Author: Lisa Mungovan

Frogs are amazing amphibians. It’s fascinating to visit a pond, and watch tiny tadpoles, grow bigger and develop legs. Frogs are an indicator species, meaning land and water pollution, really affect their health. Frog populations suffer, when environmental health declines. Today is Save The Frogs Day, so let’s help all 2000 species.

Global Big Day is coming. On May 10th, the whole world will be watching birds, and recording observations at eBird online, or on the eBird Mobile app, to help study world bird populations. Prepare today, by celebrating Go Birding Day. Go exploring with binoculars, and learn to identify the birds you see and hear.

Here’s a fun experiment to try, since it’s Sense Of Smell Day. Hold your nose, then eat something. Could you taste it? The nose and mouth connect through the same passageway. That’s why sometimes when your nose is stuffed-up, you can’t taste anything. Now you know how to eat the yucky vegetables you hate!

Today is Richter Scale Day. The Richter Scale measures the magnitude of earthquakes on Earth, and marsquakes on Mars. The greatest magnitude ever recorded was the Great Chilean Earthquake, which measured 9.5. It’s also Pretzel Day. Do you prefer big soft pretzels, or tiny hard pretzels? Roll out some dough, and twist your own!

Today, April 26th, is Alien Day. In the 1979 movie, Alien, LV-426 was the moon where xenomorphs were discovered. The movies are pretty scary, but the toys are cool! Less scary, is Hug An Australian Day! Australia is full of animals that look huggable, like koalas, kangaroos, quokkas and quolls, but air hugs are safest.

Today is World Penguin Day. Emperor penguins can grow to nearly 4 feet tall, while little blue penguins only reach 16 inches. Some people knit sweaters for penguins, to protect them from oil spills. There are no penguins at the North Pole. Except for the Galapagos penguin, they all live in the Southern Hemisphere!

Trees are awesome. They clean pollution out of the air, and produce oxygen for us to breathe. They are food and shelter for wildlife. Trees give us shade, flowers, fruit and nuts, and wood. Today is Arbor Day, created to encourage everyone to plant a tree. What kind of tree will you plant?

Today is Telephone Day! Can you imagine a time without phones? In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received the first patent for a telephone. Patents give the owner the rights to their invention. Elisha Gray and Antonio Meucci also invented versions of the telephone, but Bell got his patent first. Call someone on a phone today!

Today is Malaria Day, but the disease is nothing to celebrate. Malaria is spread by infected mosquitoes, mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa. That’s one reason why mosquitoes are the world’s deadliest animal, killing 750,000 people a year! Birds and bats love to eat mosquitoes. Since it’s also Zucchini Bread Day, I’ll eat that instead!

Nearly everyone has used a Crayola crayon in their life. The first box of kid-safe crayons, sold in 19-oh-3, cost a nickel, and had 8 colors. More than 750 colors have been developed since then, including a box with 24 different skin tones, so everyone can find their perfect match. Happy Crayola Day!