News from Youth Services Category: Science

National Moon Day

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Tuesday, July 20, 2021, is National Moon Day and the 52nd anniversary of when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. The day is also to celebrate future launches into space, which you can learn about on NASA’s website here.

astronaut on the moon with U.S. flag
 Photo by NASA on Unsplash

To celebrate National Moon Day, try one of the activities on the blog, STEMsational. They have links to activities like making moon dust and learning about the phases of the moon.  

the moon in different phases of eclipse
Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash

To make a mission like Apollo 11 a success, many people worked hard to come up with the right space suit, rocket, and more. You can learn about this in many books in the library including:  

Margaret and the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing book cover

Margaret and the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing by Dean Robbins; illustrated by Lucy Knisley

Moon's First Friends: One Giant Leap for Friendship book cover

Moon’s First Friends: One Giant Leap for Friendship by Susanna Leonard Hill; pictures by Elisa Paganelli. 

Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 book cover

Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca. 

Rocket to the Moon! book cover

Rocket to the Moon! by Don Brown. 

Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson book cover

Reaching for the Moon: The Autobiography of NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson by Katherine G. Johnson 

Cicadas

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You may have been hearing a lot about the emergence of periodical cicadas this year.  It is an exciting year for those in the range for this year’s emergence. Here is a little info about these unique insects.  

What is a periodical cicada? 

Periodical Cicadas have a life cycle that lasts either 13 or 17 years, and all of them in an area emerge as adults at once.  These cicadas emerge in difference parts of the country at different times, and each group is given a brood year.  The brood in the news this year, brood x, does not reach into northern Illinois, so we will not be seeing them this year.   

Periodical Cicada:  

Magicicada septendecim

Feeling left out? 

Not to worry, we will get to see some periodical cicadas soon!  Northern Illinois should see periodical cicadas in the early summer of 2024.  Get your recipes ready! 

What? RECIPIES!?! 

Cicadas are edible! They taste like almonds (I have read).  Every year many people try them (although, try them with caution as they can trigger shellfish allergies).  They also cause a bit of a boom in forests as many animals have more babies in years when the periodical cicadas emerge due to the increase in insects to eat.  In the years following a large emergence, even tress grow more because of the increase in nutrients from the cicada bodies that decompose on the forest floor.  

Aren’t there cicadas every year? 

Yes! Every summer cicadas emerge, but those are annual cicadas, also known as dogday cicadas.  They have also have a long lifespan, usually living underground for 2-5 years before emerging as adults.    

Dogday Cicada: 

Neotibicen linnei

For more information, visit:  https://web.extension.illinois.edu/cicadas/index.html

For some great photos, including the ones above, check: https://www.cicadamania.com/

To read about cicadas, check out these books:

STEAM Saturday: Celebrate Astronomy Day

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Saturday, May 15, 2021 is Astronomy Day! This day is a great time to learn more about astronomy and do fun activities inside or outside.  

Astronomy is the study of the universe beyond the Earth including the sun, moon, stars, and more. To learn more about astronomy, use your MPPL library card to access the many web resources we have available. You can find the kid focused web resources on the Homework Help Web Page.  

One activity you can do with your family is track the moon phases. Every night, the moon looks a little different. This is due to how the sun is reflecting off the moon. To track these changes, create a journal with your nightly observations.  

moon phases
Source: NASA/Bill Dunford 
Published: August 14, 2014 

For more ideas, check out PBS.org’s article, Stargazing and Other Astronomy Activities You Can Do with Your Kids. 

There are also many books about astronomy and space, which you can check out at the Library.

Arbor Day Activities

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Arbor Day is on Friday, April 30. It is an annual holiday encouraging people to plant and care for trees. It was initiated by Julius Sterling Morton, President Grover Cleveland’s Secretary of Agriculture in 1872.

The Arbor Day Foundation’s Kids Corner is full of printable activities, digital games, and resources.

bright green car parked in front of a cherry blossom tree
  • Leaf ID Game: Can you correctly identify the names of trees based on what their leaves look like?
  • What do you know about the life of a tree?
  • Take a walk and see how many different trees can you find.

One very popular tree that blooms in spring is the cherry blossom tree. Have you seen these around your neighborhood?

You can make your own cherry blossom art with some simple supplies.

Start with a piece of paper.

For the branches, you can…

  • Draw with a crayon or marker
  • Glue brown yarn
  • Find a small twig and tape it to the paper

For the blossoms, cut or tear pieces of paper into small squares. A couple shades of pink or even white will look nice. Crumple them and glue them on the branches to make your tree blossom!

Check out these examples from toddleratplay.com and mykidcraft.com.

cherry blossom craft
tissue paper cherry blossom craft

STEAM Saturday: Water Pollution Experiment

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two little boys reaching into a pond in a park

Water that you find in nature is not necessarily clean or pure; you would not want to drink pond water, for example. There are ways to clean water, though, and you can try this experiment at home!

First, take a clean jar with a lid and fill it with water from a lake, pond, stream, or any other source of water outside your home. Put the lid on until it is time for the next step. What do you notice about the water?

To clean the water, you will need something called alum. Alum is a hydrated double sulfate of aluminum and potassium, used in dyeing and tanning. If you don’t have this at home, it can be found in the spice aisle in the grocery store.

Put 2 tablespoons of alum in your water, close the lid tightly, and shake it up. Then let the water sit for a few hours.

When you look at your jar again, what do you see?

You may notice that the dirt gets pulled to the bottom. In a real water treatment plant, the added alum forms clumps with the dirt and pulls it down to the bottom of the basin.

Experiment from:

Water Pollution for Kids: Fun Science Activities

To learn more about water and water pollution, check out one of these books.

Let's Save Water book cover
My River: Cleaning up the LaHave River book cover
The Ocean in your Bathtub book cover