Today we’ll provide some projects that you can do to bring more plants and animals to your home. Even if you live in an urban area, you can still do everything listed. Check out the fun activities below.

Whether we live in urban or rural settings, most of us can say that we’ve visited a natural place such as a forest, lake, pond, mountain, beach, or meadow. If you haven’t, that’s okay; it’s never too late to explore the outdoors. Being in nature for many can be a peaceful, exciting, and educational experience all at once.

This post will cover some different types of natural spaces that you’ll find on Earth. We’ll also list some great ideas about how you can get out in nature and learn to observe the wild world around you. Even if you live in the city.

Rockets and other spaceships are featured in many science fiction books and movies. In these stories, high-powered spaceships are usually able to travel to multiple galaxies without much effort. Unfortunately, we are not able to travel like that in the real world, but rockets are still used a lot for human space flight and other means. We’re going to show you a simple yet fun rocket building activity that’s perfect for anyone who enjoys space. Adult supervision is recommended for this activity. You’ll also find a bonus story-writing activity below that you can use to feature your new rocket.

If you enjoy reading, then it’s possible you’ve read a science fiction book. Science fiction, or sci-fi, is a genre of fiction that usually deals with futuristic themes such as advanced technology, time travel, space exploration, alternate reality, artificial intelligence, and alien life. The sci-fi genre is related to, and often intertwines with fantasy, horror, and superhero genres as well. Reading sci-fi books and watching sci-fi movies are often exciting, since the stories are usually action-packed and fantastical.

In order to make sense of their surroundings, humans have been making maps for thousands of years. One of the oldest surviving maps of the world is actually a small clay tablet dating back to 700 to 500 BCE called The Babylonian Map of the World. It shows the City of Babylon in the center with the Euphrates River crossing through the city, with the ocean surrounding it.

The search for adventure and exploration is inside many of us, and has been part of human history for thousands of years. Ancient people used boats, horses, or their own feet to explore. Today, we use high-tech devices such as airplanes, submarines, and rockets to explore the world and beyond.

The one thing that we modern people of today have in common with ancient people is that we record and track our exploration in the form of maps.

This week, we’re learning about the water cycle. In a previous post, we explained the different water phases (solid, liquid, gas) as well as the different types of water sources. We also dove into a few of the stages that water goes through in order to keep moving around the planet.

One of the stages was precipitation, or in other words, rain! Today we’re going to show you how to demonstrate your own kind of precipitation by creating a rain cloud in a glass.

We have provided a great bubble recipe down below that involves one of the most common items in a kitchen: dish soap! But first, did you ever wonder what’s the science behind bubbles? What actually makes up a bubble? Why are they round? Why do they pop? What are the pretty rainbow colors? Let’s explore these questions.

Today we will show you how to create an impact crater using simple kitchen ingredients, but first, let's find out more about them.

What is an impact crater?

When a meteoroid is able to penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere without completely breaking apart, it is called a meteor. When a meteor hits the Earth’s surface it is called a meteorite. A meteorite travels at very high speeds, ranging from 25,000 to 160,000 miles per hour (40,233 - 257,495 kilometers per hour). When it hits the ground at such a high speed, a bowl-shaped depression, or hole called a crater is produced.

As we get ready for the start of summer, you might be thinking about how this June compares with last June or a June from years in the past- maybe it feels warmer or colder, greener or full of more colors, wetter or drier. Maybe the baby robins in a nest near your house are getting ready to fly or the beans in your garden have just barely sprouted, and you’re wondering if that is happening earlier or later than last year. If you are thinking about wildlife and plants, then you are thinking about phenology- the study of events in plant and animal life cycles and how they change with the seasons and years.

This week’s Distance Learning theme is optics, light, and the electromagnetic spectrum. In this module, geared toward middle school-level learners, we learn more about spectroscopy—the study of how matter interacts with electromagnetic radiation—and how astronomers apply this science to better understand the composition of our universe.

In honor of National Wildflower Week, this week’s Distance Learning offerings are focusing on the plant world.

Plants use their roots to absorb nutrients from the soil in which they are growing. The process of nutrient cycling captures elements such as nitrogen from the atmosphere, converts them into a usable form for plant nutrition, and returns those elements back to the atmosphere when the plant dies and decomposes. Learn more about the “how” and “why” of nutrient cycling here!