Author: Lisa Mungovan

Alice and Gavin Munro sell home-grown furniture, in England. Using a metal frame to form the shape, they grow trees and branches, into chairs. A chair is ready to harvest from the furniture orchard, after 6 to 9 years. Their business, called Full Grown, also plans to help others grow their own furniture.

16-year-olds Vivaan Chhawchharia, Ariana Agarwal, and Avyana Mehta won the Global Earth Prize, for creating a new way to remove microplastics. Their creation, called Plas-Stick, uses powdered tamarind seeds as the base for a clumping agent. It causes plastics to form a mass in water, which can then be removed with a magnet.

It’s Rocky Road Day! Rocky road ice cream and fudge is made with marshmallows, nuts and chocolate. No rocks. Speaking of fudge, it’s also Yell “Fudge” At The Cobras In North America Day. Since everyone knows snakes hate fudge, it’ll make them slither away in disgust. Yell “fudge” at noon, with the whole continent!

Did you know, some sunscreens are harmful to coral reefs? It’s World Reef Awareness Day, and these important ecosystems are in trouble. Plastic pollution in the ocean, harmful chemicals from tourists’ sunblocks, or rising water temperatures of only 2-4 degrees Fahrenheit, can cause coral reefs to eventually die. Let’s all work to save the reefs!

Remember your New Year’s resolutions? It’s New Year’s Resolution Recommitment Day, to let you try again to keep them. It’s also Dare Day, so I dare you to wear a dress, flip a coin, eat an olive, and drink some milk, to celebrate World Milk, Olive, Wear A Dress, and Flip A Coin Day.

Young paleontologists will be happy to know, it’s Dinosaur Day! Practice your excavation skills, by burying toy dinosaurs in a sandbox. Identify the species, then research when it lived. Dinosaurs from the Jurassic Period, like the brachiosaurus and stegosaurus, lived from 201,000,000 to 145,000,000 years ago. Tyrannosaurus rex lived later, in the Cretaceous Period.

Can’t find your shoes? Who cares! It’s Go Barefoot Day! Feel some lush grass, warm sand, or fuzzy carpet between your toes. It’s also Nail Polish Day, so paint your toenails. You could make them green, in honor of Oscar The Grouch Day. The loveable grump from Sesame Street turns 57 today!

You’re such a nice person! I like that shirt you’re wearing. Today is Say Something Nice Day. Complimenting someone can really brighten their day. Try it and see! It’s also Pen Pal Day. Texting and e-mail are easy ways to write to people, but sending a hand-written letter in the mail is something special.

Today is World Parrot Day. Parrots are very intelligent birds, who can develop large vocabularies. One African gray, knows more than 1000 words. Parrots sometimes use plants, as their own pharmacy. There are more than 350 different parrot species, many of them endangered. Some types of parrots, can live to be 100 years old.

Do you wear headphones or earbuds when you’re watching videos? Maybe you listen to loud music. Today, on Save Your Hearing Day, try to give your ears a rest. Go outside and listen to the birds instead, or reed a book and let your imagination furnish the sounds. Your ears will thank you!