Fruity Eclipse

Sunday, May 20th, brought about a partial solar eclipse to our neck of the woods.  And with any phenomena that happens, there's a lesson to be taught!  Bring out the fruit!!

How do you explain an eclipse to a three and five year old?  There is a sane way of doing this!  First, you have to realize that the three year old is only interested in attending the lesson because it is fruit from her plastic food supply that is being used.  If you accept this and her rule of "my fruit, my rules!", things will go much smoother!  Secondly, accept the fact that no matter how much it matters to you, size or shape proportions do not matter to said kids.  Thirdly, try not to go into deep shock when the five year old actually understands the concept and corrects your mistakes!

The first rule:  Sarah's rules rule!  She decided which fruit was going to be used and who was to hold them.
In regards to the second rule: do not pay attention to size or shape of fruit!  The moon (the white ball in Caleb's hand) is at least as big, if not bigger, than the earth... which is the garlic clove in Caleb's other hand.   The sun is the orange in Sarah's hand.
In regards to the third rule:  we showed how the moon goes around the earth while the earth goes around the sun and all the details that go with this particular science lesson.  Then we "reviewed", during which time I misspoke and Caleb corrected me.  I'm quite used to this.

There are a few ways one can safely observe an eclipse:  I think there are special glasses that can be used when looking directly at the sun and I know there are special "filters" that can be placed on cameras and the like to safely photograph/video the occurrence... but that's too fancy and, quite frankly, we don't care about getting that technical;  there is a box method that I remember trying to do in school that requires poking holes in a box and observing the shadow... but that's watching a shadow and we wanted to see the eclipse!; and I know there are sciency places that hold events that allow the public to view it through the methods above... but yeah, not our thing.  So that begs the question, how exactly did we see it....

Being the lovely rednecks that we are, we broke out the {drumroll please} welding helmets! 
When welders weld, they have to wear a special helmet that protects their eyes from the light from the electrical spark that is used to melt and weld the elements.  (That might not be 100% accurate, but pretty close!)  If used in moderation, that same protection can be used to observe the sun, too.  Which is what we did.

Caleb was able to make out what was going on....

....Sarah not so much, but that didn't stop her from trying and enjoying the thrill of the helmet!  We only let the kids look for a few seconds at a time and only every eight to ten minutes or so to make sure they were safe.  In between look-sees, we played domininoes.  I, however, looked more often and for longer periods of time; not enough to endanger my eyes, but just long enough to see little spots afterwards.  You know what I'm talking about!  I mention this in prelude to the following tip:  when observing the sun, challenging your children to a game of dominoes may not be the smartest thing to do.  I was seeing dots everywhere!   

Oh, and by the way...if you're thinking "Hey! I used a welding helmet to look at it and I'm not a redneck!", my response to you would be "Yes, Friend, you are. Just embrace the redneckedness and go with it!"