Space rocks and impact craters
Your mission: Crate your own craters!
This resource was created by Space Expo in collaboration with NSO, The Netherlands 2026
In this lesson, pupils discover what types of stones and rocks float around in space. We explain the difference between asteroids, meteoroids, meteors, meteorites and comets. These are similar, but slightly different.
The lesson ends with a brief explanation of how impact craters are formed and a fun experiment in which pupils make their own craters on a simulated planet or moon surface. They use various objects to create the impact craters.
Observing, Comparing, Drawing Conclusions
Understand the difference between asteroids, meteoroids, meteors, meteorites and comets.
Find out how impact craters are formed.
- Large container
- Thick layer of flour
- Thin layer of cocoa powder
- Balls of various sizes, such as marbles, ping pong balls, and everything in between
- Small stones of various sizes
- Worksheet “Craters on the moon”
This resource is only available in Dutch
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