Mothers are known for admonishing their children not to look at the sun. And with good reason — looking directly at the sun can cause permanent damage to our eyes. But that doesn’t mean you cannot see the sun’s spots. This summer fun activity provides a way to view the sunspots on the sun without looking directly at it: build a sunspot viewer!
Table of Contents
What is a Sun Spot?
First, watch the video where a NASA scientist explains exactly what sun spots are:
Safety Tips
Then go over the safety concerns. To sum up: Never, never look directly at the sun!
Safety Tips for Observing the Sun
Building the Viewer
Next, the participants build a pinhole viewer to view the sunspots. Here is a list of the supplies you will need:
- Aluminum foil.
- Pencils.
- Rulers.
- Sewing needles or push pins.
- Shoeboxes, or 2-foot rectangular cardboard boxes.
- Transparent tape.
- White paper.
- White poster board.
Take Measurements
Students will use the viewer they make to calculate the diameter of the sun.
But the project doesn’t end there. Participants are provided with a Sunspot Mapping Grid that allows them to track the sunspots over time.
This is an excellent activity laid out with complete instructions. It is a great way to ease back into school and another great tool for the homeschool handy-mom!
We’ve added this activity to our solar cycles unit study.
Free Resource
- Sun Spot Viewer @ Harwell-OpenDay.co.uk
Additional Resources
Tracking Sunspots
Lesson plan from NASA.
Observing the Sun for Yourself
Also from NASA.
Make Your Own Safe Solar Viewer (SSV)
This is a more complete (and scientific) option.
Collection of Science Notebooking Pages {Free}
Nice collection of pages to document the fun.
10 Ways to Use Notebooking: #7 Science
Other ideas for recording the activity.
Other sun-related activities:
Solar Observation
See what else you can observe on the sun.
Sun Prints
Fun and simple.
Total Solar Eclipse
Learn about total solar eclipses.
