Simple Ways to Safely View an Eclipse

When we heard about the eclipse I thought it was a similar situation to the last one and we would not be seeing it this far north. When we watched it down in Fort Riley Kansas our family up here in Michigan did not get to see it. The upcoming eclipse means I am diving into rebuilding our unit study and gathering up a few safe ways for the neighborhood to view the eclipse with our kids. These simple ways to safely view an eclipse is just the ticket.

Simple Ways to Safely View an Eclipse

Projection for safely viewing an eclipse.

This is how we viewed the eclipse last time. The photo above is of our family and another military family that we met up on the hill on the post. They had come up in hopes of seeing the eclipse with sunglasses which if you have ever tried to do you know does not work. They lucked out and we were armed with a way to see the eclipse and some S’mores to make the night fun.

What you need:

  • Binoculars or telescope
  • Clipboard and paper or a white poster board

What to do:

Point the large side of one side of your binoculars at the sun. DO NOT look through it to aim. Place paper or poster board on the other side to project the image of the sun. The closer you keep the viewing device to the paper the crisper the projected image will be. the further you go out the larger it will be.

Safety glasses for viewing the solar eclipse

This year we had a bit more warning than the last eclipse so I grabbed a few pairs of the viewing glasses to allow direct viewing of the eclipse. These simple glasses have a built in layer of silver that keeps the suns raise from damaging your eyes. While it is too late to order these off Amazon you can still grab them at Walmart and local gas stations. Test them by looking at a light. You should only be able to see a very dim orange bulb and none of the light radiating from it.

Pinhole viewer for the solar eclipse

If all else fails you can create a pin hole viewer to watch the eclipse. Poke a hole inside a poster board or paper plate and project the sun onto a flat surface. If you want a brighter option for viewing you can make a personal pin hole projector with a cereal box.

Simple Ways to Safely View an Eclipse

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