Eclipse glasses for children: a snug fit, the paper-plate trick and an adult beside them

The same glasses as an adult’s, EN ISO 12312-2, but fitted snugly to the child’s face, with no gaps, and with an adult beside them for as long as the Sun is partly covered: in Málaga, from 09:42 to 12:02, with 1 min 49 s of totality in the middle. For the youngest, NASA and the American Academy of Pediatrics suggest sticking the glasses to a paper plate that works as a mask. The plate holds them in place, but the filter is still the one in the glasses: no craft can replace it. Times are Spanish time (CEST, UTC+2).

A snug fit

A NASA lesson plan from the My NASA Data programme explains it: with young children, glasses “might not fit securely around the face and over the ears”. And sunlight gets in at the sides of adult glasses on a small face.

Before the day, do a test at home, without looking at the Sun:

1. Have the child put them on alone and move their head up and down: the glasses mustn’t slip.
2. There should be no gap between the frame and the face, at the sides or underneath.
3. If they wobble, use an elastic band between the arms or a children’s frame, as the family guide (in Spanish) explains.
4. Check the filters. NASA’s plan asks you to make sure the lenses aren’t scratched or damaged, and the AAS (American Astronomical Society) says to throw away any damaged filter.

The paper-plate trick

The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests it on its website for families: “For younger children, consider making the eclipse glasses more secure by crafting a wider shield from paper plates”. The children can decorate the plates themselves, too.

NASA’s lesson plan gives the steps:

1. Use the glasses as a template and cut two windows in the plate for the lenses and two slots for the arms.
2. Fit the glasses in place. In NASA’s words: “The cardboard from the eclipse glasses should completely cover the cut outs in the plates”.
3. Tape the cardboard of the glasses to the plate, never the lenses: “tape the cardboard and not the lenses”.
4. Check that there are no gaps where the Sun could get through.
5. For the youngest, tie a string, a ribbon or an elastic band to the sides of the plate, and they can wear it like a mask.

If the children make the plates themselves, NASA’s plan asks the teacher to check each pair to make sure it is firmly stuck; at home, that’s your job.

A craft is not a filter

The plate only holds the glasses and covers the sides. What protects the eye is the filter in the glasses, so they have to be EN ISO 12312-2 glasses in good condition (how to check them is in our guide to certified glasses). Nothing homemade takes their place: B. Ralph Chou’s eye-safety text on NASA’s eclipse website includes photographic negatives, photographic film, smoked glass and sunglasses, alone or several together, in its list of filters that are not safe. The craft that is safe with children is projecting the Sun without looking at it, and it’s in the homemade viewer (in Spanish).

The same text by Chou explains why so much care is needed: “most individuals who sustain eclipse-related eye injuries are children and young adults”.

What about babies?

Neither the AAS, nor the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), nor the American Academy of Pediatrics mentions babies on the eclipse pages we cite below, so we have no sourced guideline to give you. The AAO talks about children in general: “Help children to be sure they use handheld solar viewers and eclipse glasses correctly”.

What does apply to everyone, babies included, is the general rule: nobody looks at the partly eclipsed Sun without a filter. A baby can’t wear glasses or understand that it mustn’t look, so keeping watch is the adult’s job, the whole time.

An adult beside them, for the whole partial phase

The AAS and NASA say it in almost the same words: “Always supervise children using solar filters”. On this website we turn it into a rule: one adult for each young child (in Spanish).

Inside the path, the adult also decides when the glasses come off, and that’s only during totality. In Málaga, off at 10:48:08 and back on before 10:49:51, the IGN’s time for the end (the IGN is Spain’s National Geographic Institute). The times for your town are in when to take off eclipse glasses in totality. Outside the path there’s no such moment: the glasses stay on whenever anyone is looking.

To fill the wait, explaining the eclipse to children has the lamp, the ball and the coin. If you’re going as a group, the sums for a camp are in eclipse glasses for a school or summer camp.

On Order your glasses you can ask for ours: cardboard, with the EN ISO 12312-2 certificate, along with the phone filter and packs for groups. We reply with the price and the delivery time.

Sources: NASA, My NASA Data — Solar Eclipse Safety Activity (glasses that don’t fit young children; the plate step by step; no gaps; tape on the cardboard, not on the lenses; wearing it as a mask; the teacher checks each pair; lenses free of scratches); American Academy of Pediatrics — How can I safely watch a solar eclipse with my children? (the paper-plate shield; decorating it); AAS — How to View a Solar Eclipse Safely (supervise children; discard a damaged filter); NASA — Eclipse Viewing Safety (supervise children); American Academy of Ophthalmology — Solar Eclipse Eye Safety (helping children use their glasses properly; nothing on babies); B. Ralph Chou — Eye Safety During Solar Eclipses, on NASA’s eclipse website (filters that are not safe; most of those injured are children and young adults); times for Málaga: eclipseando data (skyfield engine + DE440s) checked against the IGN; totality duration: IGN.