If your throat gets sore a lot, your tonsils could be the reason. Find out more in today’s Wonder of the Day!

Have you ever wondered…

• Why do we have tonsils?
• Where are your tonsils?
• What is a tonsillectomy?

Did you know?
Do you know any friends who have had their tonsils taken out? They probably missed school and got to eat ice cream for several days. While that may sound like fun, we bet they would have rather been in school that whole time!

So where exactly are your tonsils? These small pieces of soft tissue — one on the right and one on the left — sit all the way at the back of your throat.

Tonsils have an important job. They help fight off germs that come in through your nose and mouth. Your tonsils try to prevent germs from causing infections in other areas of your body.

Your tonsils usually do a really good job of fighting off infections. Sometimes, though, viruses or bacteria get into your tonsils and cause an infection in them. When this happens, the doctor will tell you that you have tonsillitis.

Common signs of tonsillitis include fever, extremely sore throat, bad breath, swollen neck glands and inflammation of the tonsils that a doctor can see by shining a light into your mouth when you say, “Ahhhh.”

If you have tonsillitis, the doctor will usually give you a “strep test” to see whether the tonsillitis is caused by bacteria (called streptococci bacteria) or a virus. If you have streptococci bacteria in your throat, the doctor can give you antibiotics to kill the bacteria. If not, you have tonsillitis caused by a virus and your body will fight it on its own.

If you start having tonsillitis frequently, your tonsils may be doing more harm than good. When this happens, a doctor may recommend removing your tonsils. This simple procedure is called a tonsillectomy. A tonsillectomy may also be a good idea if you happen to have really large tonsils that make it hard to breathe at night.

If you need a tonsillectomy, don’t worry about it! After a tonsillectomy, you don’t look any different. There aren’t any scars to see either. Even without your tonsils, your body’s germ-fighting systems will continue to help you fight off infections.

Although a tonsillectomy may sound scary, it’s actually an easy procedure that only lasts about 20 minutes. Doctors will give you anesthesia, so you won’t feel any pain. You’ll need a lot of rest and fluids for a week or so after a tonsillectomy, but you’ll be back up to speed before you know it!

Try it out!

If you have to have your tonsils taken out, can you still fight germs? Sure you can! There are several ways you can fight germs every day. Read through these tips and try to make them part of your daily routine as much as possible!

• Wash your hands! Washing your hands regularly helps you get rid of nasty germs that you can pick up from all sorts of places, such as doorknobs, desks and other people!
• Sneeze into your arm! Help others stay healthy by not spreading your own germs around to other people. Set an example for others and hopefully they will follow your lead.
• Drink plenty of water and eat nutritious foods. Your body’s natural defenses are great germ fighters, so make sure you’re feeding and watering your body in a way that will let it live up to its full potential!

Wonder words to know and use:

• tonsils
• tonsillectomy
• tonsillitis
• tissue
• germ
• infection
• bacteria
• virus
• streptococci
• antibiotics
• anesthesia

Still wondering?

Explore Science NetLinks’ Health Literacy resource collection for great resources to help you learn more about health and medicine.

Wonder what’s next?

Are you ready to march? Line up quickly and don’t let tomorrow’s Wonder of the Day float away!

When the wind is a blowin’, you’ll be glad your coat has one of these!

Have you ever wondered…

• Who invented the zipper?
• Who designed the modern zipper?
• Where did the name “zipper” come from?

Did you know?
Have you ever given much thought to what life might be like without the humble zipper? For starters, your clothes would have a hard time staying put. In a stiff breeze, it’s handy to have a jacket that zips up. Blue jeans probably wouldn’t be as much fun to wear without zippers either!

If you go on a camping trip, zippers play an important role, too. Your suitcase or backpack might spill its contents everywhere if it wasn’t zipped shut. You might also get cold at night if your sleeping bag didn’t zip up nice and tight.

The first methods used to keep clothes fastened were buttons. Buttons worked well for the most part, but eventually clever inventors searched for even better ways to keep clothes closed.

The invention of the modern zipper was actually a long process that involved several different people. The inventor of the sewing machine, Elias Howe, received a patent in 1851 for an “Automatic, Continuous Clothing Closure.” Although it was a good idea, he didn’t market it, because he was too busy promoting the sewing machine.

Over 40 years later, Whitcomb Judson improved upon Howe’s idea and began to market what he called a “Clasp Locker.” He designed it to be a fastener for shoes. To produce his new device, he started the Universal Fastener Company. The product debuted at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, but it didn’t have much success.

The modern zipper was eventually designed in 1913 by Gideon Sundback, who worked at the Universal Fastener Company in Hoboken, New Jersey. He received a patent for his “Separable Fastener” in 1917.

Sundback’s design increased the number of fastening elements to 10 per inch and included two rows of interlocking teeth that would latch together with the help of a slider. His design was the first fastener to resemble what we now know as a zipper.

But Sundback didn’t come up with the name! The name “zipper” was developed by the B.F. Goodrich Company. They used Sundback’s device as a fastener on a new type of rubber boots they produced. They called the device a “zipper” and the name stuck!

Early on, zippers were mainly used on boots and pouches that held tobacco. It would be another 20 years before the fashion industry began to use zippers on clothing. One of the first uses on closing was replacing the buttons on men’s trousers with zippers.

Today, zippers remain very popular and can be found on all sorts of clothing and other products. Take a look around you. How many zippers do you see and use on a daily basis?

Try it out!

Are you tired of the same boring old zippers on your clothes and jackets? Did you know that you can give them some zip (pun totally intended!) by making homemade zipper pulls to attach to them? It’s fun and it’s easy.

Grab a friend or family member and check out these fun zipper pull crafts:

• Rattlesnake Zipper Pull
• How To Make Beaded Zipper Pulls
• Back to School Zipper Pulls

When you’re finished, post a picture of your homemade zipper pull on Facebook. We can’t wait to see what you make!

Wonder words to know and use:

• zipper
• humble
• fastened
• patent
• automatic
• continuous
• closure
• market
• promoting
• clasp
• locker
• debuted
• success
• separable
• element
• interlocking
• trouser

Still wondering?

Before zippers, there were buttons. Use Illuminations’ Begin With Buttons lesson to learn how to use buttons to explore logical and numerical relationships.

Wonder what’s next?

Tomorrow’s Wonder of the Day will have you opening wide to say “Ahhhh!”

Ready to get your veggie on? Let’s explore veganism in today’s Wonder of the Day!

Have you ever wondered…

• What is a vegan?
• What’s the difference between a vegetarian and a vegan?
• Can a vegan diet provide all the nutrients your body needs?

Did you know?
Do you love vegetables? We do! Golden ears of corn standing tall in the fields…green, leafy heads of lettuce sitting in a row…sweet peas nestled in a pod…these are the things we look forward to eating when the harvest comes!

Did you know that there are some people who eat a diet that consists only of plant-based foods, such as vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains? We call these people vegetarians. Vegetarians make a choice — for a variety of reasons — not to eat meat.

Some people, though, take vegetarianism one step further. Not only will they not eat meat, but they refuse to eat any type of food (and sometimes even refuse to use any type of product) that comes from an animal. We call these plant-based eaters vegans.

For example, a vegetarian might pass up a slice of pepperoni pizza and have a slice of plain cheese pizza instead. A vegan, however, will pass on the plain cheese pizza, too, since cheese is a dairy product that comes from a cow.

Likewise, vegans will avoid other non-meat foods that come from animals that vegetarians might otherwise eat. Examples of such foods include eggs, butter and milk.

Many vegetarians choose to eat only vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains for health reasons. A vegetarian diet is usually low in fat and cholesterol. It’s also often high in fiber and low in calories.

Vegans might choose to avoid all animal products for health reasons, too, but many of them have other concerns. Vegans often choose their diet based upon a belief that animals should not be used by people for food or to make consumer products of any kind.

Have you ever thought about being a vegetarian or a vegan? Before making any kind of a choice to follow a specific type of diet, make sure you discuss it with your parents, as you’ll need their help.

In addition to buying the right kinds of foods, you’ll also need an adult’s help to make sure your body is getting all the nutrients it needs. Meat provides protein, iron and other important vitamins and minerals. These nutrients may be missing in a vegetarian or vegan diet if you’re not careful to replace them with non-meat foods or nutritional supplements.

Today, veganism is becoming more popular and mainstream. More and more vegan restaurants are opening and many professional athletes have turned to a vegan diet to improve their health and performance. Studies have shown that vegan diets can help to reduce many health conditions, such as heart disease.

Most grocery stores also now offer a variety of vegan alternatives to popular products. For example, cow’s milk is often replaced by almond milk or soy milk. These alternative types of milk also can be used to make vegan versions of cheese. You also can find soy used to make meatless versions of traditional meat products, like hamburgers.

Try it out!

Do you think you could be a vegan? If hamburgers and chicken nuggets are some of your favorite foods, a vegan diet might not sound very appetizing. Don’t knock it until you try it, though.

Grab a friend or family member and head to the kitchen. Try a few of the kid-friendly vegan recipes below. You never know when you might discover a new favorite!

• Baked Oatmeal
• Fettuccine with Sundried Tomato Pesto
• Chipotle Black Bean Burritos
• Garden Vegetable Soup

Wonder words to know and use:

• vegan
• vegetarian
• nutrient
• cholesterol
• consumer
• nutritional
• supplement
• mainstream
• almond
• soy

Still wondering?

Check out Science NetLinks’ Nutrition 2: Good Food, Good Health lesson to explore ways in which food provides energy and materials for our bodies.

Wonder what’s next?

Zip on over to Wonderopolis tomorrow for a Wonder of the Day that really has some teeth!

Be alert! You don’t want to end up downwind of today’s Wonder of the Day!

Have you ever wondered…

• Why do skunks stink?
• Why do skunks spray?
• How far can a skunk spray?

Did you know?
On a hike through the woods of Wonderopolis the other day, we overheard a beaver and a badger telling a joke about a skunk:

Beaver: Hey Badger! Did you hear the one about the skunk?

Badger: *sigh* No, I didn’t, but I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.

Beaver: Why did the skunk go to school?

Badger: I have no idea. Why did the skunk go to school?

Beaver: For show and smell! Ha ha ha!

Badger: Wow. That joke really stinks!

Do you agree with Badger? Did Beaver’s skunk joke really stink? Even if you liked it, there’s one thing that’s for sure: skunks can really stink.

But it’s not the skunk itself that stinks. It’s actually a special spray that the skunk can release to defend itself from predators, such as wolves, foxes and badgers.

When a skunk feels threatened, it can squirt its special spray from glands underneath its tail. Skunks can accurately hit a target from up to 10 feet away!

A skunk’s spray is made up of oily chemicals called thiols. Thiols are sulphur compounds that can cause headaches and burning or stinging in the eyes. The worst part, though, is the smell.

If you’ve ever smelled skunk spray, you know how unpleasant it is! Some people have described the smell of a skunk’s spray as a combination of rotten eggs, garlic and burnt rubber. Phew!

It’s this horrible smell that sends the strong message to predators that says, “Stay away from me!” How powerful is a skunk’s smell? Very powerful! Even large bears will avoid tiny skunks to keep from being sprayed. Unfortunately, one predator — the great horned owl — has a very poor sense of smell and is rarely deterred by a skunk’s spray.

Skunks don’t spray unless they feel threatened. Their glands only hold enough spray for five or six strikes. If they use up all their spray, it can take up to 10 days to make more. Before spraying, a skunk will usually try other ways of scaring off a predator, including hissing, stomping its feet and lifting its tail to simulate a spray attack.

If you have a pet that ever gets sprayed by a skunk, don’t fall back on old wives’ tales that tell you to give your pet a bath in tomato juice. Instead, follow these “de-skunking” instructions to use a special solution of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and liquid soap to clean your pet.

Try it out!

Phew! Enough talk about things that stink. Let’s focus on some things that smell good. What are some of your favorite smells? Are there any smells that you associate with good memories?

Read through the list of smells described below. If you use your imagination, can you “smell” them in your mind? What thoughts do you have when you think about these smells? For each smell, think of a word or phrase that comes to mind:

• bacon frying in a pan
• a hot pepperoni pizza fresh out of the oven
• warm sheets just removed from a dryer
• roses blooming in the springtime
• the air after a thunderstorm

What is your favorite smell in the entire world? Share your favorite smell with your Wonder Friends by posting about it on Facebook. Be sure to tell everyone WHY that smell is your favorite!

Wonder words to know and use:

• skunk
• downwind
• predator
• threatened
• gland
• oily
• chemical
• thiol
• sulphur
• deterred
• simulate
• hydrogen
• peroxide

Still wondering?

Explore Science NetLinks’ My Senses interactive to learn more about your five senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling and tasting.

Wonder what’s next?

Do you like vegetables? If so, you’re going to love tomorrow’s Wonder of the Day!

If you’re sailing to Wonderopolis today, you’ll want to keep a sharp eye out for this creature!

Have you ever wondered…

• What was the Kraken?
• What creature might the Kraken have been based upon?
• Who wrote a famous sonnet about the Kraken?

Did you know?
Ask any group of pirates and they’ll tell you bone-chilling tales of terror on the open seas. From hurricanes to tsunamis, sailing the oceans can be a perilous business. But weather isn’t the only danger to contend with. There’s always the fear of being attacked by gigantic sea creatures!

Or at least that’s what most pirates will tell you. But can you really believe them? After all, pirates can be a shifty bunch.

There are certainly plenty of legends that pirates can point to as evidence of their fear of humongous sea monsters. One such legendary creature is called the Kraken. These legendary massive sea monsters supposedly lived in the depths of the sea off the coasts of Norway and Iceland.

Kraken comes from the German word for octopus. This is probably why artists have often painted the Kraken as a large creature with many arms that could reach as high as the top of a ship’s main mast.

Legends hold that the Kraken would attack a ship and sink it by wrapping its many arms around the ship. The ship’s crew would either drown or be eaten by the monster.

Almost certainly mythical tales, the Kraken legends may have been based in part on a real creature: the giant squid. Giant squid have long tentacles and can grow up to 40-50 feet in length. They usually live deep in the sea, but they’ve been known to surface and attack ships from time to time.

The Kraken gained literary fame in 1830 when Alfred Tennyson published his sonnet called The Kraken. In it, he described a huge sea creature that lived in the depths of the ocean:

Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumber’d and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

Today, the Kraken is alive and well in popular culture, including video games and theme park rides. Two recent movies — Clash of the Titans and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest — have also featured exciting scenes in which the Kraken attacks from the depths of the sea!

Try it out!

Ready for a sea adventure? Do you remember that time you sailed on a ship to the faraway port of Wonderopolis? Along the way, you encountered a sea monster of unbelievable proportions. The epic battle that followed is a story that must be told.

Since you’re the only survivor, the duty falls to you. Although it is scary to remember those times, you feel you must record the things you saw and heard and did, so that future generations of sailors might be prepared.

Write your story as a journal entry from the day of the battle. What were you doing when the creature appeared? What did you see and hear? Use as much detail as you can when describing the massive sea monster!

How were you able to survive? What happened to the sea monster? Would you ever sail those waters again? Write down your story and, if you’re brave enough, share it with your Wonder Friends by posting it on Facebook. We can’t wait to read about your adventure!

Wonder words to know and use:

• Kraken
• creature
• sonnet
• tsunami perilous
• gigantic
• humongous
• massive
• mythical squid
• tentacles
• surface
• literary

Still wondering?

Check out EDSITEment!’s It Came From Greek Mythology lesson to study basic plots of three Greek myths and discuss three common themes in Greek myths.

Wonder what’s next?

Phew! Better hold your nose. Tomorrow’s Wonder of the Day is a real stinker!

If you get a boo-boo, we hope it’s a small one. Otherwise you might need today’s Wonder of the Day!

Have you ever wondered…

• When does a cut need stitches?
• What are sutures?
• Can stitches come out on their own?

Did you know?
Have you ever fallen on the playground and cut your hands or legs? What about a bicycle crash? A sports accident? There are many ways that accidents can happen that result in getting nasty cuts and bruises.

Sometimes cuts can be cleaned and covered with a bandage to heal. At other times, though, they need stitches. Why is that?

Stitches are for larger cuts that a doctor believes will not heal correctly on their own. To heal correctly, the sides of a cut must be close together, so that the skin can grow back together. With large cuts, stitches help to bring the sides of a cut close together to heal properly.

Stitches are just loops of thread — called sutures — that a doctor uses to sew your cut closed. Once the cut is completely closed, the doctor will tie a knot at the end, so that the cut will stay closed until it heals.

Sutures can be made out of different types of materials. Many sutures are made of nylon or silk thread. Doctors can also use vicryl sutures, too. Vicryl sutures dissolve in your skin over time, so there’s no need to get them removed.

Other types of stitches need to be removed by the doctor once your cut is healed. It’s an easy procedure and it doesn’t hurt. The doctor just cuts the knot and pulls the remaining pieces of thread back through the skin.

If you need stitches, you may worry about whether or not it will hurt. Guess what? It will probably hurt a lot less than getting cut in the first place! Doctors and nurses will usually numb your skin around the cut, so that they can clean it and sew it back together quickly. Most of the time, you will only feel a little pressure but not much pain.

When the doctor is finished putting in your stitches, you’ll be told how to take care of your wound. You’ll usually need to avoid getting your stitches wet. You might also have to put antibiotic ointment and bandages on your cut to make it heal faster.

Make sure you talk with your parents about how to take care of your stitches. You’ll also want to keep a close eye on your stitches to make sure there are no signs of infection, such as red or swollen areas. If you see something about your stitches that concerns you, tell your parents and they can decide whether or not you need to go back to see the doctor again.

Try it out!

Ready to try some stitches? No, you don’t need to have an accident! You can learn some simple stitches that are useful in different types of sewing.

You never know when you might have a hole in a shirt or pair of pants that needs mending. Or you might learn that you enjoy needlepoint or embroidery.

Find a friend or a family member who has some sewing supplies. Ask them to help teach you some simple stitches. If you want some further guidance, check out these instructional videos to learn some simple stitches:

• Simple Stitching for Kids
• Car Lacing Card
• How To Cross Stitch For Beginners

Wonder words to know and use:

• stitches
• sutures
• bandage
• correctly
• properly
• nylon
• silk
• vicryl
• dissolve
• numb
• antibiotic
• ointment
• infection

Still wondering?

Want to learn about stitches of a different kind? Explore EDSITEment!’s History in Quilts unit to learn more about how quilts have reflected and continue to reflect the lives of the people who create them, and how quilts record the cultural history of a particular place and time.

Wonder what’s next?

You simply won’t believe tomorrow’s monster-sized Wonder of the Day!

Life is full of holes: buttonholes, rabbit holes, potholes, swimming holes, doughnut holes…the list goes on and on. But today we’re talking about one of the strangest holes in outer space — the black hole.

Have you ever wondered…

• What is a black hole?
• How does a black hole form?
• How is a black hole like a vacuum?

Did you know?

When a huge star runs out of fuel, it can no longer support its heavy weight and it begins to collapse. As pressure from the star’s hydrogen layers push down on it, it forces the star to become smaller and smaller. Eventually the star is compressed into a tiny space — even smaller than an atom — and a black hole is born.

A black hole is not really a hole and it is not empty. It is a huge amount of mass packed into a tiny space. This mass gives the black hole very strong gravity, which allows the black hole to gobble up anything that comes near it, including stars, gas and light.

A black hole’s gravity works a bit like a vacuum. If you have ever used a vacuum, you will notice that dirt, debris and crumbs begin to move toward the vacuum as it gets close to them. A black hole’s gravity works in a similar way. As objects get close to the black hole, its extremely strong gravity begins to pull the objects toward it.

The gravity inside a black hole is so strong that even light cannot escape. Light travels faster than anything we know (186,000 miles per second!). If light cannot escape a black hole, then we can predict that nothing else can either!

Try it out!

Today’s space-based Wonder of the Day was far out, wasn’t it? Take some time to dream about what it would be like to see a star become a black hole. Let your imagination run wild, and then get ready to put your thoughts into words.

Some people think that a black hole could be a door to another universe. Imagine you are a space traveler. The bad news is that your space ship ran out of fuel near a black hole and you were sucked in. The good news is that the black hole was just an opening for you and your crew to enter into another universe.

You head to the first planet you see. Thankfully the planet is inhabited by friendly locals. It’s going to be a while before you can get back to Earth, but you can send mail home. Write a letter telling your friends and family about the planet you have discovered on the other side of the black hole.

What is it called? What do the locals look like? What do they do for fun? What kind of food do they eat? What does the planet look like? When you’re done, email or send us a copy of your letter. We’d love to see it!

Wonderopolis HQ

325 West Main Street, Suite 300
Louisville, KY 40202

Wonder words to know and use:

• mysterious
• fuel
• collapse
• hydrogen
• layer
• compressed
• atom
• mass
• gravity
• vacuum
• debris
• universe

Still wondering?

Seeing stars yet? If not, you soon will! Go on a Star Search with this cool activity from Science NetLinks.

Wonder what’s next?

Tomorrow’s Wonder of the Day is a real cut-up. We think it’ll have you in stitches!

Ready! Set! Hover! Today’s Wonder of the Day really floats!

Have you ever wondered…

• How does a hovercraft work?
• What is an amphibious vehicle?
• Who came up with the name “hovercraft”?

Did you know?
If you like science fiction movies, you’ve probably seen plenty of interesting space ships that hover and float about like magic. But did you know that there are real vehicles that can hover and travel over both water and land?

It’s true! We call these special vehicles hovercrafts. Hovercrafts are also sometimes called air-cushion vehicles or ACVs. Hovercrafts are known as amphibious vehicles, which means they can travel over both land and water.

Although hovercrafts can travel on both land and water, they’re more like airplanes than either boats or cars. They hover in the air on a cushion of pressurized air. Although it might sound like magic, it’s actually pure — and fairly simple — science!

Hovercrafts have engines that power fans. These fans blow air underneath the hovercraft to cause it to lift off of the ground. Depending upon the size of the hovercraft and the power of the engines, hovercrafts can lift from six inches to over seven feet into the air.

To help hovercraft engines work most efficiently, hovercrafts have skirts made of fabric surrounding their bases. These skirts help to keep the pressurized air from escaping.

To move, hovercrafts also need engine power to produce an air current that will push it forward. Some hovercrafts use two separate engines: one for thrust (forward motion) and one to create the pressurized air cushion. Other hovercrafts have one larger engine that produces a single air stream that is then split between thrust and cushion as needed.

Today, hovercrafts are used in many parts of the world for a variety of reasons. Because of their amphibious nature, hovercrafts are often used by military organizations to transport people and equipment over rough terrain. They can also be used to transport large groups of people across bodies of water rather than using boats.

The scientific principles behind hovercrafts were first demonstrated by Sir Christopher Cockerell in 1955. He built a crude object out of a cat food can, a coffee can and some kitchen scales. He also came up with the name “hovercraft.”

Try it out!

What kind of adventure would you go on if you had a hovercraft? That’s what we want to know today!

Your hovercraft can be a real hovercraft that exists today, or you can make up your own hovercraft of the future that can do whatever you want it to do. Your imagination is the only limit, and we know that Wonder Friends have limitless imaginations!

Write a story — and draw a picture of your hovercraft, too, if you want — about an adventure you would go on in a hovercraft. How does your hovercraft help you on your trip? What bodies of water do you cross? Can your hovercraft travel to outer space?

When you’re finished with your story, share it with a friend or family member. If you want to share your story and/or your picture of your hovercraft with your Wonder Friends, you can always post on Facebook, too. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Wonder words to know and use:

• hovercraft
• amphibious
• science
• fiction
• hover
• cushion
• pressurized
• efficiently
• skirt
• current
• thrust

Still wondering?

Check out National Geographic Xpeditions’ “ON THE ROAD AGAIN”: MOVING PEOPLE, PRODUCTS, AND IDEAS lesson to learn to identify modes of transportation and communication for moving people, products, and ideas from place to place.

Wonder what’s next?

Put on your space suit! Tomorrow we’re heading into outer space to explore one of the strangest, darkest places known to man.

What could be better than a Wonder of the Day full of mirrors and interesting images?

Have you ever wondered…

• What is a kaleidoscope?
• Who invented the kaleidoscope?
• Was the kaleidoscope designed to be a toy?

Did you know?
Have you ever played with a kaleidoscope? These toys can mesmerize and amaze children for hours, as they peer through the eyepiece to see ever-changing patterns of beautiful colors and shifting images.

But what exactly is a kaleidoscope? Kaleidoscopes look a little bit like a small telescope that you can hold in your hands. One end has a hole you can look into. The other end has translucent paper or other material that lets light in.

Inside the kaleidoscope, there are mirrors arranged in a circle, as well as a variety of colorful objects, like beads, pebbles or small pieces of glass, that are free to move around. As you look through the viewer and rotate the outside of the kaleidoscope, the mirrors reflect the movement of the small objects to create fascinating visual images that change with each movement.

Scottish inventor Sir David Brewster created the kaleidoscope in 1815 when he was doing experiments on light polarization. He came up with the name “kaleidoscope” by combining several Greek words that meant “observer of beautiful forms.”

The key to a kaleidoscope’s beautiful patterns and images is the concept of multiple reflections. Using several mirrors attached at specific angles, unique duplicate images of whatever objects are inside the kaleidoscope can be created as a colorful pattern.

At first, Brewster intended his creation to be used as a scientific tool. It became very popular as a toy, though. In 1817, Brewster sold over 200,000 kaleidoscopes in London and Paris in just three months!

Brewster thought he would likely become wealthy as a result of his invention. However, a fault in his application for a patent for his invention allowed others to copy his invention. Today, kaleidoscopes can be made from just about any type of material, from plastic and cardboard to wood, steel, brass and even stained glass.

Try it out!

Ready to play with a virtual kaleidoscope? Just jump online and click through to the Online Kaleidoscope. At the main menu, click on “Free Play” and have fun placing shapes into the circle on the right and then watching the effects created in the circle on the left.

If you’re up for a challenge, you can also try to make your very own homemade kaleidoscope. Depending upon how much of a challenge you want, there are several ways to make your own kaleidoscope. You will definitely need the help of an adult.

Check out the tutorials listed below and decide upon which one you think would be the most fun to make. Then grab whatever supplies you need and get crafty!

• Homemade Kaleidoscope Toy
• Craft a Homemade Kaleidoscope
• How To Make a Homemade Kaleidoscope

Wonder words to know and use:

• kaleidoscope
• mesmerize
• translucent
• pebble
• fascinating
• polarization
• duplicate
• scientific
• patent

Still wondering?

Check out Illuminations’ interactive Shape Tool to create various polygons and other geometric figures, such as lines and segments.

Wonder what’s next?

Tomorrow’s Wonder of the Day is just hanging around waiting for you to read it!

If the roads are icy or you’re going off the road, you might need today’s Wonder of the Day!

Have you ever wondered…

• What is four-wheel drive?
• What’s the difference between front-wheel and rear-wheel drive?
• How did the Jeep get its name?

Did you know?
Does your family use a four-wheel drive vehicle? If not, chances are you know someone who does. Have you ever ridden in a four-wheel drive vehicle off-road over rough terrain? It can be an exciting experience!

Four-wheel drive vehicles are also good to have when weather conditions make roads slippery. Have you ever wondered what it is about four-wheel drive vehicles that makes them great in the snow and the ice and even off the road?

A four-wheel drive vehicle — often called a 4WD or 4X4 (“four by four”) — is a vehicle in which all four wheels receive power from the engine. Most vehicles are two-wheel drive — 2WD or 4X2 — and that means that the engine’s power is only sent to two of the four wheels.

For example, a two-wheel drive vehicle will either have the engine’s power sent to the two rear wheels (rear-wheel drive) or the two front wheels (front-wheel drive). So a 4X4 has four wheels and all four wheels receive power from the engine. A 4X2 has four wheels, but only two of the four wheels receive power from the engine.

How does this impact the vehicle’s performance? In slippery or off-road conditions, two-wheel drive vehicles will tend to lose traction more easily. If you’re driving a rear-wheel drive car and one or both of the back wheels lose traction, you will have a problem because the front wheels can’t help you since they’re not powered by the engine.

In a four-wheel drive vehicle, however, it’s easier to maintain traction and control of the vehicle in slippery or off-road conditions. If one or two wheels lose traction, you still have two or three powered wheels to keep you moving.

Many four-wheel drive vehicles are actually part-time four-wheel drive. This means that, under normal conditions, the vehicle only sends power to two wheels and behaves like a two-wheel drive vehicle. If four-wheel drive is needed, however, the driver can switch to four-wheel drive with the press of a button.

Four-wheel drive vehicles haven’t been around forever. They didn’t really become popular until Willys manufactured the first Jeeps^® for the United States military during World War II. Willys began to make the first four-wheel drive vehicle for non-military uses when it created the CJ-2A in 1945.

Today, Jeeps^® are still known for their amazing off-road abilities. If you’re wondering where the name came from, it turns out that many people believe the name was given to the vehicle by military personnel who compared it to a cartoon character named Eugene the Jeep.

Eugene the Jeep starred in E.C. Segar’s Popeye comic books. He was Popeye’s jungle pet who was small and seemed to be able to solve problems most thought were impossible. Military drivers thought the same thing about their new four-wheel drive vehicles, so they began to call them Jeeps^®. The name has stuck ever since!

Try it out!

Ready for a close-up view of the underside of an automobile? Find a friend, family member or other adult who can take you to the garage and help you understand a little bit more about how cars and trucks work.

If you can find a four-wheel-drive vehicle, that’s great! If not, don’t worry about it. Just have fun getting a closer look underneath any type of vehicle. Examine the tires up close. Explore where they connect to the rest of the vehicle.

When you get old enough, you’ll have the chance to drive all sorts of different types of cars and trucks. It always helps to have a basic understanding of how they work. It’s even better if you understand enough to make basic repairs in an emergency situation.

Have fun learning more about vehicles and how they work. When you’re finished, see if an adult will take you for a spin, so you can think about how all those parts work together to get you where you want to be!

Wonder words to know and use:

• vehicle
• terrain
• performance
• traction
• abilities
• personnel
• military

Still wondering?

Explore Science NetLinks’ Systems 1: Simple Machines lesson to learn more about the parts of a system and develop an understanding of the interactions between those parts.

Wonder what’s next?

Take a peek inside tomorrow’s Wonder of the Day for an explosion of beautiful colors!