A Fun, Sunny Day To Learn About The Eclipse
We had so much fun at our library program this afternoon. Most of the time was spent talking about the total solar eclipse that will happen in Sargent on August 21st. The kids 
helped demonstrate how the earth orbits the sun and the moon orbits the earth. We looked at pictures of an actual eclipse and talked about how to safely view an eclipse with special eclipse glasses.
The most interesting item we had to show the kids was some “moon dust”.” This was made at Johnson Space Center and is used to simulate actual moon dust so that scientists can perform experiments with it. Everyone enjoyed touching and feeling it. Some kids wondered why the dust was gray since the moon looks white in the sky. There were lots of questions and good discussions.
For a snack we made sun cookies. These were supposed to look like a model of the sun. We took a plain sugar cookie with white frosting on top. (Did you know the sun is actually white and not yellow?)
They put red and yellow sprinkles on top to represent the solar granules of the sun. We used Cocoa Puffs to represent sunspots, and red licorice to show solar prominences.
Everyone left excited about the upcoming eclipse. Let’s hope we have a clear, cloudless day on August 21st.