Author: Lisa Mungovan

Micherre Fox planned an important trip to Crater of Diamonds State Park, in Arkansas. You’re allowed to keep whatever you find, so she was determined to find a diamond for her engagement ring. On the last day of her 3-week trip, Micherre found a sparkly 2.3-carat white diamond, right on top of the ground!

6,000,000,000 trees are cut down each year, to make everything from cardboard to toilet paper. One company is giving trees some relief, by making paper out of dead leaves instead. Releaf Paper uses leaves from city trees, collected from streets and clogged sewers. One year of fallen leaves in Paris, produces 3,000,000 paper bags.

How do you like to relax? Floating in a pool? Swinging in a hammock? Reading a good book? It’s Relaxation Day, so find the thing that relieves your stress, and do it! If it involves eating pie, even better, since it’s Lemon Meringue Pie Day. I’ll be eating mine outside, while listening to birds!

A reptile wrangler had to come to the rescue, of an Australian family. They had found a venomous brown tree snake taking a nap, inside the tunnel of their model train set. The snake was getting ready to shed its skin, so the snake catcher released it safely into a tree.

Today is World Lizard Day. From the giant 6-foot-long Komodo dragon, to the teeny-tiny 1-inch-long nano-chameleon, these amazing reptiles live all over the world. There are more than 7000 different lizard species. Chameleons can change color, geckos can walk on ceilings, and basilisks can run on water. Which scaly critter is your favorite?

On this day in 1457, the Mainz Psalter was the first book ever printed in blue, red, and black ink, using different-sized fonts. Celebrate Color Book Day, by reading a picture book. It’s also Wiffle Ball Day, invented nearly 500 years later. It’s like baseball, without the fear of breaking any windows.

Today is Creamsicle Day! Creamsicles are vanilla ice cream on a popsicle stick, covered with an orange flavored coating. 11 year-old Frank Epperson, made the original creamsicle in 1905, when he experimented with freezing orange juice around a vanilla ice cream popsicle. He originally called his inventions, “Epsicles”!

Butter is made from milk, which comes from a cow. But sometimes, a cow is made from butter. The Illinois State Fair, unveiled its annual 800-pound butter sculpture, of a cow. The104th Butter Cow is accompanied by a young butter adventurer, holding butter binoculars, and a butter walking stick.

Sometimes scientists find life, in unexpected places. An entire ecosystem lives beneath undersea volcanic vents near Central America. Using an underwater robot, a team found worms, snails, and bacteria, living underground. The world is hidden underneath the hydrothermal vents, and could hold lifeforms previously unknown to humans. They’re still studying this fascinating ecosystem.

Some kids have already started back to school, and most others will start in the next few weeks. Do you remember how to stay safe from COVID? Wash your hands often with soap, and use hand sanitizer. Wear a mask if you’re sick, to protect others. Most importantly, get vaccinated, including your booster shot.