Incredible Animals by Dunia Rahwan + Animal Research Printable

If you're a frequent visitor to Kelly's Classroom Online, then you know I enjoy writing posts about animals.  So far, I've written about bees, groundhogs, reindeer, and rhinoceros.  I even compiled a list of children's books about animal poop!  Today's post is about Incredible Animals by Dunia Rahwan.  Incredible Animals is a fact-packed, nonfiction book about animals from all over the world.  If you've enjoyed reading my Fun Facts About Animals series, you will definitely enjoy reading this book.  Keep reading to learn more about Incredible Animals and for a FREE animal research printable you can use it with.

Dippin' Dandelions STEM Challenge

Dipping dandelions into a glass of water to see what happens to them is the newest TikTok challenge out there.  (I found out about this challenge from someone who told me about it after reading Learning About Dandelion Life Cycles.)  To do this challenge, you dip a white fuzzy dandelion head into a glass of water, keep it submerged for a few seconds, and pull it out.  Then you observe any changes that may have occurred.  Pretty simple, eh?  My son and I gave it a try earlier today and this is what happened...

Learning About Dandelion Life Cycles

Dandelions... also called puffballs, lion's head, lion's tooth, and monk's head... are some of the first flowers that appear in the spring.  Spring animals love to eat them.  Children love to play with them.  Science teachers and homeschooling families like to use them to talk about plant life cycles.  Keep reading for a quick science + craft activity and children's book suggestion you can use to teach dandelion life cycles to the children you work with!

The Bridge of the Golden Wood by Karl Beckstrand + STEM Activity

Karl Beckstrand is a prolific author of 30+ multicultural children's stories.  He has written stories that take place in a variety of countries around the world and has written stories in multiple languages.  Four of Karl Beckstrand's books have been featured on Kelly's Classroom Online so far:

🍎 Anna's Prayer (Sweden, United States)

🍎 Ida's Witness (Sweden, United States)

🍎 It Came from Under the High Chair (English, Spanish)

🍎 Great Cape O' Colors (English, Spanish)

Today's blog post is the fifth one about one of Karl Beckstrand's books... The Bridge of the Golden Wood.  The Bridge of the Golden Wood is a modern-day folktale/parable that takes place in China and that teaches children about the importance of helping others and saving money.  Keep reading to learn about this book and for a STEM building activity and economics minilesson ideas inspired by the book!

How to Make Earth Day Seed Bombs

Earth Day is almost here... are you looking for an easy-to-make craft your students and children can make?  Stevie Rae from 🌱🌍 Funtimes Daily Fun and Learning 🌍🌱 and her family recently made some Earth Day-themed seed bombs using items that can be purchased inexpensively at a dollar store.  In this guest post, Stevie Rae describes how they made their seed bombs and shares some of the photos she took along the way.  Thanks, Stevie!

10 Children's Books About the Titanic

On April 12, 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the northern Atlantic and sank to the bottom of the ocean.  Sadly, 1,500 men, women, and children lost their lives that day.  Since then, thousands of books, stories, legends, poems, and movies have been written about it.  Listed below are ten children's books about the Titanic.  Both fiction and nonfiction books are included in the list.

This is an updated version of a blog post I wrote in 2017.

Affiliate links to Amazon are included in this post.

How to Make a Mummy STEM Activity + Book List

The ancient Egyptians had one wish... they wished they could live forever.  They believed pharaohs would need their bodies in the afterlife so, they'd mummify the pharaohs' bodies to prevent them from decomposing and rotting away.

Making a mummy was a long and tedious process that could take months to complete. First, the body was packed in a salt called natron.  This allowed the body to dry out and for the moisture to be removed.  Once it was completely dry, the body was covered with scented spices and oils, then wrapped in cloth.  Finally, the body... now called a mummy... would be placed in a coffin and buried in its final resting place.

For obvious reasons, we can't mummify bodies these days... we'd be in serious legal trouble if we tried.  But we can recreate the process using apples, salt, and baking soda.  Keep reading to see some photos of an apple I mummified and to learn how to mummify an apple of your own!