Looking for a way to view the solar eclipse without needing a pair of eclipse glasses? You can! It’s a fun project you can do with items you probably already have at home.
What you need:
- Cereal box or snack box
- Pen or pencil
- Piece of white paper
- Scotch tape
- Scissors
- Thumb tack or safety pin (something to poke a small hole with)
- Aluminum foil
How to make your pinhole camera:
- Stand the box on top of the piece of paper and trace the outline of the box onto the paper.
- Cut out that shape.
- Use tape to tape the piece of paper to the bottom of the inside of a box.
- Cut the smaller side tabs off the top of the box.
- Carefully cut the remaining box top into thirds, leaving the two smaller tabs in the middle intact.
- Tape the smaller remaining tabs in the middle together.
- Take a piece of foil big enough to completely cover one of the openings at the top of the box and tape it over the hole.
- Take your thumb tack and poke a small hole in the middle of the foil.
- Head outside!
- Stand with your back to the sun and lift your box up at an angle where the sun (if it’s not behind any clouds) will shine through the hole in the foil.
- You should be able to see a small circle of sunlight projected inside the box onto the white piece of paper from the open side of the top of the box.
During the solar eclipse if there are no clouds obstructing the sun you’ll be able to “see” the sun fad behind the moon using this box.
Have fun!
