The upcoming Solar Eclipse is a wonderful opportunity to merge earth science lessons with day to day life. My kiddos are so excited to study the phenomenon in our homeschool before the event takes place on Monday, April 8th. We are pausing our usual nature study lessons for the week to soak up all the knowledge we can, and have fun doing so, of course!
Natalie from @Raising_Up_Wild_Things has created a beautiful Solar Eclipse Mini Unit complete with illustrated diagrams, practical hands-on projects, and the sweetest flip book to demonstrate the phases of totality. The guide is $4.00 and is an easy pdf to save and print. I recommend printing the diagrams and flip book on cardstock paper if you have some on hand. You will want to print a flip book from the files for each child, as well as their own coloring sheet. The coloring sheet is also listed in the Freebies section of her website, if you wish to download that on its own. You can choose to spend one day studying the eclipse, or break down the activities across multiple days. We have selected to do one activity from her guide per day to spread our study out over the week.
We are also using a Free Solar Eclipse Resource from my pal Lyndsey @TreehouseSchoolhouse, which includes a scientific reading, writing prompt, activity list, poetry, and an art observation. This file is very similar in format to their seasonal nature studies, so the flow pairs well with our usual lesson format. I printed the files and added them to our nature menu/morning menu folders. (Note: these are our favorite menu folders). If you’re looking for reading suggestions, educational videos and neat Nasa links, Treehouse Schoolhouse also has a detailed blog with book lists and web resources. Be sure to check out her snack recipe ideas and the eclipse timer she has linked, too!
Keeping up with our usual theme of notebooking, my children began creating their notebook pages to document their learning with a Solar Eclipse Drawing Tutorial from Art for Kids Hub. We greatly enjoy their Youtube channel and find many of our notebook drawing ideas on their page. My kids complete their drawing first in pencil, outline with a thin sharpie marker, then color in either crayon, colored pencil or markers, erasing and pencil lines at the end. Later in the week they will add their narration in written form on the page, and we will add the completed pages to their Spring Nature Notebooks. Note, if your child is having trouble with the size variations of the circles, it might be helpful to offer them circles to trace for this project.
We can’t wait to view the Solar Eclipse next Monday! My children were so eager to test out their Eclipse Viewing Glasses and tell their Daddy how important it will be to wear them during the spectacular event. I have them set out on our their little nature/tinker shelf along with some learning resources and felt pieces for them to model and play with throughout the week. You can recreate this simple felt activity using pieces of black and yellow felt to demonstrate an eclipse’s phases of totality. To see our little eclipse nature set-up, head to my Instagram. Lastly, if you’re searching for a simple, informative video that shares an overview about what an eclipse is, check out this one from Nat Geo.
