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Fashionable? No. But this wearable viewer is the best way to get a great view of the solar eclipse without frying your eyes. Light from the Sun is focused through a tiny pinhole, then projected onto a screen to create a solar show for your eyes only! The oversized box blocks out ambient light, giving you a safe but clear view of the Sun. And, if you’re lucky enough to experience a solar eclipse, you can watch the action as the moon moves across the Sun.

NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN. Even a moment's viewing can damage your eyes forever! Even a partial solar eclipse can cause severe eye damage, so stay safe and always use a projector like this one for eclipse watching or solar viewing.

Eclipses occur when the moon passes directly between the sun and the earth. This blocks the sun's light, casting a moon-shadow on the surface of the earth below. During most eclipses, the sun and the moon aren't quite lined up perfectly, so the sun's light is only partially blocked. During a partial solar eclipse, the sun appears crescent-shaped, like the moon. (When safely viewed through a projector, of course.) Very rarely, the sun and the moon line up perfectly, creating an amazing astronomical show for anyone standing in the path of the moon's shadow — a total solar eclipse. Total solar eclipses are very special events, but even a partial eclipse is an exciting chance to experience the moon's motion directly. So have fun — and safe — solar viewing!

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Set the box with the open side up. Tape white paper to one of the inside walls. This will be your projection screen.

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Near the bottom of the opposite side of the box, cut out a square hole. Cover the hole with a square of tin foil, then use a pushpin to poke a tiny hole in the foil.

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Fold the box flaps closed. Then, on the side near the tin foil, cut the flaps so that you can fit your head through the hole. When you’re done cutting, tape up the box.

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Lift the box over your head with the pinhole behind your head. Stand with your back to the Sun and look at the paper projection screen. You’ll see a projection of the Sun inside the box! And if there’s an eclipse, you can safely watch the moon move across the Sun.

If you can’t see the projection clearly, you may need to tape up gaps at the corners of the box to prevent light from leaking in. You can also tape or staple a dark piece of fabric to the box so that it drapes around your shoulders. This will help block out even more light and give you an ever clearer view.

large shipping box

craft knife

white paper

duct tape

aluminum foil

push pin

Wearable Solar Viewer

easy craft

3 material crafts

astronomy

When learning about what comets are really made of, we decided to make our own! This fun experiment with sand and ice is not only out of this world, but doubles as a fun sensory project.

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After learning that comets are truly large balls of ice and gritty dirt-like sand, we got out our winter gloves and set to work making our own.

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We used a small bin of sand with a scoop.

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Next, we prepared a large bowl of crushed ice. 

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The kids placed a pile of ice, topped by sand on a tray.

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They experimented with adding water to get the mixture to stick together a bit. They moved the mixture around with their gloved hands as well to get it good and mixed up. 

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Next, they scooped the mixture into a small bowl.

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They added more water to make a nice soup. Then we put the bowls in the freezer for a couple of hours. 

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When the mixture had frozen solid, we dipped the bottom of the bowl into warm water to loosen our comet, then flipped it over onto our tray. Here is our finished comet. We took them outside and threw them off our second story deck to demonstrate what happens when a comet crashes onto a planet. Smashing them onto the patio below was a fun sensory experience, too.

sand

crushed ice

water

small bowl

gloves or mittens 

Frozen Ice and Sand Comets

craft

nature crafts

science project

solar system

In our weekly kid testing lab, we're constantly trying out new project ideas for upcoming crates and magazines. With long summer days in mind, we decided to learn how to make our own sundial to tell time using shadows! Follow along to discover how our planet's rotation in conjunction with the sun's angle allows you to tell time.<h2>Learn how to make a sundial! </h2>

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First, start by creating bases for your time markers: roll out little balls of clay, about 1 inch wide. Gently press them onto a tabletop surface to create a flat bottom; this will help prevent unwanted rolling! We made nine, but you can make more - try creating one for each hour of daylight.

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Roll out one larger ball of clay, about 3 inches (7.6 cm)&nbsp;wide. Stick one end of the wooden stick into the clay. This will be the gnomon (pronounced "no-men"), or the center part of your sundial that creates the shadow marking the time of day.

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To create the time marker flags, fold white labels or tape over toothpick ends. Write out different hours on each flag (1 pm, 2 pm, etc). Stick the other end of the toothpick into each ball of clay.

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Cut a piece of string about 10 inches (25.4 cm)&nbsp;long. This will be our guide to ensure our time markers are placed equidistant from the center point or gnomon, which also improves accuracy.

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Now go outside and find a nice sunny spot to place your sundial, where it won't be disturbed. Place your gnomon in the center of where you want to build your sundial. At the top of the hour (ie. 10 am, not 10:30 am), align the string with the shadow of the stick, so that one end of the string starts at the gnomon. Place the appropriate time marker at the other end of the string. Continue placing time markers, with the help of the string, at each subsequent hour of the day.

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By the end of the day, you should have all of your markers placed in a semi-circle around your gnomon, thus creating a sundial!

wooden dowel (or pencil)

toothpicks

labels (or tape)

marker

How to Make a Sundial

space

clay project

arts & crafts

pretend play

Become a rocket scientist by building your own clay rocket with air dry clay and an old toilet paper tube!

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Missing supplies? Get them from <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/us/store/cp/supplies" target="_blank">the KiwiCo Store</a>!

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Grab a ball of white clay about the size of your palm, and use the rolling pin to roll it out until it is long enough for it to wrap around the toilet paper tube.

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Use the clay knife tool to cut the rolled out clay to the height of the toilet paper tube.

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Wrap the clay around the toilet paper tube.

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Trace your circular container/lid onto your colorful construction paper and cut out this shape. This will become your rocket’s nose cone.

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Roll the shape into a cone and tape it into place. Use the toilet paper tube to figure out how wide of a cone you want. Add it to the top of your rocket!

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Cut out two triangles for rocket fins.

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Squish the fins into the sides of the rocket. You may need to add more clay or glue to secure them.

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Decorate! We used some white paper & a colored marker to create a window for our rocket.

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Most rockets are made of 2 or 3 big pieces called “stages”. When the fuel from one stage is used up, the rocket lets go of the stage so it can lighten its load and travel further!
Just like our clay rocket, all rockets have nose cones. Rockets with pointy nose cones (like ours) are designed to fly at supersonic speeds, that’s faster than the speed of sound! Round nose cones are used for slower rockets and most airplanes.

White Air-Dry Clay

Clay Tools Set

Toilet Paper Roll

Circular Container for Tracing (~7 cm wide)

Construction Paper

Pen or Pencil

Tape

Scissors

Markers, Colored Pencils, or Paint (optional)

Clay Rocket

Learn more about the planets in our solar system with this charming pom-pom mobile! A perfect DIY gift for the babies (or space-loving grownups) in your life.

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Missing any of these supplies? Get them from <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/us/store/cp/supplies" target="_blank">the KiwiCo Store</a>!

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Reference your Pom-Pom Set Quick Start Guide for detailed steps on how to make pom poms.

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For Mercury, Venus, and Mars, use the smallest pom-pom winders & trim guides, and the color of yarn that best matches those planets.

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For Earth, mix green and blue yarn when winding to get a marbled look! When you’re ready, use the second smallest pom-pom trim guide.

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For Jupiter, mix red, brown, and orange yarn on the largest winder. Then shape it with the largest pom-pom trim guide.

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For Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, use the medium sized pom-pom winder and trim guide.

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To make rings for Saturn and Uranus, trace the pom-pom guide that matches their size on a piece of felt.

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Draw a second, slightly larger circle around the one you traced. (Uranus’s ring should be slightly smaller than Saturn’s). Then cut out the rings.

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Slip the rings over the planets. Secure with two dots of glue on either side of the planet.

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Prepare your hoop for hanging! Tie four lengths of yarn to equidistant edges of the hoop.

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Next, Tie the four strings together in a loop. Hang and adjust as needed to get a level hoop.

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Attach your planets to your mobile hanger using more yarn or fishing wire. For planets with rings, slip the wire between the ring and the planet before tying your knot.

Tip: It’s much easier to do this when the mobile hoop&nbsp;is already hanging!

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Our solar system is so big that scientists had to make up a new unit to measure how big it is! An AU (astronomical unit) is the distance from the Earth to the Sun (about 93 million miles). The furthest planets are about 50 AU out (more than 46 billion miles), but even that’s only a tiny part of the solar system. The edge of the solar system is 50,000 AU away.

Pom-Pom Maker Set

Jewel Tone Yarn Set

Neutral Yarn Set

Rainbow Yarn Set

Stick or Hoop to hang your mobile from

Felt

Glue

Fishing Wire (optional)

Pom-Pom Solar System

household craft

homemade craft

Give your walls an out-of-this-world accent with a space banner!

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Missing any of these supplies? Get them from <a href="https://www.kiwico.com/us/store/cp/supplies" target="_blank">the KiwiCo Store</a>!

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Paint the background of the banner black. Let dry.

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Use a toothbrush to flick white (or other color) paint onto the banner to make stars. Let dry.

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We used a toothpick to clean up the edges and give the planet a marbled look.

25 best space crafts projects for kids

Screen-free fun!