ShutterstockAre you a morning or evening person? Studies show we have strong differences in when we feel most creative and do our best work during the day. These differences go far deeper than just personal preference. Whether you like to get up early or go to bed late, and whether you are more productive in the morning or later during the day, is a biological predisposition. This predisposition is related to the setting of your internal body clock, a group of nerve cells in the brain which help to synchronise your bodily functions with the 24-hour rotations of our planet. Research suggests genetic effects account for about half of the variability between individuals. That is, if your parents are “larks”...
Believe it or not, the dreary days of winter give children great opportunities for learning. The long, sometimes dark days can be frustratingly boring and lead to trouble on the homefront. Luckily, this list of educational winter gifts will prepare you for Christmas and birthdays, while keeping your kiddos happy and occupied all winter long. Whether staying indoors or venturing outside, there is so much fun to be had! Your children will appreciate the games, experiments, kits, books, and outdoor ideas, and you’ll appreciate the options at your fingertips to keep them active and busy. This post contains affiliate links. One of my top priorities when buying gifts for kids is to make the gifts as educational as possible without...
On July 14, 2021, Bill Spadea, a popular talk-radio host on New Jersey station 101.5, shared with his listeners the news that the emergent Delta variant of Covid-19 wasn’t deadly. Two months later, Fox TV host Tucker Carlson broadcast the similarly encouraging news that, if you’d already gotten Covid, you wouldn’t need to be vaccinated. The problem with these upbeat stories was that they were blatantly incorrect, as was a barrage of apparent bad news about the pandemic, including reports that Covid vaccines could cause sterility, that each jab implanted an activity-tracking microchip, and that the vaccines themselves could transmit Covid. Since the emergence of Covid in late 2019, misinformation about the virus has spread as widely and as rapidly...
Dry, red, itchy skin? Chances are you have eczema. Or rather, chances are you have one of the many skin conditions that doctors lump together under the term “eczema.” It’s extremely common, affecting up to 20 percent of children and 5 percent of adults (and considerably more in some parts of the world).https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6516982/">1 And it’s also incredibly frustrating when you’re trying to find solutions. People of any age can develop eczema, but it’s more common in babies and children. I’ve frequently had readers write to me over the years expressing their frustration and dismay over their inability to solve their children’s—or their own—eczema puzzle. Unfortunately, treating eczema is tricky for several reasons. The underlying causes aren’t well understood. People have...
The kids will have a blast learning how to make RAINBOW dancing popcorn! This science activity is great paired with your Thanksgiving activities for preschoolers and kindergartners. I also think the hopping corn experiment would be a wonderful addition to a harvest theme, a vegetable unit, a farm theme, or when you’re teaching the kids about nutritious foods. Of course, you can use it any time of the year when discussing chemical reactions, too. Adding rainbow popcorn kernels to the classic dancing corn experiment makes the science even more engaging for the kids. There’s even a free printable recording sheet so your budding scientists can keep track of their predictions and observations! Related: Free Preschool Printables Over the years, we’ve...
