth every day – one every 12 hours and 25 minutes.

5. The first man to step on the Moon was Neil Armstrong on July 21, 1969.

6. The first words Armstrong said when he landed on the Moon were “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”

7. The footprints left by Armstrong and his fellow astronauts Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin will stay there for 10 million years because there’s no erosion on the surface of the Moon.

8. The Moon has no atmosphere, so astronauts have to wear spacesuits and carry oxygen to breathe.

9. On the Moon, the sky looks black because there’s no atmosphere. Whereas on Earth the sky looks blue because the blue rays of the sun bounce off the gases in Earth’s atmosphere making it look blue.

10. Because there is no atmosphere on the Moon, there’s no life on the moon (apart from when we visit it).

You May Also Enjoy 20 Supersonic Space Crafts For Kids To Make

11. There are lots of craters (bowl-shaped holes) on the surface of the Moon because asteroids and comets have bumped into the surface of the Moon over time.

12. The Moon is the 5th largest moon in the Solar System.

13. The Moon doesn’t have any light of its own. The moonlight we see is sunlight reflected on the moon’s surface.

14. Just like the Earth orbits the Sun, the Moon orbits the Earth.

15. From the Earth we can only see one side of the Moon; the other side is always turned away from us.

16. One day on the Moon lasts for 27 Earth days because it takes the Moon 27.3 days to go around the Earth.

17. The Moon travels at 3,673 km/hr around the Earth.

18. As the Moon orbits the Earth, the Sun lights up different parts of it, making it seem as if the Moon is changing shape. In actual fact, it’s just our view of it that is changing. Sometimes it looks like a crescent, sometimes like half a circle, sometimes a full circle.

19. It takes two days to travel to the Moon from Earth in a spacecraft.

20. The Moon has mountains on it and the tallest mountain is called Mons Huygens, which is 5.5km in height.

21. The Moon is never still, it rotates on its axis and it also constantly orbits Earth.

You May Also Enjoy Fun Astronomy for Kids (Otherwise known as stargazing)

Which of the moon facts for kids did you enjoy best? Leave a comment below and let us know – we’d love to hear from you!