Category: Kids News

Lefties, this day is for you! It’s International Left-Handers Day! About 10% of the population is left-handed. To stand out today, make people awkwardly shake hands with their left hands. Ask right-handers to write, or throw a ball with their left hands, for a good laugh.

The peak of the Perseid meteor showers, is tonight and tomorrow morning, before dawn. Stay up late or get up early, to watch as the Earth passes through fields of comet waste. The debris burns up, causing the shooting stars in our skies. Dark skies are best, to see the trails of light.

Elephants are the largest land mammals in the world. Their skin is an inch thick. They can weigh over 12,000 pounds, and grow 10 feet tall. They eat 300-600 pounds of food a day, with around 220 pounds coming back out as poop. Celebrate these amazing animals, for World Elephant Day!

Today is the United Nations’ International Youth Day. The theme this year, is “Different Contexts, Common Aspirations.” Kids from different cultures or economic situations, still have similar hopes for a happy life. Young people like Greta Thunberg have taken global ideas, and put them in action in their local communities. Dream big!

It’s World Calligraphy Day, celebrating the artistry of writing. You can use a fountain pen, a wide-tipped marker, a brush, or a feather quill and ink. Look up calligraphy styles, and practice writing each letter carefully. Even a shopping list can look like a fancy wedding invitation, when written in calligraphy!

Today is Vinyl Record Day. These big flat discs with a spiral groove, store sound. Dig out a record player and dance!! Or, watch the Slow Mo Guys Spin a vinyl record so fast that it shatters, on their YouTube channel. Their camera films 343,000 frames-per-second. Everything’s amazing in slow motion!

Grab your eclipse glasses, to view a solar eclipse today! The path of totality will be over Iceland, but much of Europe and North America will experience a partial eclipse, when the moon blocks part of the sun. Never look directly at the sun. Try looking at leaf shadows on the ground instead.

The Birmingham Botanical Gardens had to remove the greenhouse roof, to accommodate their agave sisalana. The 10-year-old plant grew a flower spike more than 18 feet tall, over the last few months. Native to the deserts of Mexico, agave sisalana only blooms once in its lifetime, before dying. It’s known as the death bloom.

I hear crickets chirping! Male crickets chirp to attract females, by rubbing their wings together. Crickets can also tell you the temperature outside! Count how many times a cricket chirps in 14 seconds, then add 40, for an approximate temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. For Celsius, count the chirps in 25 seconds, divide by 3, then add 4.

Grab your buckets and shovels, because today is Play In The Sand Day. Make a sand castle at the beach, or a construction zone in the sandbox. If you’d rather stay home, you’re in luck. It’s also Global Kinetic Sand Day. The squeezable sand, was originally mixed with beeswax, to make it less messy.