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Luna

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So far Luna has created 64 blog entries.

Edible Rocks??? Definitely!

2016-08-27T12:59:01-06:00

         The Lunar and Planetary Institute has done it again!  They have developed another delicious educational experience to share with libraries and educators - Edible Rocks. Who would want to try to eat a rock?  Just about everyone, when the "rocks" are chocolate bars, "Three Musketeers" (the candy, not the book or movie), "Nestle Crunch," and chocolate covered granola bars. In this activity, children learn and use terms that geologists use when studying and describing meteorites, except they will be using the terms to describe candy bars.  They also get the opportunity to draw their observations and write descriptions of [...]

Edible Rocks??? Definitely!2016-08-27T12:59:01-06:00

Carnivorous Plants and the magic of Plant Regeneration and Propagation

2016-08-19T11:43:05-06:00

               A few weeks ago,  I came across a very interesting online store, the Carnivorous Plant Nursery.   Their focus, shockingly, is on propagating and selling carnivorous plants from all over the world.  But they also believe in education and helping educators of all kinds.  To this end, they have a "Free Stuff" page on their website.  There I found a printable, color and cut flip book of a Venus flytrap eating a fly.  There are coloring pages of a Venus flytrap about to eat an insect, and a sundew with a trapped fly and spider. [...]

Carnivorous Plants and the magic of Plant Regeneration and Propagation2016-08-19T11:43:05-06:00

3-D Origami – The Fun of Legos on a Much Smaller Budget

2016-08-06T16:18:05-06:00

Fate is a funny thing.  A few months ago I got ambitious one week, and wrote and published ( I thought) three blog articles.  Unbeknownst to me, it was the same week that the STAR_Net blog was being moved to its new home on this website.  For some reason, one of my articles made the move.  The other two disappeared into the ether.  I could have taken this experience as a reminder to always back up my work on at least one flash drive.  Instead, I decided it was the universe giving me the opportunity to work harder on my article. [...]

3-D Origami – The Fun of Legos on a Much Smaller Budget2016-08-06T16:18:05-06:00

What is the Lowest Maintenance Pet of All?

2016-08-03T12:06:24-06:00

  A few weeks ago I decided to have a program where the kids could relax and let their creative juices flow, and where some of the parents/grandparents could flash back to their own childhoods and have a good laugh.  The program, I expected, would be a short one.  Then we could spend the rest of the time making thank you cards and notes for our summer reading club sponsors.  It was the week of Independence Day, after all, and it's hard to get folks to come to the library that week.  Things turned out a bit differently than I'd anticipated - in [...]

What is the Lowest Maintenance Pet of All?2016-08-03T12:06:24-06:00

Learn About Other Cultures While Getting Fit – Make Your Own Skill Toys

2016-07-21T18:48:55-06:00

                There's lots of research these days that supports the idea that a healthy body supports a healthy mind and intellect, improving one's ability to learn, understand, and retain information.  Cultures throughout history may or may not have made the connection between a healthy body and a healthy mind, but they did encourage physical training and health for their children, as well as their adults.  Often physical fitness was required for their very survival.  That's not so much the case in the technologically advanced societies of today.  Because we have become more sedentary, spending more [...]

Learn About Other Cultures While Getting Fit – Make Your Own Skill Toys2016-07-21T18:48:55-06:00

Tumbling Around With Tumblewings and Walking Along With Walkalongs

2016-06-12T23:47:07-06:00

Do you know how to make a telephone book fly? One page at a time, of course! Kids (and adults, as well) can have a great time learning about air flow, aerodynamics, creative paper engineering, and patience, with nothing more expensive or hard to acquire than an old phone book, a large piece of cardboard, a drinking straw or two, tape, and a pair of scissors.  Oh, yeah, you'll need a large room, as well. The internet offers several different patterns that can be freely printed and used to make tumblewings, also known as walkalong gliders.  Here are a few examples [...]

Tumbling Around With Tumblewings and Walking Along With Walkalongs2016-06-12T23:47:07-06:00

What If? to Oh Cool! The Scientific Method Put to Work Launching Stomp Rockets

2016-06-08T18:55:32-06:00

      How can  kids use the scientific method to develop better, higher flying paper rockets, or, better yet, shock the administrators on the third floor?  It's easy! For the last several years, I've been doing stomp rocket programs at my library.  Whether it's during summer reading club or in the middle of the school year, it always draws quite an good crowd.  The pre-program preparation requires a fair amount of work, but it's both fun and the results make it worth the effort involved.  Each time I do the program,  I add a bit more experimentation to the kids' activities. [...]

What If? to Oh Cool! The Scientific Method Put to Work Launching Stomp Rockets2016-06-08T18:55:32-06:00

Paper Airplane Challenge!

2016-05-18T15:06:55-06:00

Last week my Crafternoon participants (with a few moms and one teen-aged sister included) enjoyed a paper plane tournament.  It was a wonderful, low cost, quick prep program which everyone enjoyed thoroughly. I collected all the paper airplane books that my library system owned, added quite a few that I bought online, and had them laid out on tables around the room.  I made sure that I had paper of the correct dimensions available, as well.  Most of the books that I used required standard 8 1/2 x 11 letter size paper, but a few called for 6" x 6" squares.          [...]

Paper Airplane Challenge!2016-05-18T15:06:55-06:00

Explore! Marvel Moon Free NASA Webinar

2016-03-29T18:28:10-06:00

I recently received this e-mail from Christine Shupla, with the Lunar and Planetary Institute.  I hope she doesn't mind my forwarding her announcement. I've attended some of these webinars in the past, and they are fantastic, as well as a lot of fun!  I remember one where we created the phases of the moon by taking bites out of Oreos.  At the same workshop, we created the layers of the earth with Rice Krispie Treats and other candies.  I gained pounds of knowledge... and sugar calories.  It was great!  Of course, I don't think they actually intended for the participants to [...]

Explore! Marvel Moon Free NASA Webinar2016-03-29T18:28:10-06:00

Eggs and Art – The Tradition of Pysanky

2022-01-02T13:07:17-07:00

Eggs and art.  Those are two words most people don't often connect, unless it's spring and one is thinking of Easter.  In the Ukraine, though, egg art is a centuries old tradition, and people design and decorate the eggs year-round, as well as collect and prize them as fine and treasured art.          The word "Pysanky" comes from the Ukrainian word that means "to write."  The term is used in relation to these beautiful eggs because they are not simply dyed in the way with which we are most familiar.  The intricate designs are drawn, or "written," on them [...]

Eggs and Art – The Tradition of Pysanky2022-01-02T13:07:17-07:00
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