by Bart King
Magic Bubbles
This is the coolest bubble activity of all time.
You will need: a bottle of bubbles with bubble blower, a decent-sized cardboard box, a plastic garbage bag, dry ice, work gloves
WARNING: Don’t ever touch dry ice with your skin! Dry ice is so cold (minus 100 F), it will stick to you and freeze. It can severely damage and scar your skin.
All you have to do for this simple and amazing activity is line the inside of your cardboard box with the plastic garbage bag. Then put on your gloves and put the dry ice in the box.
Now start blowing some bubbles and blow them into the box. The bubbles will act very unusually; they won’t rise or fall, they will just hover in the box, changing colors and combining with each other. (This is because dry ice is made of frozen carbon dioxide and the bubbles are lighter than the carbon dioxide gas that is being released.)
BONUS: When you are done with the dry ice, try breaking off a piece (with your gloves on) and putting it in a glass of water for that cool “scary potion” effect! You can also use dry ice to put into balloons . . . after you put it inside the balloon, tie off the end of the balloon. The balloon will be “blown up” by the dry ice! Cool!
The Magic Jar
You will need: A small glass jar with a metal lid, “light” corn syrup, glitter, beads, plastic figures and doo-dads, glue (better if it’s waterproof), creativity. Optional: Food coloring.
Who doesn’t love snow globes? You shake them and watch the little snowflakes come swirling down . . . so pretty! And now, you can make your own version of the magic globe.
The scene that you want to create inside of the jar needs to be glued down on the inside of the metal lid of the jar. Your scene might be made up of little plastic snowmen, doll heads, lost pieces from board games, or costume jewelry. Provided the items are plastic, they should be fine. So, glue them down to the inside of the lid in whatever arrangement you like.
While the lid dries, put the stuff that you want to “float” in the air into the empty jar. Whatever glitter or beads strike your fancy!
Next, pour an equal amount of light corn syrup and water into the jar. Fill the jar fairly full, but not quite all the way. (If you want to put in a little food coloring to make it look like sky or water, now’s the time.)
When you’re ready for the moment of truth, put glue around the rim of the jar on the inside of the jar’s lid. Screw it on tight, and then leave it alone. It has to dry, so let it! Once it is dry, prepare for instant holiday dazzle. Pick up the jar, shake it . . . and let the magic begin!
Big glass beads with flat backs look cool on everything. Get some Super Glue and glue some of these to things in your room. We bet you love it!
Mehndi (men-dee) Painting
Give yourself a nonpermanent tattoo!
You will need: a friend, henna powder, tea, lemon or lime juice, sugar or honey, a nonmetal bowl. You also need either a pastry bag or a large plastic Ziploc bag.
Ancient Indian body painting is amazing. You can do it yourself, or there are probably artists in your area who can help you get started if you prefer. Henna is used as a skin and hair dye. You can find henna in organic food stores, beauty stores, Indian shops, and many other places. The henna you buy should look like a green or brown powder. Not black! And the fresher it is, the better it works.
Follow the directions that came with your henna, but also be willing to experiment. You will want to mix your henna and let it sit for a few hours, or even overnight.
Although “recipes” vary, mix the henna powder with some tea and lemon or lime juice in a bowl to make a watery paste. Henna experts are reluctant to give exact amounts, but try starting with a ratio of 2:3 (powder-to-liquid). One way to do it is to make a cup of strong tea and add a little sugar. Then pour some of the tea and lemon juice into the henna powder.
Don’t make your henna mix too thick, because the henna mix will “set up” a little bit after you’re done. It should be like watery mashed potatoes, with no lumps or air pockets. Once you’re done mixing your henna, loosely cover the mixture with cellophane. Some people let the henna sit overnight, but once the surface is darker than the part underneath, the dyes are being released.
When you’re ready to paint, either fill up a pastry bag (those things chefs use for frosting) or make your own. Just cut off a tiny bit of the corner of a Ziploc freezer bag and carefully pour the paste into the bag. Holding the mix in the bag, squeeze it so that one end makes a small tube. Then start squeezing it out that small corner hole!
If your henna mix is the right consistency, you can also paint it on with a small brush. You can make whatever design you want; there are many good books and websites that can give you ideas.
Squeeze or paint the design you want out onto your friend’s hand or foot. (If you want to practice with an area nobody will see, try shoulders, backs, or legs.) Many artists dab the henna with a cotton ball dipped in a mix of lemon juice and sugar to help it set up more quickly.
Although mehndi should dry for four to six hours, you can do faster versions. (But try to leave the design on as long as possible.) If you don’t wash it with water for another four hours, it can last for as long as two to three weeks.
*You can also body paint with glow-in-the-dark paint (craft stores have nontoxic ones) that look really cool in the dark and under black lights. If you want a less permanent body or face paint, mix a little lotion with dry tempera paint.
Crayons!
You might be surprised to learn that these rods of colored wax are more interesting than you think. For example, you know that waxy smell that you get when you open a box of crayons? That smell is beef fat. Processed beef fat (called stearic acid) is an ingredient in many crayons. The smell of crayons is so well known, a university study found it to be the eighteenth most recognized odor in the nation! (The smell of peanut butter was number two.)
The most famous crayons are probably Crayola crayons. “Crayola” is a word that means “oily chalk.” Crayola crayons started out with 8 colors in 1903. Today there are 120 colors. Some of the colors available that you may not have heard about include Outer Space, Manatee, Fuzzy Wuzzy Brown, Dandelion, Eggplant, and Macaroni and Cheese—and you can get them in Glow in the Dark if you want!
Survey Says! A poll of 25,000 Americans found the favorite crayon color of the American people: Blue!
Make the World a Better Place
“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”
—Mother Teresa
It’s time to cast a stone!
You will need: To save the world. (Or at least your hometown.)
This is the most important activity anybody can do. When you showed up on this planet, there were problems all over the place. Nobody is blaming you for them, but before you leave, it would be nice if you could help make the world a better place than it was when you found it.
You may already be a member of a club, organization, temple, or church. Maybe you’re in Girl Scouts or a Big Sister program. If so, start looking for opportunities to help out. Decide what kinds of issues are important to you. Check the “Girl Power” chapter for more ideas. There are also little random things you can do to make the world better, like smiling or giving someone a compliment. Maybe you’ve seen the bumper sticker: Commit Random Acts of Kindness. That’s a great idea!
Besides the good feeling you can get from helping others, making the world a better place also looks great on college applications! Keep track of what you did and when—we guarantee someone will be very impressed.
If this sounds like too much for you right now, that’s okay. But get around to it sooner or later. We know you don’t have anything better to do . . . Nobody does!
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[4] Remember not to put your address or phone number on your site so you’ll be safe and worry-free.
[5] You unconsciously lean toward the wall while bringing your arm back and then forward again.
Holidays
“Celebrate the happiness that friends are always giving
Make every day a holiday and celebrate just living!”
—Amanda Bradley
A wise person once pointed out (in a book sort of like this!) that every day of the year is special for someone. For instance, think of your birthday. That’s your special day when we celebrate how unique you are. (Never mind that 10 million other people have the same birthday as you!) Here are some other very special days that you might not know about.
*Always make it a point to say “Thank you!” to your mother on your birthday. If it wasn’t for her, you wouldn’t have much to celebrate!
All of the following holidays are honest-to-goodness real, live holidays!
January
January is International Creativity Month, and it contains “Someday We’ll Laugh about This” Week, Man Watchers Week and National Fresh Squeezed Juice Week. January’s flower is the snowdrop. Its gem is the garnet.
January 1: Get a Life Day
January 3: Drinking Straw Day
January 4: Trivia Day
January 5: Great Fruitcake Toss In Manitou, Colorado, this is a day for tossing, hurling, and launching leftover fruitcakes in a competition!
January 6: Joan of Arc’s birthday (born 1412)
January 7: “I’m Not Going to Take It Anymore” Day
January 8: Women’s Day (in Greece)— Women do absolutely no housework this day; instead they hang out in cafés and go shopping. Men are supposed to work in the home, vacuuming and cleaning. If any men are caught outside, they may be drenched with water!
January 12: National Handwriting Day
January 16: National Nothing Day
January 18: Pooh Day — Birthday of A.A. Milne, the author of the Winnie the Pooh book, among others.
January 20: International Women’s Day
January 21: Squirrel Appreciation Day and National Hugging Day
January 22: Answer Your Cat’s Question Day
January 23: National Compliment Day
January 27: Thomas Crapper Day — Crapper was an Englishman who helped perfect the flushing toilet in the 1800s.
January 28: National Kazoo Day and Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day
January 29: Oprah Winfrey’s birthday (born 1954)
February
February’s International Boost Self-Esteem Month and National Bird Feeding Month. It contains International Flirting Week, Get Paid to Shop Week, National Pancake Week, and International Friendship Week. February’s flower is the violet, and its gem is the amethyst.
February 2: Groundhog Day
February 3: Girls’ Festival Day (in Japan) — At this festival (Hina–matsuri), all families with daughters invite people over to wish the girl good fortune and maybe give her presents. How cool is that?
February 7: Love Your Robot Day
February 9: Alice Walker’s birthday (born 1944)
February 11: Bun Day (in Iceland)— A day to celebrate hair buns, hamburger buns, and sticky buns. X
February 12: International Pancake Day and Judy Blume’s birthday (born 1938)
February 14: International Quirkyalone Day (Yeah, yeah, it’s also Valentine’s Day)
If you have a special someone, Valentine’s Day can be the greatest day of the year. But if you wish you did but don’t, it can be the hardest day. Maybe it’s best to expect nothing—then if something good happens, it’s a surprise! And if it doesn’t, who cares!
February 15: National “I Want Butterscotch” Day
February 20: Battle of the Flowers (in southern France) — A day to throw flowers at anyone you want!
February 26: For Pete’s Sake Day
March
March is National Women’s History Month, National Kidney Month, International Listening Awareness Month, and Optimism Month. It contains Celebrate Your Name Week, National Chocolate Chip Cookie Week, National Procrastination Week, International Brain Awareness Week, and Girl Scout Week. March’s flower is the daffodil. Its gem is the aquamarine.
March 2: Babysitter Safety Day and Read Across America Day
March 3: I Want You to Be Happy Day
March 4: Ding Ling Day (in China) — Ding Ling was a female Chinese author (1904– 1986) who worked for equal rights for women.
March 6: National Procrastination Day
March 8: Uppity Women Day, International Women’s Day
March 9: National Brutus Day (a.k.a. Backstabbers’ Day)
March 12: Girl Scout Day
March 14: White Day (in Japan) — On this day, boys and men who got candy or gifts from girls on Valentine’s Day return the favor. Their gift should be slightly better than the one they received, and it’s wrapped in white.
March 15: Act Happy Day
March 18: Forgive Mom and Dad Day
March 21: Absolutely Incredible Kid Day
March 29: Happy Day — Four words: Don’t worry, be happy!
April
April is International Twit Award Month, National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month, Couple Appreciation Month and National Smile Month. April contains Egg Salad Week, Dumb Week (celebrated in Greece), Wildlife Week, and National TV Turnoff Week. The third Thursday of April is National High Five Day, a day when people can freely exchange high fives with anybody. April’s flower is the sweet pea, and its gem is the diamond.
April 1: Call us crazy, but this seems like a good day for a practical joke. If your parents get a paper delivered daily, save a complete paper from late March. Then switch the insides of all the April 1st newspaper sections with your older paper (while keeping the April 1st front pages the same.) Oh, the merry laughter when your trick is figured out!
April 2: International Children’s Book Day
April 7: No Housework Day, Honesty Day
April 10: Stories Day (as in, tell a story today). Also National Siblings’ Day.
April 12: International Teens Against Zits Day and Beverly Cleary’s birthday (born 1916)
April 17: Thank Your School Librarian Day
April 21: Kindergarten Day
April 22: Earth Day
April 26: Hairball Awareness Day and Hug an Australian Day
April 30: Hairstylist Appreciation Day
May
May is More Than Just a Pretty Face Month, National Egg Month, Creative Beginnings Month, National Book Month. May contains National Stuttering Awareness Week, Be Kind to Animals Week, National Wildflower Week, and National Backyard Games Week. (And don’t forget that Mother’s Day is always the second Sunday in May.) This month’s flower is the lily of the valley and its gem is the emerald.
May 1: Mother Goose Day and Save the Rhino Day
May 2: Siblings Appreciation Day — Let’s give a shout-out to our brothers and sisters!
May 3: Lumpy Rug Day
May 5: Cinco de Mayo! (in Latin American countries) — More avocados are sold on this day than any other in the United States.
May 6: No Diet Day
May 8: No Socks Day
May 10: Trust Your Intuition Day
May 15: Hug Your Cat Day
May 16: International Sea Monkey Day
May 30: National Holiday for Joan of Arc (in France)
June
June is National Hermit Week and National Iced Tea Month. It contains National Hug Holiday Week and National Forgiveness Week. The first week of June contains World Environment Day, and the first Saturday in June is Change Your Mind Day. And don’t forget that the third Sunday in June is Father’s Day! June’s flower is the rose. Its gem is the pearl.
June 9: Johnny Depp’s birthday (born 1963)
June 11: National Hug Day and National Taco Day — You can hug anybody on this day, not just cats! The beauty of Hug Day is that after you get one hug, refills are free!
June 18: National Splurge Day
June 19: Join Hands Day
June 22: Mirthday!
June 23: Let It Go Day
June 27:
Leon Day — It is exactly six months till Christmas on Leon Day. (“Leon” is “Noel” spelled backwards.)
June 27: Ferret Awareness Day
July
July is Cell Phone Courtesy Month. It contains Copious Compliments Week, National Baby Food Week, and National Salad Week. July also contains National Nude Recreation Week and Spam Festival Week, but don’t hold that against it. July’s flower is the water lily and its gem is the ruby.
July 2: I Forgot Day
July 3: Compliment Your Mirror Day
July 7: Father-Daughter Take a Walk Together Day
July 10: Ima Hogg’s Birthday — Ima Hogg (1882–1975) was the daughter of a Texas governor; she preferred to be called Miss Ima. She made up for the crummy name her dad gave her by giving generously to charities and starting many community projects.
July 19: Cow Appreciation Day
July 20: World Jump Day —If at least 600 million people in North and South America jump at the same time on this day, it will push the Earth into a new orbit and help stop global warming! (See http://www.worldjumpday.org/ for more information.)
July 21: National Ice Cream Day
July 23: “Hot Enough for Ya?” Day
July 31: J. K. Rowling’s birthday! — Joanne Kathleen Rowling (born 1965) came up with the idea of Harry Potter during a train ride in 1990. Her first Harry Potter book came out eight years later, and she is now one of the richest women in the world. Go J. K.!
August
August is Admit You’re Happy Month. August contains National Friendship Week, World Breastfeeding Week, Simplify Your Life Week, and Kool-Aid Days (the second weekend of the month). August’s flower is the poppy. Its gem is the onyx.