Why does the Moon Shine? + more videos | #aumsum #kids #children #space?

The Moon shines because it reflects the light from the Sun, just like a shiny ball reflects light when you shine a flashlight on it.

Imagine you have a white balloon and a flashlight. When you turn on the flashlight and point it at the balloon, the balloon glows bright, that's how the Moon works! The Sun is like the flashlight, and the Moon is like the balloon. Even though the Moon doesn’t make its own light, it catches the sunlight and sends some of it back to Earth.

When you look up at the sky, sometimes the whole Moon is bright, and other times only part of it is lit, that’s because the Moon moves around the Earth. Depending on where it is in its path, different parts of the Moon face the Sun, so we see different amounts of light reflected back to us.

Sometimes you can even see the shadow of the Earth on the Moon, that's what makes a lunar eclipse, like when the Moon turns red or dark for a little while. It’s just like when your shadow falls on a wall and blocks some of the light from the lamp.