Solar Eclipse Activities for Kids

If you’re reading this when I wrote this, the United States is gearing up for a solar eclipse, but even if you’re reading it later, these solar eclipse activities are a lot of fun to add to space unit or to celebrate some future eclipse elsewhere in the world.

For the 2024 eclipse, you can learn about where and when the eclipse will happen from NASA’s website.

There are actually two different kinds of solar eclipses, partial and full, but they both happen because the moon blocks the sun form view (either partially or completely). If you happen to be where the eclipse is in totality, it will get completely dark. Otherwise, the moon will block most of the sun and make really cool crescent-shaped shadows.

It’s worth noting that either way you don’t want to look directly at the sun during an eclipse because it can permanently damage your vision. (These are the glasses I bought; where I live will be 98.5 percent totality so we’re still going to enjoy it. Check the list at NASA for approved suppliers.)

No matter where you are its super fun to talk about and learn about eclipses. That Bald Chick has a good set of printables that talk about what an eclipse is and includes matching, journaling and a word search activity.

Kindergarten Smorgasbord has a free emergent reader printable book on Teachers Pay Teachers, and for older kids you can download diagrams explaining how an eclipse works and discussion questions (these are from SURFF DOGGY on TpT).

Simple Living Creative Learning has a great printable pack for if you are somewhere you can observe the eclipse, total or not. It includes a diagram to label, fill in the blank fact sheets, a word search and a page for kids to write about their experience with the eclipse.

If you will be where the eclipse is happening, you might also want to make a pinhole viewer, which you can do with instructions from Little Cooks Reading Books.

Learning Resources has a printable page you can color and cut out to illustrate what happens during an eclipse, as well as a word search and maze.

Make a glow-in-the-dark eclipse T-shirt with these instructions from Homeschool Superfreak. And make some super simple eclipse cookies with this recipe from The Newlywed Chefs.

Explore the Eclipse with the National Parks Service

Build a Solar System Model with Quilling

Make a Simple Solar System Bracelet

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Learn about American Samoa for Kids

Not all of us live where there is a lot of snow in the winter (or even where it is winter as I write this, but it can still be fun to learn about snow, what it is and why it falls, so let’s get into it!

First, let’s talk snowflake science with The Homeschool Scientist. They have a free prinatble snowflake science less that’s more than 60 pages long and good for multiple grade levels. The blog post linked here includes some fun snow facts, information about how snowflakes form and why they are both six-sided and (probably) all different.

Expressive Monkey has a great post about how snowflakes are formed and why they have six arms, and also shows some of the pictures taken by W. A. Bentley in the 1920s (more on him below).

You can also grab a free snow facts worksheet with space for kids to draw their own unique snowflakes from Education.com. Simple Living Creative Learning also has a paid snow study resource set that includes things like different types of snowflakes, the snow cycle, symmetry drawing with snowflakes, tips for snow safety, snow-related vocabulary and more.

Homeschool Superfreak has another great page for learning about snowflakes, which includes information about Snowflake Bentley, a great book to read (and person to learn about). It includes lesson plan ideas and links to activities.

Speaking of activities, if you happen to have snow around you can make snow ice cream or maple candy, paint on snow or with snow, or do some snow science experiments. If you get a ton of snow you could maybe even build an igloo or snow structure.

If you don’t get snow you can learn about how animals keep warm in the snow and cold temperatures with this experiment from I Can Teach My Child. Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls can help you learn why big paws (or snowshoes) make it easier to walk in the snow. Or make a snowstorm in a jar like this one from MomBrite.

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