How to watch the eclipse with kids

How do you watch a solar eclipse with kids?

Monday marks Silvia Piccinotti’s sixth total solar eclipse. This time around, she traveled to Lake Travis in the Austin, Texas, area with friends and family, including 13 kids.

Piccinotti is a Cubmaster and author of the children’s book “Magical and Unusual Solar Eclipse.” She shares tips on how to make the most of this astronomical event for kids.

Tips for watching the eclipse with kids

Protecting kids’ eyes

Eclipse glasses work well for older kids, who are better at following directions and can easily find the sun in the sky while wearing protection, Piccinotti says.

Eclipse viewers are rectangular pieces of cardboard with solar filters in the center that provide a broader range of protection. For younger kids, parents can hold up a solar filter in place and direct the child on where to look.

For concerned parents, the best way to help younger kids see the eclipse is by making a pinhole projection device — a fun, low-cost activity that requires paper or household objects like colliders.

“You can make [projection devices] out of sheets of paper and poke holes through them and then project that onto the ground, onto a white blanket or another piece of paper,” Piccinotti says. “And then you don't have to worry because they're not looking at the sun at all.”

Keep an eye on the weather and traffic

Leave early to get to the location where you plan to view the eclipse and bring things to keep the kids entertained, Piccinotti says.

Monday’s weather in Texas, where Piccinotti and her kids traveled to see the eclipse, isn’t shaping up as she hoped. The group is monitoring the forecast closely and considering driving to another location with clearer skies if needed.

“We are going to have to discuss how far we're willing to go,” she says. “Especially since we have such a large range of ages. Different ages can tolerate a long car drive worse than others.”

But the group might decide it’s not worth the journey. When Piccinotti saw her first eclipse in Salzburg, Austria, in 1999, her family drove out for six hours to find clear skies.

However, for her cousin who stayed in the city, the clouds cleared out right at eclipse times.

“Sometimes strange things happen in the eclipse area,” she says. “I wouldn't count on it, but you might get lucky.”

And if the weather thwarts your eclipse plans, Piccinotti says to remember more eclipses are coming in future years in other parts of the world.

“You can always make a plan — a very long-term plan, even— to see one at some other point in your life,” she says.

Jill Ryan produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Todd Mundt. Allison Hagan adapted it for the web.