Eclipse Musings

Scroll down for activities - including art!
Our Favorite Eclipse Memory
In 2017 there was a solar eclipse in Florida.
We arrived in Cocoa Beach from our road trip just in time to enjoy the mid-point from the beach beside the Pier. We didn't come to town for the eclipse. We came because I was starting a NASA internship.

The girls didn't realize that an eclipse was a big deal. They were just thrilled to be playing in sand on the beach. We positioned ourselves in a way that would discourage them from viewing directly, then they simply played in the sand with new sand toys. 
They commented that it seemed unexpectedly dark for a while. We looked at shadows and reflections. We enjoyed being together.

So... In 2017 we started my NASA internship with an eclipse. And we ended it watching a rocket launch together. That was super special, too. As my friends walked for graduation in Ohio, I stood beside my family watching the 🚀 launch.

2024 Eclipse
Now it's 2024. Tonight there was another beautiful rocket launch. Tomorrow will be an eclipse. We aren't traveling this time to catch totality. We are simply going to enjoy our partial eclipse from here, together. Here's a picture of what the partial eclipse will look like from Cape Canaveral / Cocoa Beach, from NASA. 
it will be a progression through. Hmmmm I think we need to re-create this with food. We chose pancakes!
and paper, too. Her figurine enjoyed jumping around.

Here are some activities that others have made about the eclipse:

Make Your Own Eclipse Viewer
Our favorite viewer was super simple. Just a piece of cardboard, poked with a needle in a few places, and a white piece of paper. We could fully adjust it for a nicely sharp focused image.
Here is a photo of what it looked like on the paper: a lot of little crescents!
NASA has a great tutorial for a box viewer. 
Here is a link:
We had fun making our own.
First, we gathered the materials.
Then we started piecing it together.
We had to cut out some holes.
We put some white paper inside.
We added aluminum foil over an eye hole and poked a tiny hole with a pin. Then we taped everything into place.

We were ready to use it to study the sun! 

☀️ Sun Party Ideas ☀️ 
NASA has some fun ideas for a party revolving around the sun! 

One of their ideas was to make special shields for children's eclipse glasses, out of paper plates.
We made some, too!

I found a great video that explains the process on Facebook, from Simply Kinder. Here's a link to their website: https://www.simplykinder.com/
And here's a link to their video on their Facebook page.
After we saw the video we decided to decorate ours!
Here's a picture of everything you need to do this activity yourself.
- eclipse glasses*
- paper plate
- scissors
- pencil
- crayons 
* For younger kids the glasses tend to fall off. Attach a piece of elastic through the straps of the eyewear so you keep it in place. This does not remove all risk. Do not spend a lot of time outside looking at the sun during the eclipse.

Color Blending
Did you notice that we only put out red, yellow, and blue crayons? That is because we practiced blending colors with our crayons. 
Here's a link to a recording we made a few years ago when we sang as we blended colors. https://youtu.be/r7KMrgdwO-A
The science behind blending colors is called Color Theory!
Want to learn more about color theory? Our friends at Kitchen Table Classroom made a little lesson with a free printable.
Here is a link!

NOVA made a great documentary about this solar eclipse.
It explains the beauty of the eclipse, interviews the scientists who are studying the eclipse, and highlights the importance of properly caring for our eyes during a solar eclipse.

Eyes
We made some cards to help us review the parts of the eye.
Here is a photo of the diagram we compiled a few years ago from a few different anatomy guides. 
We wrote some of the easier words on cards, like eye, lens, lash, iris, retina, pupil, and tear duct.
Let's keep our eyes safe as we plan for the eclipse.
Here's a thorough explanation from Phys.org

We also made an easier depiction of the eye for our youngest child. It shows white, iris, and pupil.
I wrote a little song in cursive below the eye. It goes:
This is my eye. This is my eye. This is my eye. This oh this is my eye. This is the pupil this is the iris. This is the white this oh this is my eye.
If I record it I'll include a link, but for now here's a song that we really like about the parts of an eye.
 Feedback from a 4 year old: "It's kind of funny because the eyes are singing, but eyes don't have mouths! Haha":

She wanted to make her own but felt intimidated drawing an eye. So we put it in the window to trace. All you need is a couple of blank pieces of paper, markers, and tape to do something like this yourself. 

I am not sharing a printable for this one. Why? Sometimes we need to let the kids watch us make these simple drawings up ourselves. It helps them to understand the whole process. 
"This is not what my eyes really look like, I decided to do fun decorations." 
...and then she played with eye makeup. It was goofy fun.

What is The Sun?
"The sun is a ball of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace!" 
We love this song. Here's a link to it by They Might be Giants!

We love singing this song about how the Earth goes around the sun. We made this video.

Today is a great day to sing the classic children's piece "Mr. Sun"
Here's us singing it a few years ago.

What Do Plants do with the Sun?
Photosynthesize!
Here's another blog post that I wrote explaining how plants develop with the help of light.

Final Thoughts
Perhaps this eclipse will mark the beginning of something new for us, like the last eclipse did, too. It sure was special to spend so much time as a family.
What does an eclipse mean for you?

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