Kids' Corner
5 tips for camping in your backyard
Do you love camping but can’t wait for your family to go on vacation? It’s easy to recreate the experience at home with a little help from your parents. Here are five tips for making it happen.
1. Pack your luggage as if you were leaving. Pack your sleeping bag, pillow, sketchbook, headphones, and whatever else you need for a camping trip. Think about what you’ll need to eat too, and fill a cooler with sandwiches, juices, and snacks for the whole family.
2. Pitch a tent or build one out of blankets and tarps. If the weather isn’t cooperating, move your campsite indoors.
3. Install lanterns or hang strings of lights. This will help create a magical, starry-night atmosphere.
4. Set up folding chairs to watch the sunset. If you can’t hear woodland noises in your backyard, search for nature sounds online to give you the feeling of being in the great outdoors.
5. Entertain yourself. You can play games by the light of the lantern or gather around a fire to tell stories.
Happy camping!
Kids' Corner
Do you know Louis Braille?
Louis Braille was a famous French inventor. Having become blind at the age of three, he later invented a system of writing to enable blind or visually impaired people to read.
The system is called “Braille code,” or simply “Braille,” after its inventor. It uses raised dots, or little bumps, arranged in different combinations. Each combination represents a letter of the alphabet, a punctuation mark, a numeral, a mathematical symbol, or a music note.
So, when a sight-impaired person slides their fingertip over these bumps, they recognize the different arrangements. That’s how they know that they’re touching an “A” or a “4,” for example. Isn’t it amazing?
Kids' Corner
3 ways to have fun with soap bubbles
Are you looking for a way to make soap bubbles even more fun? Here are three things to try this summer.
1. Infinity serpents
Ask an adult to help you cut the bottom off a plastic water or soda bottle. Put a stocking on the bottle to cover the hole. Secure it with a rubber band and tape. Then, dip the stocking-covered bottom into soapy water. When you blow into the neck of the bottle, you’ll make bubbles shaped like long snakes. Just be careful not to inhale so you don’t swallow the soap.
2. Exploded art
Pour soapy water into several containers and add different food coloring shades to each. Blow bubbles onto a large sheet of paper. As the bubbles burst, they’ll leave unique and colorful patterns. Hang your artwork on the fridge or use the paper for gift wrap and other crafts.
3. Friendly competition
Hold a contest with your siblings or friends to see who can make the biggest bubble. You can also try creating a track on a piece of cardboard to see who can make their bubble go the farthest without bursting.
Blowing bubbles is a simple activity that can provide hours of fun!
If you want to make extra-large bubbles, pass a rope through two straws to create a square form. Blow soapy water through this form and watch what happens!
Kids' Corner
How well do you know your summer sports?
Do you love playing outside in the summer? There are so many fun ways to get active in the great outdoors. Take this quiz to test your knowledge of summer activities. You might even find a new one to try.
Complete the statements
1. In football, the player who makes the field goals is called a ____.
2. A dinghy allows you to practice ____.
3. ___ can be done on a trail.
4. Ultimate is played with a ____.
5. The ___ is the player between the second and third base in baseball.
6. If you’re an equestrian, your ___ must fit well.
7. If you’re a cyclist, your ___ is your best friend.
8. A nose clip is helpful for ____.
9. ___ are essential for climbers.
10. In tennis, the ___ is a serve that the opponent can’t return.
11. Shin guards do a great service for ____ players.
12. A golfer’s bag contains irons and ____.
13. Hiking is often done in the ____.
14. When ___, you must paddle to move forward.
15. Unlike the indoor version, ___ is played two against two.
Choice of answers
A. Shortstop
B. Ace
C. Woods
D. Helmet
E. Kicker
F. Running
G. Shorts
H. Frisbee
I. Harnesses
J. Kayaking
K. Mountains
L. Swimming
M. Soccer
N. Sailing
O. Beach Volleyball
Don’t look…
—————
Answers
1-E, 2-N, 3-F, 4-H, 5-A, 6-D, 7-G, 8-L, 9-I, 10-B, 11-M, 12-C, 13-K, 14-J, 15-O
—————
Kids' Corner
Nature quiz: find the odd one out
If you love nature, this fun quiz is for you. Try to find the odd one out in each of the following questions.
1. Which of these trees isn’t an evergreen?
A. Spruce
B. Yew
C. Poplar
D. Pine
2. Which of these mammals isn’t a rodent?
A. Beaver
B. Squirrel
C. Rabbit
D. Mouse
3. Which of these waterways isn’t a river?
A. The English Channel
B. The Seine
C. The Nile
D. The Mississippi
4. Which of these mushrooms isn’t edible?
A. Destroying angel
B. Porcini
C. Chanterelle
D. Shitake
5. Which of these constellations isn’t part of the zodiac?
A. Aries
B. Centaurus
C. Leo
D. Scorpius
6. Which of these mountain ranges isn’t in North America?
A. The Cascade Range
B. The Andes Mountains
C. The Appalachians
D. The Rockies
7. Which of these shrubs are thornless?
A. Sea buckthorn
B. Caper
C. Rhododendron
D. Rose
Answers
1-C, 2-C, 3-A, 4-A, 5-B, 6-B, 7-C
Kids' Corner
Morse code basics
Before the telephone and satellite communication was invented, Morse code was used to transmit messages over long distances quickly. For example, ships often used Morse code to send distress signals. Additionally, in the past, if you wanted to tell your family when your train would arrive at the station, you could send them a letter in Morse code.
What’s Morse code?
Morse code was invented by Samuel Morse and is a means of communication that uses long and short signals to transmit messages. Morse code is often sent using sound or light signals. It can also be written. For example, short signals are represented as dots and long signals as dashes:
• A =
• E =
• R =
• T =
Therefore, to communicate the letter A in Morse code, you must transmit a short sound followed by a long sound. Each letter of the alphabet has its own code, so you can easily spell words and phrases using the right combination of signals.
It’s a bit complicated, isn’t it? Fortunately, today you can simply text, email, or phone your friends. However, the Morse code is still used in military emergencies.
Kids' Corner
Why does helium change the sound of your voice?
Have you ever inhaled helium from a balloon? If so, you may have noticed that your voice becomes higher than usual. This is a funny and intriguing side effect. Here’s why it happens.
Your vocal cords vibrate when you speak or sing, much like the strings on a guitar. How fast the air passes through your vocal cords determines the pitch of your voice. Slow-moving air makes low-pitched sounds, while fast-moving air makes high-pitched sounds.
Helium is lighter than air. Therefore, when you inhale helium, it travels much more quickly across your vocal cords than oxygen, making your voice sound higher than normal.
Be careful
Though it’s fun to alter the pitch of your voice by inhaling helium, don’t overdo it. If you inhale too much, you could deprive your body of oxygen and faint. It’s perfectly safe to inhale small quantities of helium, but doing so repeatedly can have dangerous consequences.
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