Tag archives for Kids
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Zoe Willcutts, age 10, is a National Geographic Kids reporter and covered the events at this year’s White House Easter Egg Roll. Here is her report.
National Geographic Kids reporter Zoe Willcutts interviewing Kid President Robbie Novak. Photograph by National Geographic Staff
I went to the White House Easter Egg Roll as a kid reporter to take photos and a poll. I asked 53 people the same question: if they were president, what color would they dye the White House for Easter? I got a full rainbow of choices. Race car driver Danica Patrick said teal. Chef Spike Mendelsohn chose lime green. Al Roker, from the Today show, said he would choose lavender. Teen singer Coco Jones agreed and picked lavender too. Singer Austin Mahone said he would go with red because it was his favorite color. The band members of The Wanted were all over the map–Max chose black, Tom chose pink, and Siva said, “definitely light blue.” And best of all was the Kid President’s answer: Red, white and blue!
I also got to ask a few people what they thought ordinary kids could do to make a difference in the world. Today host Al Roker said kids can help their parents. Danica Patrick, the NASCAR driver, encouraged kids to give compliments, because “it feels great to give them and to get them.” And the Kid President Robbie Novak said “I’ve got this covered; I’m all about how we can make a difference! Don’t throw trash on the ground.”
Overall, it was a great day and I really enjoyed meeting people and seeing everyone outside being healthy and active on the White House lawn.
Al Roker and National Geographic Kids reporter Zoe Willcutts. Photograph by National Geographic Staff
Singer Austin Mahone. Photograph by Zoe Willcutts
The Wanted band members. Photograph by Zoe Willcutts
This teal egg, featuring Bo’s paw print, is only included in a 2013 5-pack Collector’s Egg Set of souvenir White House eggs. Photograph by Zoe Willcutts
While most six-to-nine-year-old boys spend most of their days studying and playing, Richard Turere of Kenya tried to protect his father’s cows from lions. Richard found the lions “very annoying, because they were killing my father’s cows.” He started thinking up ways to scare away the lions. He tried everything from fires (which only seemed to help the lions) to scarecrows. Yet, the lions would find a way around because they “are very clever,” he says. However, he noticed the most effective way was when he would walk around with a flashlight.
After taking apart his mother’s new radio, he rigged a few simple wires and light bulbs together to create a machine that would flash a series of lights, tricking the lions into thinking someone was walking around with a flashlight. It worked, and soon there were seven other homes in Richard’s community using his “lion lights.”
Richard’s drawing of his invention.
Read more about Richard’s invention on National Geographic News Watch.
Do you want to help change the world? Google is encouraging young researchers, innovators, and inventors from around the world to share their projects in the third annual Google Science Fair. If you are between the ages of 13 and 18, all you need is an idea to get started!
If you are chosen as one of the 15 global finalists, you will get to go to Google’s headquarters in California to present your idea in front of a group of panelists including two National Geographic Explorers. Not only do you get a chance to share your great idea on how to change the world, you’ll also be competing to win the grand prize: a National Geographic Expedition to the Galapagos Islands!
Just because you’re a kid doesn’t mean you can’t help change the world. Thomas Edison, who invented the light bulb, was just 14 when he got his start. Albert Einstein was 16 and his fascination with magnets led to his famous E = mc2. Google’s Science Fair can help you develop your science or engineering ideas on how to better our world.
The Google Science Fair launches January 30, 2013 and will be accepting applications up through April 30, 2013. This is the largest online science fair in the world. What are you waiting for? Start submitting your great ideas today; it’s your turn to change the world!
Learn more about the contest on the Google Science Fair webpage.
The winners of the 2012 International Photo Contest for Kids winners have been announced! The grand prize winner is Isabella Barbaro, 11, from the United Kingdom. She has won a trip to Washington, D.C. and a tour of National Geographic headquarters.
Kids submitted more then 13,500 photos to this years contest from countries all over the world.
What makes NG Kids so special? In one word, how would you describe National Geographic Kids? What comes to mind when you think of NG Kids games, the magazine, website, books like That’s Gross, Weird But True, NG Kids My Shot, and our animal videos?
Please add your word in the comments!
Last month kids were invited to enter their pictures in the Children’s Eyes on Earth photo contest to help raise awareness of environmental issues. This contest was created by IDEA (International Dialogue for Environmental Action) along with the photographer and National Geographic photographer and humanitarian Reza. Now, you can help choose the winner by rating the photos entered in the contest! Visit the Children’s Eyes on Earth website until September 25 to vote.
Here’s your chance to be part of a new National Geographic Kids book! Visit the Are You “Normal”? page on National Geographic Kids
to answer polls about your family, friends, likes, dislikes, and more!
Your answers will appear in the next Are You “Normal”? book, which will
be published in 2013.
Posted by Here’s your chance to be part of a new National Geographic Kids book! Visit the Are You “Normal”? page on National Geographic Kids to answer polls about your family, friends, likes, dislikes, and more! Your answers will appear in the next Are You “Normal”? book, which will be published in 2013.
Children’s Eyes on Earth Photo Contest
Budding photographers can enter pictures in a contest to raise awareness of environmental issues. Kids ages 17 and under can enter the Children’s Eyes On Earth International Youth Photography Contest 2012! This contest was created by IDEA (International Dialogue for Environmental Action) along with the photographer and National Geographic photographer and humanitarian Reza.
Entries must be received by September 15.
Visit the Children’s Eyes on Earth Photo Contest website to learn more and enter.
Posted by BOOK NAME: Are You Normal?
AUTHOR: Mark Shulman
Hi again, blog readers. I just finished reading Are You Normal?, published by National Geographic. You may be tired of me saying this, but this is one of the best books I have ever reviewed! In fact, my whole family likes it, from my little sister who is almost 5 to my Grandma who is 73! It’s really that good!
Anyway, Are You Normal? was written based on the results of surveys of tons of kids. The authors asked kids questions on just about anything you can think of. The kids are from all over the world which makes it extra cool. And the questions are just the kind of things that kids are interested in. For example, “What do you like to do in your spare time?” and “What is your favorite subject in school?” It’s really cool to see what most kids like or dislike and see how similar and different you are. The book also has a test to take while you are going through it to determine how normal or weird you are. I took the test and am happy to say I am normal. Phew! And just to show how different we are, my 8 year old younger brother took the test and is very proud of the fact that he is undoubtedly WEIRD!
An awesome thing about this book is that you can read a little bit and put it down for a while and then come back to it and it’s not like you have to re-read or do anything special to plunge right in. Another great feature of Are you Normal? is that it’s a perfect social book. You can look at it with friends during lunch period or with siblings in the car or whatever. In fact, it’s especially fun to read it with someone rather than by yourself! I definitely recommend that you try the book and find out the answer to this: Are you normal?
Rahul Nagvekar, a 8th grader from Texas, won the 2012 National Geographic Bee today at National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C. Nagvekar received a $25,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society, and a trip to the Galapagos Islands! Nagvekar is the third GeoBee champion from Texas in the past four years.
Watch the tense final moments of the competition, with the questions asked by “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek.
Watch last year’s final question on News Bites.
Learn more about the National Geographic Bee.
Do you have what it takes to compete in the GeoBee? Quiz Your Noodle and find out!
Fifty-four state-level winners matched wits in the National Geographic Bee preliminary round on Tuesday, May 22. Here are the 10 competitors that came out on top:
Raghav Ranga, Arizona
Varun Mahadevan, California
Anthony Stoner, Louisiana
Adam Rusak, Maryland
Karthik Karnik, Massachusetts
Gopi Ramanathan, Minnesota
Neelam Sandhu, New Hampshire
Rahul Nagvekar, Texas
Anthony Cheng, Utah
Vansh Jain, Wisconsin
The winner of the National Geographic Bee will win a $25,000 college scholarship, lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society, and a trip to the Galápagos Islands. Watch them compete in the final round on Thursday, May 24, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo WILD.
Learn more about the National Geographic Bee.
Do you have what it takes to compete in the GeoBee? Quiz Your Noodle and find out!
Photograph by Rebecca Hale
More than 114,000 young artists from across the country have submitted their drawings to the Doodle 4 Google contest, and now you can help select the winners! The drawings are all based on this year’s theme, which is “If I could travel in time, I’d visit…”
The competition was open to K-12 students in the United States. The entries are broken up into five different age groups, and you can vote for your favorite in each category. The national winner will be chosen on May 17, and the winning doodle will appear on the Google homepage on May 18.
Visit the Doodle 4 Google site to vote for your favorites.
Feeling creative? Submit your favorite photographs to National Geographic Kids My Shot!
Illustrations courtesy of Google
Posted by We arrived in the city of color and samba, Rio de Janeiro, with our eyes wide open. Our home the first three nights was Bossa, in the historic part of town called Santa Teresa. We spent our days exploring the city and taking in all the sites. We started with two huge landmarks Sugar Loaf (the big rock in the pictures of Rio) and Christ the Redeemer, both were incredible. I have seen pictures of this giant statue my whole life so standing there next to him was truly amazing.
Today is the start of the 2012 Google Science Fair! This competition is for curious kids ages 13 to 18. If you have a great idea for a project, you can register for the fair. The grand prize winner will receive cool prizes including a National Geographic Expedition trip to the Galapagos Archipelago!
Visit the official Google Science Fair site to get more information.
Do science experiments at home with National Geographic Kids.
Posted by BOOK NAME: The Eiffel Tower’s Daughter
AUTHOR: Bethany Huang
Swanilde is a French girl, whose world turns upside down when her divorced mother gets remarried. If that wasn’t enough, she overhears that her new stepfather is a spy for the French government. Swanilde decides to travel to her real father, and warn him. Who knows what this spy could be hiding?
On the way to her father, Swanilde meets a boy named Val, who she later finds out is her brother, who had run away many years before. Val and Swanilde reunite with their father. But then, Swanilde discovers that her family had been hiding a secret from her for her entire life. This secret is too hard to bear, and Swanilde decides to run away.
Swanilde ends up in France, Egypt, and even Greece! She goes on many journeys, which lead her to discover how important family really is.
I loved this book! While I was reading it, I could not put it down! I saw that there was a page about the author, so I decided to check it out. I was completely surprised when I found out that the author is actually ten years old! She writes amazingly well, and I strive to be like her. I hope you will read this book, it is worth your time!
This week is Geography Awareness Week. Explore your own school and neighborhood through geographic eyes by undertaking a series of missions using skills such as photography, storytelling, mapping, and taking action. Visit the Geography Awareness Week website to learn more.
Geography Awareness Week was created in 1978 as a time for families and
classrooms to promote geography literacy. Is your class doing anything
special to learn more about geography this week?
Brush up on more geography skills by playing games on National Geographic Kids.
Photograph by Anoziram, NG Kids My Shot
Meet Shelby, a nine-year-old girl who lives in Louisiana. Her life is pretty normal… except she lives with alligators! Her father runs an alligator farm, and there are also wild alligators roaming around her yard. She spoke with Andrew Evans, National Geographic’s Digital Nomad, to talk about what it’s like living around gators.
Shelby helps her dad with the gators when they hatch. She holds the baby alligators when they come out of their shells. “Holding a baby alligator is like holding a baby dinosaur,” she says. Is Shelby scared by being around alligators all the time? Nope! She told Andrew that as long as you don’t tease them, they won’t hurt you.
Watch a video about “Gator Girl” on Andrew’s Digital Nomad blog.
Get the facts on alligators in the Creature Feature.
Photographs by Andrew Evans
The winner of the Nautilus Patch Contest has been chosen! The winner is Emma Tarpley, 8, from Marion, North Carolina. Her patch design is shown above. Emma’s design will be made into a patch that will be worn on the 2011 Nautilus excursion. In addition to receiving a patch with her design, Emma will receive a package of National Geographic books.
The winning entry was chosen by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Bob Ballard and 2006 Emerging Explorer Katy Croff Bell.
Read Emma’s essay and learn more about the Nautilus Patch Contest on National Geographic Kids.
Learn about Bob Ballard, Katy Croff Bell, and other explorers with the Nat Geo E-Team mural!
Illustration by Emma Tarpley
BOOK NAME: National Geographic Kids Almanac 2012
AUTHOR: National Geographic
Did you know that the smallest bone in your body is smaller than a grain of rice? Did you know that a lunar eclipse lasts about one hundred minutes? Did you know that there is a big annual celebration in Brazil called “Carnaval?” Did you know that the people of the Hindu religion celebrate a holiday called “Diwali,” which in English means “Festival of Lights,” that is also the meaning of the Jewish holiday called “Hanukkah?” You can learn all of that and so much more in the National Geographic Kids Almanac 2012!
In the book, there are different sections. You can read about amazing animals, going green, different cultures, the world billions of years ago, and even about how the world will be in the future! There’s also a game section, where you can play the same kinds of games that are in the magazine. I loved the quiz to stump your parents.
I would recommend this book to anyone. I flipped every page, always interested to know more. I had a lot of fun playing the games, too. Overall, I think the almanac is just like a great big issue of the magazine!
On the back of the book, it says “Dare to Explore!” That’s exactly what the almanac does; it makes you want to explore and discover new things.
Want to learn more about the almanac? Check out the video and get a sample of the amazing facts you’ll find inside!
Tine Valencic, a 7th grader from Texas, won the 2011 National Geographic Bee today at National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C. Tine received a $25,000 college scholarship, a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society, and a trip to the Galapagos Islands!
Watch Tine answer the final two questions asked by “Jeopardy!” host Alex Trebek.
Watch last year’s final question on News Bites.
Learn more about the National Geographic Bee.
Think you have what it takes to enter the GeoBee? Quiz Your Noodle and find out!
Photograph by Rebecca Hale, National Geographic
Youth Services America, or YSA, has announced that this year’s Global Youth Service Day will be April 15-17. This year marks the 23rd annual observance of the day. This annual campaign celebrates youth all over the world who help their communities with service projects. Youth will be working on projects in more than 100 countries and all 50 states. Will your school, scout troop, or other organization participate?
Want to learn how to get involved? Visit the official Global Youth Service Day website.
Learn about cool things other kids are doing on the National Geographic Kids Blogs.
Image courtesy Youth Service America
Twelve creative students were named the winners of the National STEM Video Game Challenge yesterday by the United States Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra in Washington, D.C. The STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) challenge competition was open to students in grades 5 to 8, with a separate category available for adult developers. Kids who entered the contest submitted original video game designs that were based on STEM concepts. The Youth Prize winners were chosen from more than 500 entries.
The youth winners will receive an AMD-based laptop computer and educational software. In addition, a prize of $2,000 will be given to their school (or a non-profit organization of their choice).
Visit the National STEM Video Game Challenge website to learn more about the challenge and see the winners of the youth prize.
Play a prototype of the Developer Prize game, You Make Me Sick!
Beginning on April 4, kids will be able to participate in an 8-week online-offline mystery game called VANISHED. The game, developed and curated by MIT’s Education Arcade and the Smithsonian Institution, includes puzzles, real-world museum challenges, and sample collecting. Players will race to solve an environmental disaster mystery by using real scientific techniques. Do you think you have what it takes to play the game and solve the mystery?
The game is open to players across the United States, and registration begins this week. Visit http://vanished.mit.edu if you’d like to join in!
Learn more about VANISHED on the game’s website.
Want to find out if a museum near you is participating? Check out the list of affiliate museums on the Smithsonian Affiliations blog.
BOOK NAME: Walt Disney: Young Movie Maker
AUTHOR: Marie Hammontree
ILLUSTRATOR: Fred Irvin
We all know Walt Disney as the super rich guy who created Disney World. I know that I used to think that he had the best life. But in this book, you read Walt’s life story. Turns out, his life wasn’t so perfect. His family was actually very poor.
Walt was young but worked like he was an adult. After all, it was the only way he could make some money. He worked at his father’s newspaper business, as a newsboy. But even that money Walt couldn’t keep. All the money he earned, his father took from him and kept it so that Walt wouldn’t spend it on foolish things. Walt Disney had three brothers and one sister.
His father wanted him to be the next owner of the jelly factory. But Walt didn’t want to do that in life. He wanted to be a cartoonist. His father thought that being any type of artist was stupid. He thought those were Walt’s childhood dreams, and that he would convince him not to do it when he was older. But Walt was growing up, and insisted on being a cartoonist.
I really liked this book because it changed my view of famous people. It made me notice that maybe some celebrities didn’t start out rich and famous. They had to work to get like that. This is a book for all ages.
