Craters of the Moon Demo
Small rocks dropped into a cake pan filled with flour and cocoa powder make cool Moon craters.
Demonstrating how craters formed on the Moon can be a fun and easy activity for teaching your kids about space, astronomy, or astrophysics for that matter. All you need to do is fill a pie plate or cake pan 1 - 2 inches deep with flour, or old pancake mix that you don't want like me, and sprinkle cocoa powder on top to simulate Moon soil. Stand over the pan and drop small rocks onto the Moon surface to see the types of craters that form. Try different sized rocks and throwing them harder or softer to vary the effect. If your Moon soil becomes homogeneous, simply sprinkle more cocoa powder on top and start again!
CRATERS of the MOON National Monument & Preserve
Cinder Cones
Volcanic Vistas
Cinder Cones
Did you know there is a special place in Idaho full of lava flows and cinder cones? It's called Craters of the Moon and it's a rather "otherworldly" place.
Lava Flows
Volcanic Vistas
Cinder Cones
Basaltic lava as far as the eye can see! These lava flows are a result of hotspot activity beneath the North American plate, which is moving very slowly toward the west.
Volcanic Vistas
Volcanic Vistas
Volcanic Vistas
The hotspot that created Craters of the Moon is now underneath Yellowstone National Park! Evidence of crustal movement over this hotspot exists from the west coast to Wyoming!