A Slice of Smith Life: Solar Eclipse T-shirts, Cookies, and Links

Solar Eclipse T-shirts, Cookies, and Links

This post contains affiliate links.

We just finished week 1 of our 2017-2018 homeschool year. But, we didn't start all our subjects as we ease into another year.

I will be posting about our first week and new homeschool year traditions soon, but right now I wanted to share in the excitement of the upcoming solar eclipse happening on Monday, August 21, 2017!! I've enjoyed learning about this historical event with my family as we get closer to the date. My area will see 96% of the moon obscuring the sun which is exciting! If you want to see what your area will see by typing in your zip code, go to this site and find out. Cool site! And you can See How the Solar Eclipse Will Look from Anywhere in the United States at TIME by again typing in your zip code.

It really is amazing and fascinating! Here are some quick and easy special things we did and will be doing to help make this a memorable and exciting time for our family! I then have listed several links you may be interested in that I have found helpful and informative through social media and/or the internet.

T-Shirts
I knew when I stumbled upon this DYI: Make Your Own Eclipse T-shirt post it would be fun to do, but I wasn't sure how I would have the time to get the supplies and actually follow through with it. Then in a local homeschool group's Facebook group, a Mom was organizing this project and after paying her for supplies she would buy them and families would meet at a local park to make the t-shirts. Yes! It was a lot of fun and after my 5 children made their shirts, I realized it wasn't that difficult to do. My big kids and little kids all enjoyed this t-shirt craft!

My kids can't wait to wear these on Monday, Aug. 21 !

Cookies
When I was at the grocery store recently with my oldest daughter, we walked down the cookie aisle to see how we could make solar eclipse cookies. I made one tonight to try it out and on Monday my children will make their own cookies as a fun way to celebrate this historic day. They are so easy and quick to make! (and a bit on the sweet side ;) )

This is what I used to make them:
Mini Moon Pies (of course!)
Sugar cookies
White cake icing
Wilton red and yellow sprinkles

I cut the moon pie in half and cut a circle out of the center of the sugar cookie.

Then placed the moon pie top in the center of the sugar cookie and the moon pie with the marshmallow side on the bottom of the sugar cookie. Then used white icing to make the white ring on the moon pie and on the sugar cookie. I then sprinkled red and yellow sprinkles on top of the white icing that was on the rim of the sugar cookie.

So here are the T-shirts and Moon-Pie cookies side by side:

Links
I have had the book, Someone is Eating the Sun ,for awhile now and I read it to my younger children this week. It is a cute story of how animals think someone has taken a bite out of the sun and they run to tell all their friends as the day got darker and darker. It wasn't until their turtle friend explained what was happening that the animals realized no one was eating the sun, but rather they were witnessing a total eclipse. Unfortunately, it looks like this book is out of print, but maybe there are other books on this topic you can find.

FREE Eclipse E-Book from Apologia

FREE Solar Eclipse Foldable by Science and Math Doodles

Watch: Teaching Students About the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse: An Animation for Science Teachers, Parents, and Kids! at McGraw-Hill Education

This is the best simulation you'll find of the upcoming total solar eclipse at Mashable

Weird Things Happen with a Total Solar Eclipse at Astro Maven Blog

Total Solar Eclipse 2017: When, Where and How to See It (Safely) at Space.com

Eclipse: Who? What? Where? When? and How? at NASA

2017 Total Solar Eclipse at The National Weather Service

2017 Solar Eclipse at The National Parks Service...

How to See the Best Solar Eclipse in a Century at National Geographic

How to Photograph a Solar Eclipse at National Geographic

NASA will be live-streaming the eclipse at this link

As someone who loves the Catholic liturgical calendar I found The "Great American Eclipse" and the Catholic Liturgical Calendar at GetFed a fascinating read!

Another fascinating read: Striking Phenomena During This Centennial Year of Fatima at Roman Catholic Man

Will you be viewing the solar eclipse? Are you in the path of totality?

Have a great day on Monday, August 21, 2017 and be sure to be safe with the proper viewing procedures!

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3 comments:

Martianne said...

Fabulous ideas and links!

August 19, 2017 at 8:17 AM

Unknown said...

Thank you for all the links. I wish I had been more organized so we could have t-shirts. Those are awesome!

August 19, 2017 at 11:02 AM

Chris said...

Ok, I completely love this.
I'm redoing our cookies next week when the guys get back, using your idea. I love how you swirled sprinkles around the moon pies! And great idea to use moon pies! I used sugar cookies--love yours more!

T shirts came out great!

Terrific links-Pinning so I can access quickly tmrw.

We are only seeing 69% here.....but we'll still go out in the yard to take a look from time to time during the afternoon! Enjoy!!

August 20, 2017 at 10:21 AM