Activities

For Groovy Robinson in The Year the Swallows Came Early, the best time for birdwatching was in March. But in many parts of the world, winter is a great time for birding!  If you want to be an amateur ornithologist (even for a day), you’ll probably want a bird feeder, a pencil and notebook, and a […]

In this week’s book, The Reinvention of Edison Thomas, one of the ways Eddy calms himself down is by reciting the elements from the periodic table. Some of the words he recites like chlorine and iron) are probably familiar, while others (scandium!) are…not so familiar. All matter (everything that takes up space and has mass) is made up […]

Lots of attention has been paid to the Mayan calendar lately, but the Mayans actually had many scientific achievements, including astronomy, agriculture, and this week’s activity, sundials. Even Max Murphy could handle this one! This guest post was written by one of my very favorite people, Laura Cotts. Laura has taught math, physics, and astronomy courses and […]

In this week’s book, One Day in the Desert by Jean Craighead George, we met tons of cool desert animals: roadrunner, peccaries, tarantulas, headstand beetles, desert tortoises, honey pot ants, elf owls, foxes, and even a mountain lion. These animals have all made adaptations so they’re fit to live in such a dry climate. But they’re amazing […]

In this week’s book, Moonbird by Phillip Hoose, we read the true story of a bird that’s flown an amazing distance in its life. This week’s science activity is a guest post by biologist (and good friend) Kate Grandison, who knows a whole lot about birds. Take it away, Kate! Look what that bird’s doing! Birds not only […]

In this week’s book, Chasing Vermeer, Petra and Calder saved a famous painting by paying attention to details and never giving up. They also learned that there are imitation Vermeer paintings that people used to think were the real thing! For this week’s art activity, we’re not going to make an imitation Vermeer, we’re going to […]

Today’s guest post is from artist, author, and all-around lovely person Kate Birch. Visit her blog here and look for some of her own original artwork! Kate took a page out of this week’s book, Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt, and gives us this great activity so we can learn to draw from Audubon’s work just like […]