Author: Lisa Mungovan

The United States is experiencing some frigid temperatures this week, but the Minnesota Ice Festival doesn’t mind. It helps keep the world’s largest ice maze, from melting. The maze has 8-foot-high walls created from 3,452 blocks of ice, weighing 425 pounds each. It covers18,148 square feet, so dress warmly in case you get lost.

Scientists have reached what they believe to be the world’s oldest ice. They drilled nearly 2 miles down, removing an ice core that reached the bedrock below the Antarctic ice sheet. The core gives an unbroken history of Earth’s climate change, that dates back at least 1.2 million years.

It’s Squirrel Appreciation Day! Over 200 squirrel species fit into 3 different types. There are ground, tree, and flying squirrels. The African pygmy squirrel is only 3 inches long, while the Laotian giant flying squirrel is 3 1/2 feet long! Squirrels are great reforesters. They plant thousands of trees every year by forgetting where they buried their nuts!

Did you ever have a big pot of soup, that everyone got tired of eating? Other people might have the same problem. Luckily, it’s Soup Swap Day! You can trade some of your soup, for some of theirs, and everyone can sample soup for days. Since it’s also Sweatpants Day, wear your comfiest sweats.

It’s Hugging Day! Hug your parents, your pet, or your pesky brother. It’s also Playdate Day, so invite a friend over, or meet at a park. Make sure you snack on some granola bars, to celebrate Granola Bar Day. Nuts and grains will give you energy, to play for hours!

A couple of ping-pong players nicknamed the Spin Duo, have set a new world record for the longest table tennis rally. Emil Ohlsson and Fredrik Nilsson hit the ball back and forth without missing, for 13 hours, 37 minutes, and 6 seconds. They trained for 4 months, and even perfected eating while playing.

Today is Penguin Awareness Day. Emperor penguins can grow to nearly 4 feet tall, while little blue penguins only reach 16 inches. Some people knit sweaters for penguins, to protect them from oil spills. There are no penguins at the North Pole. Except for the Galapagos penguin, they all live in the Southern Hemisphere!

Get your appetites ready, for Cheese Lover’s Day! Cheese is made from milk, and has been around since at least 5500 BCE. It comes in over 1400 varieties, so whether you like mozzarella on your pizza, bleu cheese on your salad, parmesan on your pasta, or American on your grilled cheese, cheese is really gouda!

It might be cold or rainy, but that’s no reason to stay inside. Dress for the weather, and get outside. It’s Take A Walk Outdoors Day. Do you hear different birds in the winter? Do cars sound different driving on wet roads? Can you hear snowplows? Can you smell snow? Go out and explore!

Today is Martin Luther King Jr Day. Dr King was a minister, activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and leader of the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He used non-violent civil disobedience, marches and sit-ins to try to create racial equality in the United States. He was assassinated in 1968, but still inspires us to fight racism.