Roll a piece of clay into a ball the size of a ping pong ball; this ball represents our moon. Roll a second ball of clay about the size of an orange; this ball represents the Earth. Place the Earth on a table and position the moon eight inches away from it. Arrange a flashlight or an adjustable desk lamp two feet away from the moon. Turn the light on and direct it at the moon. Use this demonstration to describe the shadow effect that the moon causes when it eclipses the sun.
Make a clay the size of a ping pong ball to represent the moon. Make another orange-size ball to represent the Earth. Place the moon on a table, put the Earth eight inches away from it. Set up a flashlight, which will represent the sun, two feet away from the Earth. Turn the light on and direct it at the right side of the Earth so that the Earth casts a shadow on the left side of the moon. Slowly move the flashlight in a clockwise orbit around the Earth, stopping it every five inches. Have kids sketch the shadows that are cast on the moon, which represent the various stages of a lunar eclipse.
Never stare at the sun with naked eyes. This viewer will help kids view a solar eclipse without damaging their eyes. Cut a hole in the middle of one end of a long box or tube; a shoe box or poster tube will do. Tape a piece of foil over the hole and poke a hole in the foil with a pin. Cut a viewing hole in the side of the box. Position a white piece of paper in the box, near the viewing hole so that the image of the eclipse is cast on to the paper when the foil end of the viewer is pointed toward the eclipse.
Set up a digital SLR camera with a telephoto lens on a tripod in a space with a clear view of the sky. Set the camera to an exposure time of at least two seconds. Before the lunar eclipse, focus the camera on the moon and take a test photo to check that the moon is registering in the image. If the moon still appears faint, increase the exposure time by a second. Allow kids to track the moon with the camera over the duration of the eclipse and take photos as the eclipse moves across the moon.