Author: Lisa Mungovan

When you break a toy, do you throw it away, or do you fix it? Today is International Repair Day, so practice fixing something broken. YouTube videos give you step-by-step instructions to fix cars, appliances, and even dolls. By repairing items yourself, you’ll save a lot of money, and keep stuff out of landfills.

Today is Bridge Day, but it’s not really about bridges. It’s about BASE jumpers, the people who jump off bridges for fun, using parachutes or wingsuits! BASE stands for Buildings, Antennas, Spans, (like bridges), and Earth, (like cliffs). It’s also Adventure Day, so do something fun, and maybe less dangerous than BASE jumping!

The stores are full of Halloween candy, but you don’t have to wait that long, to satisfy your sweet tooth. Today is Sweetest Day! Created by a candy company more than 100 years ago, it inspired people to give out boxes of candy, and make it the sweetest day of the year!

Today is World Food Day, created by the United Nations. This year’s theme is, “Innovate today. Nourish tomorrow.” Climate change and dwindling farmland means some crops need to adapt to change. New technological advances combined with traditional knowledge, are helping to increase food production to make sure the whole world can eat.

Today is known as both Global Cat Day, and Feral Cat Day. Maybe it’s because if one feral, or wild, cat has kittens, and their kittens have kittens, and so on, in 9 years there would be 11,000,000 cats! Cats are awesome, but they would rapidly take over the world. Meow-za!

Today is Learn A Word Day. Luckily, it’s also Dictionary Day, which is the best way to learn the meaning of a word. If you can’t think of a word to look up, just flip through the pages for one that sounds interesting, or search for Q- or X-words for your next Scrabble game.

Researchers studying the Eastern monarch butterfly, have a new way to follow individual insects on their fall migration. A tiny backpack containing a solar-powered radio tag, is attached to the butterfly’s abdomen with non-toxic eyelash glue. Anyone can follow the butterflies at map.projectmonarch.org, as they journey thousands of miles south to Mexico.

When the Wild Oysters project released thousands of oysters off the coast of England, the oysters produced 1,000,000,000 larvae and filtered 22,000,000 liters of water to clean out pollutants. The group also released oysters in San Francisco Bay and Long Island Sound. They form natural breakwaters, to help protect the shore from storms.

Do you have a little flat-faced dog? There’s a good chance you can celebrate Pug Day! The dog breed has been around for more than 2,400 years. It’s also Lemon Bar Day and Cheese Curd Day. Whether you prefer a sweet treat with a sour kick, or squeaky chunks of cheese, today’ll be tasty!

Go wash your hands. It’s Global Handwashing Day! Washing your hands is an amazingly easy way to stay healthy. Your hands might look clean, but they could still be covered with germs that can make you sick! It’s also Grouch Day. If you’re in a bad mood today, just say you’re celebrating.