The eclipse with children

• Pinhole projectors are the great child-sized eclipse activity: a hole in a card, a pale surface, and a crescent Sun they made appear themselves. Build them at breakfast.
• Set them hunting crescent shadows under trees once the Sun is half covered: hundreds of little crescents on the ground, no filters involved, impossible to do wrong.
• Give them the countdown jobs: who spots the light going silvery, who feels the temperature drop first, who sees Venus. The strangeness before totality is very noticeable to children once they are told to look for it.

Glasses off during totality, and let them look: it is safe, and it is the point. Small children may find the sudden dark unsettling, so say in advance exactly what will happen and that it lasts four minutes. When the diamond ring flashes, glasses go back on, and having practised that move as a game beforehand beats shouting instructions in the dark.

The beaches are the family answer: sand to sit on, space to run off the waiting, easy water and food, and a clean sea horizon. Eastern Beach gives the most room. The Upper Rock is the grander view but a long, exposed morning with tired legs; the marinas split the difference with cafes and shade a few steps away.