Solar Eclipse Party Ideas


It's no secret that the solar eclipse is going to be one of the most exciting cosmological things to happen this year.  Here's a bunch of learning ideas for your pre-eclipse studies:



Moon, Sun, and Earth

There is so much on the internet about the upcoming eclipse that it would be impossible to list it all here.  I really like this solar eclipse viewer idea and it would be very cheap to make.

This sun to earth comparison model is easy to make.  The pony bead represents the earth and is roughly 9mm across.  I think the size comparison makes the solar eclipse even more amazing.

A study of the eclipse must include a look at the moon.  These oreo phases of the moon is a classic.


Astronaut Experiment Boxes

I love this glove box idea from Gift of Curiosity.  She had her kids explore and label rocks and then sort them.  It would be neat to have a whole line of these at a party for kids to explore.

Perhaps one box would have two bowls with pompoms in them that children can move with a pair of tongs.  The gloves would make it even more challenging.

One box could have a sensory experience like moon flour that kids could explore and manipulate through the gloves.

Another easy idea would be to have some toys that kids are used to building with (like this duplos rocket) and to have them try to match a shape with limited visibility.


Astronaut Games

A very simple activity would be some black play dough, black rice, or black sand with Safari space toob figurines.  You can use these free 3-part cards to turn it into a reading or spelling game.  Letters could be written on glow-in-the-dark stars.  I like these story stones for space adventures, too.

Most preschoolers and early elementary kids would probably love to participate in some astronaut pretend play.  Wearing costumes, eating food out of a bag, or blast into outer space in a rocket.  This space station dramatic play center would be so cool!


Stars and Constellations

A study of space wouldn't be complete without a study of constellations.  This constellation viewer would be fun against a tent wall or make larger pictures on the fridge with these magnetic glow-in-the-dark stars.

These star life cycle 3-part cards would be helpful for a study of the stars too.


Technology

We love Universe Sandbox at our house!  It's a video game that allows you to manipulate the physics of the universe.  What if the sun was bigger?  What if the Milky Way was a different shape?  What happens if the Earth tilts a bit more on the axis?  You can play around with how the universe really works and send it crashing into disaster.  Pretty fun.






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