Two of my favorite books are about penguins, one of my favorite animals.

365 Penguins written by Jean-Luc Fromental, illustrated by Joëlle Jolivet.

The first is 365 Penguins. In this story, a family receives a penguin one day. As you can guess, one penguin starts arriving everyday after that for a year.  The family has no idea where they are from or what to do with them. I like this book because it uses math and has a funny story.  I also really like the illustrations.

ay. As you can guess, one penguin starts arriving everyday after that for a year.  The family has no idea where they are from or what to do with them. I like this book because it uses math and has a funny story.  I alseally like the illustrations.

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater.

A longer book to read during a rainy day is Mr. Popper’s Penguins.  This story is about a family who also receives a penguin in the mail.  Eventually there are more penguins than the family knows what to do with.  Mr. Popper has to figure out where to keep the penguins and how to afford them.  This book is great because the penguins all have their own personalities and they like to have a lot of fun.

What are your favorite books?

If you have a lot of time and want a challenge, try making this tetrahedral kite:

Supplies:

60 long, straight drinking straws
Scissors
Kite string or thin, strong string that will stay knotted, at least 30 feet
4 wooden dowels, 1/8 diameter
Big sheet of paper
Newspaper, cellophane, or plastic bags
Tape
A pen/marker

1. Cut your string eight times as long as one of your straws.

2. String three straws together by pushing the string through the straw with a dowel. Tie the straws into a triangle. Leave two inches of string at the end. Then use the longer piece of string and pull it through two more straws and tie a knot so it looks like this:

3. Use this frame to make a pattern. Place the frame on top of the sheet of paper and trace around it, leaving about a one inch around the edge. Cut it out and use it to make ten cutouts of the newspaper, cellophane, or plastic bags, whatever you would like your kite’s shell to be.

4. Use the leftover string in the frame and add another straw onto the triangles. This makes a 3-d triangle, which will be one cell of the kite. Take the frame and place it on one of your cutouts. Attach with tape.

The kite frame.

Covering the frame with the shell.

5. Make 9 more cells. Attach all the cells together in the shape of a triangle with the leftover bits of string. To make them more secure, you can tape the knots and excess string to the inside of the cells.  Make sure all sides covered with the cutouts are facing the same direction.

The first layer should have 6 cells, the second should have 3, and the top layer should only have 1 cell.

6.  Cut off excess string between the cells. Along the leading edge of the cells tape your dowels to the straws for reinforcement.  Then cut two small holes on the top cell’s and lower cell’s shell, each in the middle of the cells. Tie the string around the dowels and straws and secure with tape. Then take the string you want to fly the kite by, and tie it one-third of the way down from the top of the kite. Wrap the excess around the left over dowel. It’s now ready to fly!

To make a kite out of recycled materials and for almost no money, try this:

Supplies:

Plastic shopping bag
Two thin wooden sticks
Duct tape
String

1. Take the two sticks and lay one other the other perpendicularly, so it looks like a + sign. Then take one piece of the duct tape and place it over where the sticks intersect.

2. Attach the 4 ends of the sticks to the bag with the tape. Then attach the string to another piece of tape and stick that piece to the bag of the center tape piece. Now it’s ready to fly.

I love my new kites and can’t wait to fly them at the festival or during the next few months.  I hope you go out and fly some too!

One well-known and admirable woman is Marie Curie.
She was the first woman to be honored with a Nobel Prize and the first person to ever receive two Nobel Prizes. She is also the only woman awarded with two Nobel Prizes. Curie won the first prize for her work
with physics and the second for her work with chemistry.  Curie isn’t just an inspiration because of her awards, but also because she was a woman at the forefront of science when it was not commonly accepted for women to be working in science.

To learn about other inspiring women, look at our posts on Bessie Coleman and Mae Jemison. To see some of the Museum’s girl scientists from Girls Explore Science Camp, click here.

For a traditional kite, try this:

Supplies:

String or yarn, at least 10 feet
Tape
One large sheet of strong paper (I used recycled wallpaper)
Markers or crayons
Two thin wooden sticks, one 1 foot long, the other 8 inches long
Something to wrap your string around when flying

1. Use the two sticks to make a cross, with the 8 inch stick lying horizontal on the 12 inch stick. Make sure the 12 inch stick is in the center of the 8 inch stick. My sticks were a bit short so I taped a few together to make them the right lengths.

2. Wrap the string around the stick and make sure it is bound strong. You can use the tape here to reinforce the string.

3. Cut notches on the ends of every stick for the string to catch. Then starting from the bottom, take your string and fit it into the notch at the end of the stick. Continue all the way around the frame. Use the tape on the ends of the sticks to prevent the string from moving.

4. Decorate you paper if you please. Then place the sticks on top of the paper and cut around the  string frame, leaving about an inch around the perimeter. Then fold the edges over the string frame and hold down with the tape.

5. Tie a spring around the middle of the frame where the two sticks intersect. Make sure the string is long enough that the kite can have room to fly. Wrap the excess string around something easy for you to hold. I used a strong straw. Now try flying it!

Check back here later for some more kites you can make at home!

Some of us think it can’t be real. Some of us say it must have taken months to get it right! Either way, it will make you want to watch it over and over again. What do you think?

Thanks, Paul, for bringing it to our attention!