There are several ways parents can get their kids excited about next week's solar eclipse.

Much of the United States is in the path of the total eclipse on Monday, April 8.

The solar eclipse will, weather permitting, be visible in the entire United States on Monday the 8th. The path of totality, which is when the moon completely blocks out the sun, will be stretching from Texas to Maine.

Scholastic put together a list of ideas to help prepare for the celestial event.

One is using a map from NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio to map the time and location of the 2024 total solar eclipse over the United States and Mexico.

Another idea is making a pinhole viewer out of an old shoe box to safely view the eclipse. The box, along with a few other items like aluminum foil, tape and a pin are necessary.

Something that you could be running out of time to do in advance is ordering safety glasses to safely view the eclipse.

There are a lot of knock-offs and unapproved glasses for sale on various websites so NASA has put together links to to solar eclipse vendors who sell approved eye-safety glasses.

Another suggestion is downloading an eclipse app to track the event.

The solar eclipse, when the moon's shadow blots out the sun, will pass over much of the United States on in the afternoon of April 8, meaning millions will be gazing into the sky if the weather permits.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is warning of potential delays and disruptions to air traffic during the historic solar eclipse as throngs of people travel to locations in the path of totality.

The Canadian region of Niagara is bracing for an influx of up to 1 million visitors prompting a state of emergency ahead of the gathering.

An April Fool's Day joke claiming the event was going to be postponed due to bad weather actually created a surge in Google searches about the topic.