The Sun lights half the Moon. As the Moon orbits Earth, we see different amounts of that lit half. Ordinary phases are not made by Earth’s shadow. A full phase cycle takes about 29.5 days, not exactly 28 days. Eclipses require a special alignment because the Moon’s orbit is tilted. Safety: Never view the Sun or an eclipse as part of this task. No bright lamp needed. Stop: Stop at paper geometry; no sky observation or eclipse viewing is required.

Materials: Paper; Pencil; Eight paper Moon disks 1. Draw Sun at the left and Earth near the page centre. Make a Moon orbit circle around Earth. Draw parallel sunlight arrows left to right. Put eight Moon disks around the circle, starting at Earth’s left and moving anticlockwise. On every disk shade its right half dark: the half away from the Sun. Label diagram not to scale. 2. Below, draw a separate row of eight appearance circles as seen from Earth. Label and mark the lit fraction: new—none; waxing crescent—less than half; first quarter—half; waxing gibbous—more than half; full—all; waning gibbous—more than half; last quarter—half; waning crescent—less than half. No fixed left/right lit orientation is required. 3. Match the row to orbit positions: new left; first quarter below; full right; last quarter above. Put intermediate phases between them. Explain why the orbit disks and appearance row show different viewpoints. 4. Draw two alignment strips: solar eclipse, Sun → Moon → Earth, Moon’s shadow reaches Earth; lunar eclipse, Sun → Earth → Moon, Earth’s shadow reaches Moon. Add: most new and full Moons are not eclipses because the alignment misses. 5. Cover the row labels and narrate a cycle. Contrast one ordinary phase with one eclipse using geometry, not a shadow explanation for all phases. Done: Finish both viewpoints, eight phase names, the cycle duration and two eclipse strips. Proof: Keep the diagrams. Note adult-supplied phase order or eclipse alignments. Stop: Stop at paper geometry; no sky observation or eclipse viewing is required.