My kids are always collecting and bringing home cool sticks that they find. I thought we would put a few to good use by decorating them and using them as walking sticks while we're hiking. They ended up turning out pretty cool, and my kids love bringing them with us on our outdoor adventures! For this activity you will need: -Some sturdy walking stick sized sticks -Yarn -Beads (make sure they're the right size to string on yarn, pony beads and large wooden beads work well) -Craft feathers Start by cleaning up your sticks a bit. Scrub off any dirt and insects. Sand down any sharp edges. Cut a piece of yarn several feet long, tie it to the top of your stick, and start wrapping. When you run out of yarn or are ready to stop wrapping, tie it again, and trim off any extra yarn. Get creative, try using several colors, make a pattern, whatever you think will look cool.  After your stick is wrapped, tie some pieces of string at the top (or wherever you want) and string on some beads or

  What is a Snail? Snails, along with slugs, and whelk belong to a group of invertebrates (animals without backbones) called gastropods, and gastropods belong to a larger group called mollusks, which includes snails, slugs, clams, muscles, squids, and octopuses. Snails live through out the world. They can be found from the far northern and southern oceans to the equatorial regions. There are snails that live on land and snails that live in fresh and salt water.  Snails have a hard outer shell that is big enough for the entire snail to hide inside. They slide around on a muscle like foot and most of their organs are found inside the shell. Land snails have two sets of tentacles on their heads. The upper set has eyes at the tips. The lower set is for olfaction (smelling). Fun Facts About Snails -Snails are related to shellfish. -The world's smallest snail is .03 inches tall, small enough to fit through the eye of a needle. -Garden snails move at a top speed of about half an inch a mi

What is Chromatography? Chromatography is a laboratory technique used to separate the components of a mixture. Typically the mixture is moved along a stationary material like gelatin or paper by a liquid or gas carrier. The different components of the mixture are deposited back on the material at different rates, thus seperating them for analysis. It sounds complicated, but you can do some simple paper chromatography easily at home with coffee filters and markers. Basic Paper Chromatography Experiment  For this activity you will need: -A coffee filter -Scissors -Washable markers of several different colors. Black and brown markers tend to work best. Try several different brands. -A few small cups -Tape -A few pencils Marker ink is often made up of several different pigments, especially the darker colors like blacks and browns. Using a simple paper chromatography technique you can separate these pigments so that you can actually see them individually. Start by cutting the coffee filter