Explore Earth’s layers, or horizons, in an easy, hands-on activity children are sure to enjoy. After building the model, eat this delicious snack.

Watch as our budding young artists have a blast creating their own masterpieces with a little help from magnets, too.

April 22, is Earth Day, a time when we pause to reflect on our truly incredible planet. Learn some amazing facts about our home planet.

Did you know that Earth is the only planet in the Solar System not to be named after a mythical god? Instead the word "earth" can be used to mean a number of different things. It can simply mean "dirt." This may have been one of the earliest meanings. What do we stand on? If you are outside, you are often standing on dirt. Perhaps, people came to think of the whole area they were standing on as "dirt" or "earth." By the time people were speaking Old English, about one thousand years ago, "earth" could have already meant the world on which people lived. It took longer for "earth" to come to mean "Planet Earth." This happened about 1400 or so.

Despite our Earth being called "earth," meaning dirt, only about 30% of the surface is actually solid ground. The rest of the planet's surface is made up of water. From a distance, Earth would be the brightest of the planets. This is because sunlight is reflected off the planet's water.

What is even more amazing than this percentage, is that a single drop of liquid water has yet to be found on any other planet in the Solar System. In this regard, Earth is truly unique. Of course, water is necessary to sustain life.

Speaking of water, did you know our oceans hold nearly 20 million tons of gold? There is enough undissolved gold on the sea floor to give nine pounds to each person on Earth!

Scientists also believe Earth may have had two moons at one time. Now Earth has one moon, and its name is Luna. 

Instead of looking skyward, let’s take a look below the Earth’s surface. This month, our training video models what lies below our feet. Explore Earth’s layers, or horizons, in an easy, hands-on activity children are sure to enjoy. After building the model, eat this delicious snack.

Yes, our awesome Earth is truly amazing! Read the Fuddlebrook story, The Plant Warrior, to learn more. Remember, we only have one Earth so we all must strive to reuse, reduce, and recycle.                                                              

There’s just something about the month of March. Maddening, temperamental, teasing March. The flowers and trees are beginning to put on a colorful show, the days are warmer and longer, and the Earth seems to want to burst with new life. Read the Fuddlebrook story A Change of Season to learn why we have the different seasons (at least in our part of the world).

March can be fickle, though. It can be warm one day and cold the next. We can see thunderstorms and highs approaching 80 one day and the next day we have snow showers—maybe even a blizzard! So no doubt March is moody. However, the most noticeable and consistent weather factor in March seems to be the strong winds. Every other day it seems the weather forecasters are calling for a “breezy/gusty/windy” day. Why does March seem so windy compared to other months out of the year?

It’s all about the transition. We are heading out of the cold short days of winter into the longer and much warmer days of spring and summer. Cold air is situated north while warm air is trying to approach from the south.  While the wind can be irritating sometimes, read A Big Gust of Wind to learn about how important wind can be too.

Finally we’d be remiss not to talk about the colors of spring. Liza’s Colorful Tale teaches us about primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. The activity Liza’s Rainbow is fun for St. Patrick’s Day. A sunny day will supply the “rainbow,” now what about the leprechaun’s pot of gold? But that’s not the only fun Fuddlebrook color activity. Our experiment and video features Herman’s Colorful Magnetic Artwork from A Case of Attraction. Watch as the kiddos have a blast creating their own artistic masterpiece with a little help from magnets too.

Let’s face it. March is just chock full of “teachable moment” fun days (Dr. Seuss’s birthday, St.Patrick’s Day, first day of Spring, and Pi Day just to name a few.) So grab your Fuddlebrook books and celebrate this crazy transition month with great stories and fun science activities.