4 Easy DIY Solar Eclipse Viewers To Make At Home

Easy DIY solar eclipse viewers to make with kids to watch a total solar eclipse or partial eclipse. Fun STEM kids activities and great for solar eclipse parties too, especially if you’re in the path of totality in North America or beyond!

Easy DIY Solar Eclipse Viewers To Make With Kids

Simple eclipse viewers to make at home to view the big event! These are easy eclipse crafts that can be made with household items.

How to make a solar eclipse viewer at home?

To make DIY viewers for an eclipse, you can:

Make a shoebox viewer for the eclipse (aka: DIY camera obscura).
Use a simple cardboard eclipse viewing technique.
Look at the eclipse through a kitchen colander.
View the eclipse through filtered leaves.

ECLIPSE TIP: Be sure to see a list of fun eclipse kids activities and crafts, solar eclipse lesson plans / lunar eclipse unit studies, and even eclipse foods to make for eclipses parties! If you only do one eclipse craft, make it our favorite glowing eclipse t-shirt! (Get the printable craft instructions below.)

 
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About Safely Viewing The Sun During Solar Eclipses

IMPORTANT TIP: Do NOT look through binoculars, a telescope, a magnifying glass, use the naked eye, or use any of your eclipse viewers for looking directly at the sun anytime during the solar eclipse. You need proper eye protection for viewing! You cannot use regular sunglasses for viewing eclipses. They could cause permanent damage!

VIEWING NOTE: Homemade eclipse viewers work by reflecting the solar eclipse activity, NOT by using them to look directly at the sun.

If you want to purchase solar eclipse glasses (solar viewing glasses) like these, make sure they are from a reputable company (safest way is through NASA or the American Astronomical Society) and that they meet the international safety standard ISO 12312-2 on the solar glasses (sometimes listed as ISO 12312-2:2015) and are safe ways to view the sun’s rays. To prevent using knock-offs, even if they have the safety standard listed, just know that you shouldn’t be able to see anything through the glasses except something super bright (like the sun). If you can see shaded lamp light through your glasses, they may not be safe.

4 Simple Ways To Make Homemade Solar Eclipse Viewers

These are safe solar viewer ideas for kids — no need for fancy glasses. They can be made with simple supplies at home for the next total solar eclipse, especially if you’re in the path of the total eclipse.

Eclipse Pinhole Viewer Using A Shoebox

A shoebox pinhole viewing box is probably the most popular eclipse craft. It’s a super easy way to make an eclipse viewer with items you have at home.

Materials:

Shoe box (or an empty cereal box) with lid (or a way to close it)
White paper
Aluminum foil
Pin (like a push pin)
Tape
X-acto knife or box cutter (adults only for this part!)

Instructions:

Cut a small hole in one end of the shoebox and another on the other side. One side is the viewing hole and the other side shines the sun into it.
Tape a piece of aluminum foil over one of the holes.
In the foil-covered hole, use a pin to make a small hole in the foil. The tiny pin hole
Inside the shoebox, cover the opposite end with white paper and secure it with tape. (The white paper goes inside the box.) This will be your image screen where the eclipse will be projected onto.
Stand with your back to the Sun and let the sunlight pass through the pinhole onto the white paper inside the box. You’ll see an inverted image of the solar eclipse.

GET THE PRINTABLE SHOEBOX ECLIPSE VIEWER CRAFT INSTRUCTIONS HERE

Cardboard Projector Eclipse Viewer

This is a simple pinhole camera made with a piece of cardboard and just a few other basic household supplies.

Materials:

Cardboard
White paper
Aluminum foil (small piece of tinfoil cut large enough to to cover the hole)
Tape
Push Pin

Instructions:

Cut a small square in the center of one piece of cardboard.
Cover the square hole with small piece of aluminum foil. Secure it with tape.
Carefully make a small hole in the foil using a push pin for the pinhole projection.

ALSO TRY: FUN PRINTABLE GAMES FOR AN ECLIPSE PARTY!

How do I view eclipse on cardboard?

Stand with your back to the sun and position the cardboard so the sun is shining down on it. Hold a piece of white paper behind the cardboard hole (or lay it on the ground). The sunlight will project an image of the solar eclipse through the pinhole in the aluminum foil on the cardboard and onto the white paper.

Colander Eclipse Viewer

Materials:

Kitchen colander
White sheet of paper or paper plate (or clear spot on light pavement or sidewalk)

Instructions:

Stand with your back to the sun during the eclipse.
Hold the colander above a piece of white paper (or white paper plates). Play with the positioning until you see the eclipse happening on the paper. The holes in the colander act as multiple pinhole projectors, creating a pattern of solar eclipse images on the paper below. It’s super cool!

We made all of these for the last total solar eclipse and the colander eclipse method was my daughter’s favorite way to view the eclipse! (See our picture above.) It was amazing how much of the eclipse movement you could see reflected through a colander onto the white paper plate! This gets our vote for the best way to view the solar eclipse and was the easiest way to see the shadow of the moon pass.

Filtered Leaves Eclipse Viewing

Materials:

White Paper Plate or White Paper
Nice leafy tree outside

Instructions:

If you have trees in the eclipse area, they can act as a filter during the total eclipse or partial solar eclipse and project the eclipse sun and moon movement onto the ground or onto a paper plate.

Place a piece of white paper onto the grass where the sun is shining through the trees (or hold it) or checkout the sidewalk to see if you can see the eclipse happening this way, too!

We were able to use this method and see an eclipse filtered through the tree leaves onto a paper plate really easily. (The leaves worked really well as solar filters!)

Place your back to the sun during the big event and hold out a paper plate under a tree where the sun is shining through. You may be able to see the filtered movement of the sun and moon reflected through the leaves onto the paper plate like we did.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: Remember, always place your back to the sun when using any type of homemade eclipse viewers!