DAYTON, Ohio - As the days tick down to the much anticipated April 8 eclipse, many people are already planning where they’ll be and how they plan to view the historic event.

What You Need To Know

  • Children can participate in the Junior Ranger Eclipse Explorer Program

  • Age-appropriate activities help students learn and earn badges

  • Watch parties on April 8 will be hosted by the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park

  • Activities, glasses, and visiting are free

“This is our Junior Ranger Eclipse Explorer Program,” said Kathleen Walters as she opened a new type of activity book.

Walters is a park ranger with Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park.

She’s been having fun helping children learn about the eclipse before the big day.  

“They can come in and complete this activity book and earn a junior ranger badge at the end of it,” Walter said.

 A few weeks ago, she made a Facebook post about the special badges and by the weekend the museum was at summer level visitation numbers.

“It’s taking kids about 15 to 30 minutes. There are different activities for different age groups,” she said.

For the past eight years, Walters has been a ranger and shared the story of Dayton, the Wright Brothers, and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar with people who travel from all over the world.

Come April 8, she’ll have another chance in a big way at both the main visitors’ center and the Huffman Prairie Interpretive Center.  

“We’ll have activities for kids, we’ll have the Junior Ranger program where they can earn a badge, and we’ll also have an astrophysicist bringing some telescopes to view the eclipse safely through those as well,” she said.

During the day, if it gets too cloudy or you need to be inside, the museum will be live-streaming the coverage from NASA inside the auditorium.  

“We’ve got some glasses for you to safely view the eclipse before and after that 2 minutes and 43 seconds and we had these specially designed to have the Huffman Prairie represented on the inside,” she said.

 For Walters, experiencing the eclipse and sharing Dayton’s history is a task she holds close.

“Paul Laurence Dunbar and the Wright brothers both made monumental impacts on American history and world history. So we get to take part in a historic event ourselves with the eclipse on April 8 and kind of tie into all of that good history in the past and history that’s being made right now,” Walters said.

National parks all over the country are featuring the Junior Ranger activity booklet.

Both the Wright-Dunbar watch party and the Wright Memorial watch party run from 1 pm-4:30 pm on April 8.

Events and glasses are free. 

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