Author: Lisa Mungovan

Today is Old Rock Day. Spend some time with your favorite rock, whether it’s an awesome fossil, a soothingly smooth stone, a colorful conglomerate, or just a hefty hunk of gravel! Get a pet rock, or decorate one and leave it for someone to find, or go climb a rock! Old Rock Day rocks!

Today is Tempura Day. Tempura is a Japanese dish of vegetables or seafood, that are dipped in batter and deep-fried. Tempura sounds tempting! It’s also Bobblehead Day. The toys with big heads bobbing on springs, have been around more than 100 years! Just be sure you don’t deep-fry your bobbleheads today!

The National Zoo’s giant panda cub, Xiao Qi Ji, is getting bigger and more adventurous. He has started climbing a rock wall, and looks adorable when he rolls off! You can watch pandas in real time on the zoo’s pandacam, at NationalZoo.s i.edu, or watch older videos, and see how he’s grown.

A sportswear company, is bringing new meaning to the words, foot fungus. Adidas is making shoes, out of mushrooms! The new Stan Smith design, uses mycelium instead of leather. The strong plant-based material, is another step in Adidas’s journey to be more climate-friendly. Adidas also recycles cotton, and plans to use only recycled plastic.

This weekend, grab a pair of binoculars and check the sky, for a triple conjunction of planets. Saturn, Mercury, and Jupiter, will form a tight triangle towards the southwest horizon. Your best view will be 45 minutes after sunset. There are lots of free star tracker phone apps, to help you map the night sky.

Today is Bean Day, and also Technology Day. To celebrate, make a big bowl of 15-bean soup. Then use computer technology to find “Vegetable Soup”, a great kids’ television show, on YouTube. Instead of watching it at 6:00 Saturday morning like kids in the 19 70’s, you can enjoy it with your bean soup lunch!

Today is Apple Tree Day, which started as a celebration of a nearly 200 year-old tree. When you think about it, it’s pretty amazing that food just grows on trees. It’s also Shortbread Day, so start baking! You only need flour, sugar, and butter, to bake this delicious Scottish dessert.

Did you ever make a little snowman that was so cute, you wanted to carry it around with you? Tsuchiya Kaban, a Japanese handbag company, has you covered. The Yukidaruma Bag is a luxury Snowpal Carrier. It’s waterproof and insulated, so you can bring your tiny snow friend on an adventure.

Risto Mattila and his wife, photographed an amazing sight, on Finland’s Hailuoto Island. The beach was covered with thousands of ice balls. Some of the ice spheres, created by wind and rough waves, were as big as soccer balls! The rare phenomenon occurred last year in Michigan, creating orbs the size of yoga balls!

Today is Bird Day. There are around 18,000 different bird species! The largest non-flying bird is the ostrich, the kori bustard is the heaviest bird that can fly, and the wandering albatross has the largest wingspan, at up to 11 feet! The bee hummingbird is smallest at 2 1/4 inches long. The Australian lyrebird sounds like R2-D2!