nature Archives - Teaching Kids News

“Adventure” Playgrounds Can Build Confidence

Monique Conrod — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 01:07:03 +0000

At a place called The Land, in Wrexham, Wales, the ground is littered with pieces of wood, old tires, packing crates, and shopping carts. It looks like a junkyard, but it isn’t. It’s a playground.
There’s also a fire pit, hammers and saws, and a rope swing across a creek. Some of the equipment can be dangerous, but the people who run the playground believe that letting children take some risks is good for them.
The Land was created by Claire Griffiths, who has two children of her own. She wanted to build a space where children could play the way they wanted and experiment with different things, without a lot of rules.

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Robotic Chick Lets Researchers Get Close to Penguins

Monique Conrod — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 05:42:39 +0000

A small robot that looks and acts like a baby penguin is helping researchers study penguins in a more natural way.
When scientists study any animals in the wild, it usually means a human has to get close to them to gather information. But people make animals nervous, so when human researchers are around, the animals don’t act the way they normally would.

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Pterosaur Named After Girl Who Discovered It

Joyce Grant — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 00:27:00 +0000

Like many children, Daisy Morris loves to collect fossils.

Unlike other children, however, Daisy’s hobby has led to a pterosaur being named after her.

A pterosaur is a type of flying reptile closely related to dinosaurs.

The species Daisy discovered is now known as Vectidraco daisymorrisae, or “Dragon from the Isle of Wight.”

Daisy, who lives in England, was five years old in 2008 when she and her mother were taking a walk along the beach. She noticed some black bones—about 40 mm long-- sticking out of the mud and she dug them out.

The family took the bones to a fossil expert at Southampton University in England.

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