If seeing a total solar eclipse is on your bucket list, 2024 is the year to make that happen. On April 8, 2024, parts of North America will experience totality (total darkness!), I have big plans to travel to see it, and I can’t wait. After all, the next total solar eclipse we will get to see in North America will be Aug. 23, 2044. So this is our chance to take the family. To commemorate the fun, I created a 2024 free Solar Eclipse worksheet. Whether you are having a solar eclipse viewing party or just watching the event with family, I have some ideas to help make it even more fun.
(Download the Free Printable solar eclipse worksheet below.)
2024 Total Solar Eclipse Facts
On April 8, 2024, parts of North America will be plunged into total darkness for up to three minutes as the moon passes between the sun and Earth. (This is different than the annular eclipse of 2023, which had only a maximum of 90% of the sun covered. The narrow path of totality will begin in Central Mexico and go through parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and southern Canada. If you are within the path, you are among the lucky few!
Outside of the path of totality, others across North America will be able to see a partial eclipse. Here in Florida, we are expecting to see about 57% coverage. Still very cool. If you want to figure out how much of the solar eclipse you will be able to see from where you live, check out this great website with pictures that show how much of the eclipse you will see in your area. Just put your city in the search bar and check out the results.
Don’t forget, it is NOT safe to look directly at the solar eclipse (at any point during this eclipse). Make sure you purchase NASA-approved solar eclipse glasses or make an old-school pinhole viewer to watch the eclipse. I found a bunch of options on Amazon.
Solar Eclipse Activities
The whole solar eclipse event will last about three hours from start to finish with the peak only lasting a couple of minutes in the middle. It’s definitely a check it out, go back instead, check it out, go back inside event for those of us who are not in the path. To give kids something to do while they wait for the sun to be covered by the moon, check out these educational workbooks I found that will teach kids all about the eclipse.
Solar eclipse snack ideas include:
- Oreos with the icing cut to look like phases of the solar eclipse
- Eclipse Trailmix
- Moon Pies
- Sun Chips
- Eclipse Gum
- Milky Way candy bars
- Starbursts
- Sunny Delight
- Sun Drop
- Blue Moon Beer (for the adults, of course)
- CapriSun
- Sun-Maid Raisins
- SunKist
Make a playlist with fun space-themed songs.
- Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler
- Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles
- Man on the Moon by R.E.M.
- Lucky Star by Madonna
- Dark Side of the Moon by Chris Staples
- Blinded by the Light by Bruce Springsteen
- Walking on the Moon by The Police
- Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra
- Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me) by Train
- Steal My Sunshine by Len
- The Final Countdown by Europe
- Eclipse by Pink Floyd
- Ain’t No Sunshine by Bill Withers
- Talking to the Moon by Bruno Mars
- Space Oddity by David Bowie
The video below from NASA is a great resource to teach kids about how and why solar eclipses happen. I highly recommend watching it on the day of or leading up to the big day.
Free Printable 2024 Solar Eclipse Worksheet
Be sure to get lots of silly photos of the whole family in your special solar eclipse glasses to save with the Solar Eclipse worksheet in your family’s memory box. Here’s hoping for great weather to watch the solar eclipse.
If you do not want to join my mailing list for the free printable solar eclipse worksheet, you can also find the solar eclipse printable in my Etsy Shop with all four checklists. Use the coupon code SAVE10 to save 10% off all orders from my Etsy Shop just for reading my blog.