Spelling

Helping people learn to use words well is a popular topic for online experts. The funny thing is, none of them agree how to do it. Some swear by spelling rules, while others focus on word origins or using tricks to memorize tough words. There are word games to practice skills, word-a-day email services to build vocabulary, and online dictionaries galore. Plus hundreds of sites for people who just love words.

The biggest problem you’ll have searching for websites about words and writing will be sorting through them. But do take the time to dig. You may discover the help you’re looking for in unexpected places, such as sites for parents of dyslexics or for adults learning English. Most sites are reasonably family-friendly. Some have separate sections for “rude” language; only a few have it mixed right in. Keep in mind that sites from outside the U.S. may use British spelling (“color” vs. “colour,” for example).

Search terms you can try include “spelling rules” (26,000 hits alone on Google), “spelling lists,” and “spelling mnemonics” (those little rhymes and sayings that help you remember how to spell hard words – extra points for spelling “mnemonics” right). Take a tip from those SAT prep classes and type in “‘word origins’ Latin Greek” to bone up on English roots; WordFocus.com is a good place to start.

Learning is fun with sites like David Appleyard’s guide to mnemonic initial sounds, which explains how Harry Potter fans knew right away that Slytherin and Snape were the bad guys. Build your family’s vocabulary one word at a time with A Word A Day, online or emailed right to you. Challenge your emergent readers at FunBrain.com. Or if you’ve got a kid who thinks it’s spelling that needs fixing, not kids who can’t spell (a notion that’s been kicking around for probably a century or more without much success – see “Adirondak Loj” near Lake Placid), send him to The Spelling Society for a look at their ames, offisers, leeflets, and so on (and a kids’ page listed in their links).

Many teachers believe the best way to improve writing skills is to write, a lot. Story starters, also called writing prompts, give budding authors fresh ideas. Younger children can try the examples at KinderKorner.com, while Everyday Spelling, the site that supports the textbook series, has writing prompts, word puzzles, spelling lists and more by grade through middle school.

The best online dictionaries, like Merriam-Webster, go way beyond a spellcheck and a thesaurus. Enchanted Learning’s picture dictionary for new readers not only links to related pages on the same site, it also comes in several bilingual versions. LibrarySpot.com has a list of specialty dictionaries, including OneLook.com’s reverse dictionary to find that word that’s stuck on the tip of your tongue. And word snobs can turn to the mother of all reference books, the Oxford English Dictionary, for word games from easy to “fiendishly difficult,” quotations, and much more.

Your kids don’t have to be serious word lovers to love the Spoonerisms, palindromes, and silly signs at Fun-with-words.com. But REALLY serious word lovers should take a peek at how the champs train at www.spellingbee.com, online home of the Scripps National Spelling Bee (which will hold this year’s televised finals starting June 1st). Who knows? They might just get inspired.

Music Appreciation

Even kids who have a real ear for music may have trouble learning to read a staff, with all its squiggles and dots and phrases in Italian. It can take a lot of work before those half steps and eighth notes all start to make sense. I know! When I was learning to play the violin, I could tell which notes went with which fingers on which strings -- but I never really understood how a scale worked until I began to play the keyboard. Once I saw all the notes laid out in front of me, in a nice repeating pattern of black keys and white keys, half steps and whole steps, suddenly everything became clear.

So when I realized the other day that the son who plays the violin was having trouble figuring out the key signature in his pieces, I sat him down at his brother’s piano to try to explain. But I figured there had to be more I could show him online – and, of course, I was right. I found web sites that help you figure out key signatures and much more. Learning to read music is useful, but learning to appreciate it is even better. Whether or not you believe in the “Mozart Effect” (the claim that listening to classical music can make a kid smarter) knowing how a symphony or a concerto is put together, and training your ear to hear themes and variations, can be as satisfying as solving an elaborate puzzle. Consider these resources your musical introduction:

Classics for Kids is a content-rich resource for kids and adults. First, you can listen online to 6-minute-long radio segments with Naomi Lewin that are all about classical music. Topics include composers like Mozart and Leonard Bernstein, musical periods like Baroque and jazz, and concepts like rondo and incidental music. Then there are the games that let kids compose simple tunes or quiz themselves on note names. Finally, parents can find articles filled with tips and advice, such as how to help kids practice effectively. There’s even a valuable page of music education links!

Big city orchestras are another place to find music info online. The San Francisco Symphony Kids’ Page is an interactive site that gives you a tour of the instruments of the orchestra. Other sections cover the symbols of the musical staff and concepts like tempo, rhythm, instrumentation and pitch. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids’ Page, which got a mention in Family Online’s column about making instruments, also has an instrument dictionary and pages where you can listen to audio clips of intervals, arpeggios and chords. Meanwhile, at the Carnegie Hall website, interactive animated features let you explore Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 "From the New World."

The Online Music Theory Helper by Ricci Adams from the Children's Music Workshop of Los Angeles isn’t flashy, but it takes you page by page through lessons on scales, chords and the like using the occasional animated note or audio clip where needed to make a point clearer. Quiz yourself on the notes of the staff or the keyboard using its “trainers,” or tune your ear to recognize intervals and chords. There are also useful articles that explain what to expect at a concert or how to deal with stagefright. The Music Room by Michael Bower of the Capistrano Elementary School, also in California, is even more low-tech, but clear and easy to navigate. It includes pages with music clips on symphonic concepts like inversion and counterpoint, periods including Medieval, Baroque, and Romantic, the

For older kids and adults, Intro to Music Theory is a free online course from Connexions, a site for sharing free educational material, by Catherine Schmidt-Jones. Actually, it doesn’t look to be much more detailed than the sites mentioned above for younger musicians. There are hyperlinks but no animations interval, major and minor keys and scales, triads and chords; its big plus is that the whole course can be downloaded as a PDF file.

OK, so the “Mozart Effect” may not be real. But listening to classical music can’t do any harm, can it? Just ask anyone who can’t hear the William Tell Overture without thinking “Hi Ho Silver! Away!” Movies, cartoons and TV shows that use famous symphonies and concertos as soundtracks and theme songs can make those musical motifs stick with you forever. Remember when Casper the Friendly Ghost helped Schubert finish his Unfinished Symphony? Or Bugs Bunny’s immortal “What’s Opera, Doc?” As a recent story on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition points out, you can find many of these masterpieces (including “The Rabbit of Seville,” and the “Fantasia” parody “A Corny Concerto”) on YouTube. Share a few with your family; you may never be able to listen to classical music the same way again.

Update: The excerpt above is from the PBS show From the Top. The website offers streaming video of really talented kids playing classical music. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/fromthetop/pages/

MusicTeacher2009 is another YouTube video to check out. Thanks to the anonymous commenter!

Family Online Picks:

Classics for Kids www.classicsforkids.com

San Francisco Symphony Kids’ Page www.sfskids.org

Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids’ Page www.dsokids.com

Carnegie Hall www.carnegiehall.org/article/explore_and_learn/art_online_resources_listening_adventures.html

Online Music Theory Helper

www.childrensmusicworkshop.com/musictheory/

The Music Room

www.empire.k12.ca.us/capistrano/Mike/capmusic/music_room/themusic.htm

Intro to Music Theory

http://cnx.org/content/col10208/latest/

NPR Cartoon Music Story www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17854152

Bugs

Despite their ickyness, bugs are really fascinating creatures. Insects, spiders, and other creepy crawlies make up most of the animal life on Earth, both by number AND by sheer mass. In fact, there are more different types of beetles alone than there are plant species! And insects have been around 350 million years longer than we have (humans only appeared 130,000 years ago). With bugs such a major part of our world, you might as well learn more about them. Who knows? You might even grow to like them.

The first step in finding out about the bugs around you, of course, is figuring out what kind you’ve got. That’s where the Web site What’s That Bug? comes in. Created as an art project by California photography professors Daniel Marlos and Lisa Anne Auerbach, here you’ll find gorgeous photos sent in by readers, with helpful (and often funny) comments. The British-based What’s This Caterpillar? has a North American section. Bug Guide is an online community of amateur naturalists hosted by Iowa State University Department of Entomology that collects information on where and when bugs are found for scientists’ use. The guide sorts its bug pictures by class (arachnids, insects, centipedes, etc.) and even includes a section on bugs that have immigrated from other countries, such as a tortoise beetle found on a bunch of bananas from Ecuador in a grocery store in New Mexico. Ask Dr. Bug doesn’t have a lot of photos, but you can email Entomology prof Bob Allen from California State University, Fullerton for an ID. (Dr. Bug says 95% turn out to be potato bugs, disturbingly human-featured cricket-like critters which, thankfully, only live in the Southwest and have their own site, PotatoBugs.com.)

Articles on bugs (for reports or your own interest) can be found at sites like Bug Info, from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, and the Australian Museum Online, which offers nicely presented information and printable fact sheets on bugs from all over. Bug Bios is a unique site with photos, a Cultural Entomology that talks about bugs in art, literature, religion, etc., and an extensive links page.

Want to invite bugs to your backyard? Monarch Watch has a section on growing milkweed and other plants to create your own butterfly garden. If you’re thinking of keeping a bug as a pet, The Amateur Entomologists' Society has caresheets for everything from crickets to tarantulas. The retail site PetBugs.com has tips for making your bugs cozy. EarthLife is a site with lots of links on bugs, including pet info. And the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Butterfly School tells you how to make your own butterfly house. If you’d rather visit bugs elsewhere, you can check out the Montréal Botanical Garden’s Insectarium, the largest in North America, which even looks like a bug when viewed from the tower of the nearby Olympic Stadium. Or you can watch live leafcutter ants scramble about their “formicary,” or glass ant case, at the London Natural History Museum’s Antcam.

Alright, so you don’t want to make friends with bugs. But you still might like to invite them to dinner – that is, if you’re an adventurous eater! The PBS TV series NOVA has a slideshow on people eating bugs around the world. And Iowa State University's Department of Entomology offers Tasty Insect Recipes like Banana Worm Bread and Chocolate Covered Grasshoppers. Of course, you don’t have to get that intimate with insects to appreciate them. But now that you know how interesting and beautiful they can be, you may not be so quick to squish the next bug you see.

EXTRA: Find links to bug crafts I made and demonstrated during my Bug House workshops at my website Crafts for Learning!

Magic Tricks for Kids

I’m one of those people who likes to enjoy a magic trick without trying too hard to figure out how it’s done. But as the mother of a budding magician, I’ve had to acknowledge the fact that a lot of magic involves gimmicks bought in magic shops. Luckily, though, not all magic tricks require special equipment. You can start doing magic with only a deck of cards, a piece of rope, and a few coins. Here’s what my son Anthony has learned so far about being the art of prestidigitation:

· The easiest tricks to start off with are rope tricks.

· Once you know the trick and the secret move, practicing is fairly easy. I try to practice as much as possible whenever I learn a new trick.

· It’s best to talk over the part where you have to make a secret move, so people don’t know what you’re doing.

· I love the look on people’s faces after you perform a magic trick.

Anthony got his start in an afterschool magic class, but there are plenty of Internet resources if you want to learn some easy tricks at home. Parents who want to encourage a child's interest in magic can also check out the Web site Kapoof! Magic You Can Do, where teacher Andy Makar offers advice, a library of tricks, and lots of links. The family-created Kidzone from DLTK has a section on magic tricks for children as well.

Other worthwhile sites include Anthony’s pick, The All Magic Guide, which offers a variety of trick instructions with photos, magic show videos and more; How to Do Tricks, which also includes coin trickery, levitating illusions and street magician tactics; Good Tricks, where you can learn the secret behind “mind reading” demonstrations; and Mighty Tricks a blog that has not been updated recently but which still offers interesting videos and some super magic tricks. You can also find a comprehensive links page at Magic Tricks.

Perhaps the best way to learn how to be a magician may be to watch a master in action. Endurance artist David Blaine, who has lived in a fishbowl in Lincoln Center and hung suspended over London in a glass box for 43 days, has videos of both his stunts and some card tricks at his Web site. For other famous magicians, however, you’ll have to do some searching on YouTube. We enjoyed seeing clips of David Copperfield disappearing the Statue of Liberty and walking through the Great Wall of China. The comic duo Penn & Teller have some interesting segments where they give away the tricks of the trade by doing the popular cup and ball sleight of hand with clear plastic cups. But the present-day performer we enjoyed the most was Criss Angel. On his A&E show Mindfreak, Angel takes his illusions to the street, enlisting passersby who are shocked (and sometimes horrified) at some of tricks. He does some beautiful levitation from building to building, but he also does coin swallowing and voodoo doll routines that are on the gruesome side. For many fans of magic, however, the brush with death is what makes it so exciting.

Of course, the granddaddy of all showmen was Harry Houdini. You can watch silent film clips of Houdini’s escapes, and play an online escape game, on PBS American Experience. The Library of Congress has an online collection of Houdini documents. And The History Museum at the Castle in Appleton, Wisconsin – where the magician lived when his family first came to America from Hungary in 1878 – has an online exhibit called “AKA Houdini” about the man and his times. Magicians today still try to top Houdini’s tricks, but few succeed. Maybe – with a little practice – you can be the one to match his amazing feats!

Update: We just had a great time at the exhibit Magic: The Science of Illusion at the NY Hall of Science. Be sure to catch it if it comes to your area!

Family Online Picks

Kapoof kapoof.com

Kidzone Magic Tricks kidzone.ws

The All Magic Guide allmagicguide.com

How to Do Tricks howtodotricks.com

Good Tricks goodtricks.net

Mighty Tricks mightytricks.com

Magic Tricks links.magictricks.com/magiclessons.html

David Blaine davidblaine.com

Criss Angel A&E videos aetv.com/criss_angel

Houdini PBS site pbs.org/wgbh/amex/houdini/

AKA Houdini akahoudini.org

Evolution

Two hundred years after Charles Darwin’s birth – and a century and a half after the publication of his book On the Origin of Species – the theory of evolution is as controversial as ever. In the United States, that is. According to a 2005 New York Times article, the idea that complex organisms developed from simpler species through random mutations is almost universally accepted in every other industrialized country. Ever since John Scopes went on trial in Tennessee in 1925 for telling his biology students about natural selection, however, American school teachers have shied away from discussing evolution in the classroom. Generations of us have grown up not really understanding evolution or the process by which scientific theories are tested and confirmed. So with a year to go until Darwin’s 200^th, intelligent educators and scientists have designed Web sites to supply those missing links.

Swathmore College biology professor (and father of two young children) Colin Purrington believes parents can begin to “homeschool” their kids about evolution as early as kindergarten. And a fun place to start is Alaskan marine artist Ray Troll’s Web site Troll Art. Watch a single cell morph into a human being on Troll’s Evolvovision, then click on his somewhat retro comix-style poster The Way We Were: The Path of Human Evolution to read explanations by fish biologist Carl Ferraris. The site Becoming Human, from The Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University, challenges you to assemble a chimp and a human skeleton from a mixed pile of bones. And the Natural History Museum of London’s Evolution Web page includes a natural selection game where you play a young bird trying to eat enough bugs to get through the winter.

The PBS Evolution Web site is another great resource for kids. There’s a whole library of interactive features, including games like Evolution in Action, which that lets you change the environment to see how random mutations affect a creature’s ability to survive, and The Mating Game, where you help contestants pass their genes down the evolutionary line. There’s also the PBS series Nova’s Missing Link and Origins pages.

Still confused? Understanding Evolution, a collaboration of the University of California Museum of Paleontology and the National Center for Science Education is a comprehensive, clearly written site that touches on science, history, research and how evolution factors into daily life. There are explanations of the role DNA plays, common misconceptions and dozens of useful links. Or to find out more about the descent of man, check out the Smithsonian Institution’s Human Origins Program. Wander through the online Hall of Human Ancestors, then click on a branch of the Human Family Tree to look at virtual 3D fossils and read about human precursors.

In recent years February 12, has been celebrated as Darwin Day, with Phylum Feasts (including foods from all the plant and animal groups) and Primordial Soup, plans for a recreation of Darwin’s exploratory journey to the Galapagos islands on the HMS Beagle, and re-enactments of the Scopes Monkey Trial. The trial, which pitted celebrity lawyer Clarence Darrow against politician William Jennings Bryan, as recorded by humorist HL Mencken, is a fascinating piece of social history. My family watched the slightly fictionalized version told in the Spencer Tracy film Inherit the Wind, then checked the facts at the Famous Trials in American History Web site by University of Missouri law professor Douglas Linder.

It took Darwin 20 years to publish his theory of evolution, as you’ll learn from the companion Web site to the traveling exhibit which stopped at the American Museum of Natural History in New York in 2006. But you shouldn’t wait so long. Evolution is the unifying principle in biology, says Swathmore’s Purrington, make sure your kids have the facts they need to begin to understand the mystery of life.

Update: Find more evolution resources for kids at my blog Home Biology!

Family Online Picks (with additional links added):

BBC: Human Evolution

BBC: The Origins of Life

BBC: The Cambrian Explosion

Chicago's Field Museum Evolving Planet www.fieldmuseum.org/evolvingplanet

Swathmore Evolution Outreach www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/evolk12/evoops.htm

Troll Art www.trollart.com

Becoming Human www.becominghuman.org

Natural History Museum London www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/evolution

PBS Evolution www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution

Nova: Missing Link www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/link

Nova: Origins www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/life.html

Understanding Evolution http://evolution.berkeley.edu

Scopes Monkey Trial www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/scopes.htm

American Museum of Natural History Darwin exhibit www.amnh.org/exhibitions/darwin

Crime Solving for Kids

Cops and robbers? Old hat. Nowadays, crime-fighting kids would rather look for fingerprints and DNA samples than chase bad guys with guns. The hit CBS TV drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has spawned a whole generation of kids who want to try toxicology (finding drugs or poison in the body) ballistics (matching patterns on weapons and the crime scene) and forensic anthropology (examining skeletal remains) to figure out who dunnit. And educators and educational websites are jumping on the trend. Even if you don’t have a crime lab in your home, you and your kids can investigate cutting-edge police techniques – and learn a little science -- on these sites.

(Note: You may want to preview these sites, which after all deal with murder and mayhem, before going on them with younger children. Sites that are suitable for little kids are indicated.)

Fans of the CSI franchise can find several sites directly related to the show. The CSI Handbook on the show’s official website is a clickable illustrated glossary of terms used by Crime Scene Investigators to describe evidence, tools and procedures. And the Boston Museum of Science’s recent exhibit, CSI: The Experience, has a website with a printable Family Guide containing at-home activities like analyzing blood spatter (using the fake blood recipe provided) and extracting DNA from fruit. There’s also a CSI Web Adventure from Rice University that takes you through the steps of analyzing crime scene evidence in a police lab. You can find a page of related links too.

Other interactive websites for kids include Anatomy of a Murder from the Montreal Science Center, where you help forensic experts in an animated crime scene. (Scroll down to “Interactive File On Criminalistics.”) Then there’s the Virtual Museum of Canada’s Interactive Investigator, which lets you explore a cartoon crime scene, collect clues and send them to the lab to be analyzed. (Both websites are also available in French.) At the PBS NOVA website, you can click-and-drag objects create a DNA “fingerprint” in a non-gory cartoon lab to solve the mystery of who stole a lollipop, and read about the new 3-D mug shots. (The rest of the website related to the program "The Killer's Trail," about the re-opening of the 1954 murder that inspired “The Fugitive,” however, is not as kid-friendly.)

For more activities you can do at home, the children’s site CyberBee has a Who Dunnit? section that tells you how to practice taking fingerprints, make impressions of teeth, and calculate a person’s height from the size of their shoe. Or watch two girls solve the mystery of a birthday party mess on an online episode of the PBS Kids show DragonFly, which has also suggestions for exploring evidence like bicycle tire tracks.

Older kids can find lots of good information about Forensic Entomology -- studying insects and insect eggs around dead bodies to determine the time or location of death – at the WhyFiles from the University of Wisconsin. If that’s too icky for you, there’s also an article on document analysis, including whether you can tell someone’s personality from their handwriting. (Most scientists say no, but in France 70 percent of employers use handwriting to screen job applicants.)
The popularity of CSI and similar shows has its good side and its bad side. The bad side, according to National Geographic, is that the so-called “CSI Effect” means jurors now expect more DNA and high-tech evidence before they’ll convict a defendant – even if it’s more traditional proofs are already available. But for students – questions of the effects of violence on television aside – the “CSI Effect” has been a positive thing. An article from the National Science Teachers Association says that kids who took a “Draw-A-Scientist Test” created fewer portraits of mad scientists and more images of regular men and women having fun in the lab. The kids give CSI the credit – and that’s almost as good as catching crooks.

Family Online Picks:

CBS website-CSI Handbook http://www.cbs.com/primetime/csi/handbook

CSI: The Experience http://www.csitheexperience.com/

Rice University Web Adventure http://forensics.rice.edu/

Montreal Science Center
http://www.centredessciencesdemontreal.com/en/jeunes/jeunes_jeux.htm

Virtual Exhibit on Forensic Science
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Myst/en/index.html

PBS Nova Create a DNA Fingerprint
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sheppard/analyze.html

CyberBee Who Dunnit?
http://www.cyberbee.com/whodunnit/crime.html

Dragonfly
http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/show/forensics.html

WhyFiles http://whyfiles.org/014forensic/

National Geographic “CSI Effect” article http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0923_040923_csi.html

NSTA “CSI Effect” article http://www3.nsta.org/main/news/stories/science_scope.php?news_story_ID=52803

Career Exploration

Do you know what you want to be when you grow up? A lot of kids (and even some of us adults!) could use some help figuring out that important question. In the old days, you could go to the school guidance counselor to take an aptitude test. After answering some multiple choice questions about your interests, strengths and personality (“Are you prone to (A) exploring the possibilities or (B) nailing things down?”), you would find out whether you were hairdresser or rocket scientist material. Another tactic was to thumb through an enormous volume called the OOH – Occupational Outlook Handbook. Today you don’t need an appointment with your guidance counselor to start your career exploration, because many of these tools are available on the Internet. Unfortunately, they’re not always free, and they can be complicated to use. But if you’re just looking for ideas and suggestions – not a detailed, personalized analysis -- there are a few good places to begin your search for the job path that will suit you best.

The OOH, put out by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, has descriptions of hundreds of different occupations. It tells you what the job is like, education and training requirements, how much it pays, and whether the need for people in that job is growing, staying the same, or shrinking. And not only is the online version less of a strain on the shoulders than the hardcopy, it’s also easier to browse, thanks to the website’s search features. It also has links to professional organizations and other places where you can find out more about the job that interests you. Not everything about it is high-tech, though. Like the book, the website’s information is only updated every two years, so some statistics in the 2006-2007 edition go back to 2004 – eons when it comes to some areas of the job market. But the BLS website does offer archives of the Occupational Outlook Quarterly magazine (the most recent being Summer 2007) and other resources. There’s also a well-designed kids’ section with a little less detail and links back to the main OOH.

Many professional organizations themselves have kids’ sections with information about different specialties and how to enter the field, such as Ocean Explorer, Young Eagles (aviation) and the US Dept. of Agriculture.

For general information, the University of California at Berkeley’s online Career Library has links to career descriptions from other reliable sites, including the Department of Labor and other colleges. Another valuable resource is the Vocational Information Center for high school students, created and maintained by retired educator Kathryn Hake. Hake’s site focuses on technical and vocational careers and trade schools. The College Board, maker of the SATs and Achievement Tests, also has a Majors and Careers section with general information. Pathways to the World of Work, which has links to sites about self-assessment and career exploration, is a website for teens from the Connecticut Department of Labor. And the New York State Dept. of Labor Career Zone for teens presents current and relevant occupational and labor market Information in a clear and interesting way, making career exploration and planning fun and easy.

And if you’re curious about online aptitude tests but don’t want to shell out the subscription fee, there are a couple sample tests you can try. Rutgers University’s Pre-College Career Planning webpage offers a free “interests assessment” based on John Holland's “Theory of Vocational Choice,” which classifies students into six different categories: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. And the Princeton Review, the well-known test-prep company, has a free 24-question Career Quiz that rates your interest and job style. Some organizations, like Boys and Girls Clubs and Junior Achievement, have free online tests that are available to members only, although Junior Achievement’s career information pages are open to all.

Remember, take any career aptitude tests with a grain of salt. I tried three different surveys, and came up with three different versions of what I’d like best! Experts say the most useful thing about interest assessments is the possibility they’ll point you in some unexpected directions. That perfect career is out there – so get looking!

LEGO

By John Ceceri (with help from Kathy Ceceri)

Why are Lego toys so much fun? It might be their bright colors. It could be the cool themes such as Star Wars, Bionicle (a mystical storyline about biomechanical warriors with magical masks, with related books, movies and comics), Exo-Force (a line where humans take on robots wearing giant battlesuits) and others. Or maybe it’s the playability that lets you can take apart a set and make a whole new model. Whatever the reason, Lego has a giant fanbase, from 5-year-olds to Adult Fans of Lego (AFOL). And those fans have made several websites about their favorite subject: chat rooms, databases and even “my own creation” (MOC) sites, where you can upload pictures of Lego models you’ve designed yourself. Although most sites are for AFOL, there are some just for younger fans. Here are my favorites:

I had been a big Lego fan for a few years when I discovered Lego.com, the official Lego website, at age 11. Lego.com has good places for fans to talk to each other, post photos of models they’ve made, and see new Lego sets. It also has Lego Factory, a part of the site where you can download software which lets you make a 3-D drawing of a Lego model, then upload it to Lego.com and show it off, or even buy your model. In the Pick-A-Brick section, you can buy single bricks instead of a whole set. And you can even enter in codes from Lego Bionicle and Exo-Force sets to get cool online stuff!

For a while I posted on Lego’s message boards, but it wasn't long until I started looking at the fansites, especially those for kids. BZPower is the main Bionicle fan site with over 37,000 members, and the top Bionicle news source. Members discuss topics like the most heroic heroes and villainous villains or which set they regret getting. My own websites -- Lair of the Piraka (a Bionicle forum) and The Robot’s Workshop (an Exo-Force forum) -- don’t have many members, but they are starting to get more.

For AFOL, Eurobricks has large forums to post in and the latest Lego news. And the news from Europe often includes photos of sets that haven’t been released yet. Some sites won’t post leaked images, some forbid even discussing the future sets, but they sure are tempting. A tip about posting in general: make sure you follow the rules, such as not creating duplicate topics or adding to “zombie topics” (topics that haven’t had new posts for a long while). Some of these sites will ban you if you don’t.

Brickshelf is a photo-hosting website just for Legos, where the tags include train layouts and snapshots of the Legoland theme parks. But most MOC sites let you post photos and get comments on them. MOCpages features large models like the diorama combining characters from Indiana Jones, Dr. Who, and H.P. Lovecraft, or the Blacktron Intelligence Agency, a space base that takes up four tables. From Bricks to Bothans, the main the Lego Star Wars fan site, also has photos of Star Wars MOCs and a forum where members can comment.

Then there are Lego databases like Brickset, which lets you search by theme or year, going back to 1961. Members can keep track of all the sets they own -- and make wishlists of the ones they want. Brickwiki, which is (as the name suggests) a wiki about Lego, has information on its history, themes, and famous people (according to Lego fans), along with different building techniques such as SNOT (“studs not on top” – in other words, upside down). There are also links to all the other major Lego sites.

From grandfather clocks to harpsichords to automated factories that use Lego Mindstorm computer technology to build cars out of Lego pieces, there’s practically nothing that hasn’t been made out of Legos. Professional Lego model builders can make you a Bart Simpson or a mosaic of the Mona Lisa to order. But perhaps one of the strangest projects is the Brick Testament, where a minifig Adam and Eve live in a Lego Garden of Eden. Maybe the best part of Legos is that, no matter what your interests, it’s so easy to join in the fun.

Family Online Picks:

LEGO.com www.LEGO.com

BZpower www.bzpower.com

Lair of the Piraka http://z3.invisionfree.com/Lair_of_the_Piraka

The Robot's Workshop http://s8.invisionfree.com/The_Robots_Workshop

Eurobricks www.eurobricks.com

Brickshelf www.brickshelf.com

MOCpages http://www.mocpages.com

From Bricks to Bothans http://www.fbtb.net/

Brickset www.brickset.com

Brickwiki http://brickwiki.zapto.org

The Brick Testament http://www.thebricktestament.com/

At-Home Science Activities

If you’re a kid, you’ve probably never heard of Mr. Wizard. And you’ll never know the thrill of owning a genuine Mr. Wizard chemistry set. Mr. Wizard, otherwise known as Don Herbert, hosted TV’s first science show, back when kids were encouraged to go out and experiment with chemicals, rockets, and other exciting phenomena. But because times have changed, a company that recently tried to update the Mr. Wizard chemistry set had to settle for balloons, clay, and laundry starch instead of the chemicals included in the original set. And it’s not just toys that have changed: even some schools are cutting back on chemistry labs. As a result, one classroom chemistry expert told Wired Magazine last year, “Kids are being robbed of the joy of discovering things for themselves.”

But doing science at home is not a lost art. It may take some effort, a willingness to get messy, and an eye towards safety, but many of the materials needed for exciting at-home experiments are still available, if you know what to look for. And as usual, the Internet can help. With projects for everyone from the faint-of-heart to the foolhardy, you’re sure to find something on the websites below that send adults and kids alike rushing to turn your kitchen or workshop into the family laboratory.

Mr. Wizard famously inspired a generation of scientists, teachers, and science showmen, and leading the pack right now is Steve Spangler. Remember the Diet Coke and Mentos craze? That all started with a video segment Spangler did for his local Denver NBC affiliate. His website has tons of uncomplicated video and written experiments in categories such as States of Matter, Light and Sound, or All about Air. There’s so much good content here, I don’t even mind that it’s primarily an online catalogue for Spangler’s science toys, kits and supplies. (And by the way, the products -- aimed at elementary school age and younger -- are excellent.)

Science educator Robert Krampf, who takes his live high-voltage electricity show to schools for Florida Power and Light, also offers nearly 30 fun and easy science video clips on his website, just a fraction of the 300 plus at-home explorations you can read. They may not be as dramatic as a traveling million-volt Tesla coil, but they’re still pretty cool. Join Krampf’s YahooGroup to get an Experiment of the Week emailed to you or just browse the archives. Like Spangler’s experiments, Krampf’s activities are simple enough for younger kids, but they include suggestions for continuing the experiment at a higher level.

Want more of a challenge? Hila Science Camp in Ottawa, Canada has online directions and videos for such projects as a lemon battery, a two-tone alarm with a paper cone speaker, a printable star finder, and a medieval trebuchet for storming castles. The graphics on Teacher Slater Harrison’s Science Toy Maker website may look out of date, but the projects -- a Bangladesh toy steam boat, an air rocket and launcher, and an electronic lie detector -- are exciting and kid-tested. There are also lots of links to other science activity sites, too, such as the video search engine Science Hack, which promises that every entry is screened by a scientist. Finally, if Danger is your middle name, you’ll love SciToys. Not just because the Fresnel Lens marshmallow cooker starts flaming within seconds, or author Simon Quellen Field will email you right back with the answer to a question about building it. It’s because the projects have scary names (the Plastic Hydrogen Bomb is really a high-tech squirt gun), and they work. The SciToys catalog is also a good, cheap source of materials used in projects.

Don Herbert passed away in June at the age of 89, but his spirit lives on. So release your inner science nerd, take the family outside and drop a tube of Mentos into a bottle of Diet Soda today!

Animation

(Animation for Sesame Street by Michael Sporn)

From the earliest pen-and-ink novelties to the most sophisticated computer-generated full-length features, animated films have always been a cross between art and magic. Of course, they’re part science too: it’s the split-second afterimage in our brains (known as “persistence of vision”) that makes us think a speeding series of still pictures is actually a scene in motion. But it’s the animator’s tricks, plus the ability of great animators to “act” through their imaginary characters, that really makes animated images come alive.

As a young artist I learned some of those tricks as an apprentice to two masters of the hand-drawn animated film. Working as an “in-betweener” on Michael Sporn’s Oscar-nominated “Dr. DeSoto” showed me how speed and rhythm reveals a character’s personality. And John Canemaker – whose autobiographical film “The Moon and the Son” won last year’s Academy Award for Best Animated Short – taught me that good animators are good observers, recreating the world using only line and color. But today with the Internet, you can learn from the pros without ever leaving home. Whether you prefer traditional Disney-style or anime cel animation, stop-motion with puppets or clay a la Wallace and Gromit, or the 3-D computer images of films like “Happy Feet” and “Ratatouille,” there are sites that will introduce you to old classics and show you the latest techniques. You can even post your work online and get feedback from other students and veteran animators. So get ready to start making movies!

The most basic trick used by animators to make the invented look real is exaggeration, and the first lesson in every animation drawing course is squashing and stretching a bouncing ball. Larry's Toon Institute (by Larry Lauria, who helped design Disney's Magic Artist software), goes from the bouncing ball to character construction, timing, posing and learning how to “thumbnail,” or plan out, a scene. The site is part of the Student Corner at the Animation World Network, which also offers forums, advanced how-to’s, and Animation World Magazine, with columnists including Bart Simpson’s voice, Nancy Cartwright. Another site, Karmatoons, by Doug Compton, whose credits include Bugs Bunny, gives you his wonderfully-illustrated teaching notes from his time with the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon Art. Then there’s Acme Animation, where you can print out instructions on the bouncing ball and watch a video on how to make a flour sack fall. Pay the $99 registration fee, however, and there’s much more to this online school. Acme members can post their projects for public viewing and get feedback from other students and working professionals. As you work your way through more advanced levels you’re developing a portfolio that can help you get into art school or even a job in animation.

Lots of kids begin making animated films with clay, puppets, and other objects that are easy to move around. At StopMotionAnimation.com, you can find forums for your questions on technique, and the links page is extensive. Their related site, StopMoShorts, offers “puppet training” challenges such as walking, tripping, jumping and dueling. When you’ve completed the challenge, post your video for feedback. There are also interviews with such titans of the art form as Ray Harryhausen (“Jason and the Argonauts”), tutorials, and clips from classic films. I’ve mentioned Brickfilms before but I love it: Lego pieces are used for the sets -- and the stars.

Kids who want to learn computer animation can check out the Flash Animation tutorial by Samik Dutta, a 16-year-old homeschooler from India, at the Amazing Kids Animation Station. (Flash is the software used for a lot of the animated website elements.) The site also offers a showcase just for kids to display their animated videos. About.com’s animation page has a Flash Kids' Corner with lessons for ages 12 and under, as well as a list of free computer animation software you can download. And you can get a behind-the-scenes look at the studio that practically invented 3D computer animation at the Pixar website.

Finally, if you’re interested in the history of animated films, the online Optical Toys Exhibit at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics shows you such early devices as the Zoetrope, Kinora, Magic Lantern and Stereoscope in action. And my mentor, Michael Sporn, keeps a blog (his “Splog”) which riffs on animators past and present and has a blogroll worth checking out.

Update: Just found Flipbook.info, a website about the history of flipbooks, with video clips of some antiques. (Translated from the French.)

Still more updates: Animation Mentor is an online school for advanced character animation.

Amusement Parks (August 2005)

We just got back from Coney Island, so this column seems especially appropriate!

Not being thrillseekers in general, we only made our first trip as a family to a “big kid” amusement park, The Great Escape in Lake George, this year. But all those giant rides and extreme roller coasters sure looked exciting (at least from the ground). If you want to know what you’re getting yourself in for when you make your pilgrimage to a major amusement park, or just want to enjoy some vicarious thrills, try swinging by some of these amazing websites.

The idea of amusement parks goes back to ancient Rome, but the early 1900s was when trolley companies looking to drum up weekend business built waterside picnic groves, which soon morphed into lively places like Coney Island. Midway Plaisance (the name means “pleasure ground”) is a site about the history and design of parks and rides; it also tells you how to get the most out of a visit. For hardcore advice, turn to Theme Park Insider, an award-winning, independent consumers' guide to parks in Orlando, Anaheim, and around the world. There’s news, rumors and safety information, and users’ opinions of attractions, restaurants and hotels. For Disney deals, MouseSavers has coupons, discount codes, and membership bargains for theme parks and resorts at and around Disney World and Disneyland.

If you’re a roller coaster fan, the Roller Coaster DataBase has information and statistics on over 1800 roller coasters worldwide. The site Joyrides is a bit out of date, sadly, but contains excellent still photos of some US amusement parks, along with links and tips for taking exciting roller coaster photos of your own. And on the brand-new website CoasterRadio.com you can listen to podcasts online, with links, or join the discussion in the forums.

Of course, you don’t have to leave your computer to experience the ride of your life. Build your own coaster on the Travel Channel theme parks page, using loops, corkscrews and boomerangs, and then see how it scores on the Fear-o-Meter. Funderstanding’s simulation lets you see how thrilling you can make your coaster without sending the riders into outer space. Set the height of the hills, the size of the loop, the speed and mass of the cars, the amount of friction on the track -- even how much gravity your park has – and then let ‘er rip. Learn how rides work and why they’re scary in the Physics of Amusement Park section of the animated Virtual Science Center Virtual Science Center, a Japanese site, which includes directions for a soda bottle gravity meter you can test at the playground. Or find out how to make an accelerometer from an old tennis ball tube and a fishing weight at ThinkQuest.

There’s do-it-yourself, and then there’s people who design their own real-life amusement park rides. All the animals on the Totally Kid Carousel in New York City’s Harlem were adapted from kids’ drawings, and they are amazing: Adriana Francisco’s chihuaha, Tanya Garcia’s lobster, Taji Okolo’s beautiful blue rabbit. And some pretty neat videos can be found by searching for backyard roller coasters, like metalworker John Ivers’ single-loop “Blue Flash.”

Food is a big part of the park experience. Cotton candy’s been around since the 1890s, and Nathan’s hot dogs are still a boardwalk favorite. But if you grew up in the sixties the fries from Palisades Amusement Park in Fort Lee, NJ may bring back fond memories. Here’s a recipe to try at home: Peel and krinkle-cut five potatoes into large pieces and place in a half gallon pitcher filled with about 5 ounces of malt vinegar and the rest filled with water. Fry in corn oil at medium temperature for two minutes until almost done. Remove and drain. Raise the heat to high, and just before serving, drop the potatoes back into oil for 70 seconds. Drain and sprinkle liberally with salt. Serve in a cone-shaped paper cup, topped with more vinegar. And remember to give yourself time to digest before getting on the Ferris wheel…

Family Online Picks:

The Great Escape (www.sixflags.com/parks/greatescape/)
Midway Plaisance (www.icewind.net/themepark)
Theme Park Insider (www.themeparkinsider.com)
MouseSavers (www.mousesavers.com)
Roller Coaster DataBase (www.rcdb.com)
Joyrides (www.joyrides.com)
CoasterRadio (www.coasterradio.com)
TravelChannel (http://travel.discovery.com/ideas/themeparks/rollercoasters/buildacoaster.html)
Funderstanding (www.funderstanding.com/k12/coaster)
Virtual Science Center (http://jvsc.jst.go.jp/find/rikigaku/english/index.htm)
ThinkQuest (http://library.thinkquest.org/2745/data/meter.htm)
Totally Kid Carousel (http://www.hoopla.org/Carousel/index.htm)
Blue Flash video (www.thrillnetwork.com/boards/attachment.php?attachmentid=11322)
Palisades Amusement Park (www.palisadespark.com)

Inventions

Kids are full of ideas, and some of them turn out to be great inventions. Chester Greenwood of Maine came up with the idea for earmuffs while out skating in 1873, when he was 15 – and later made a fortune selling them to U.S. soldiers during World War I. The Popsicle was accidentally created by 11-year-old Frank Epperson when he left a sugary drink with the stirring stick still in it on his back porch during a cold snap in 1905. And in 1963, Tom Sims built the first snowboard in his eighth-grade shop class. Today you’ll find all kinds of websites on inventors of the past and present, as well as information, games, and contests to help inspire inventors of the future. Here’s just a sampling of what’s out there:

If you’d like to find out about inventions and inventors, Enchanted Learning’s page of brief but inclusive descriptions includes gadgets ranging from adhesive tape to zippers and US and Canadian notables from Mary Anderson, developer of the windshield wiper, to Frank J. Zamboni, who perfected his ice resurfacer in 1949. The Virtual Museum of Ancient Inventions at Smith College is a collection of impressive student-made replicas of artifacts dating back thousands of years, including household items like looms and candles, as well as a battery from 250 BCE and a steam engine from the first century. Invent.org, the website of the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio, contains biographies of nearly 400 innovative honorees from the 1700s to today. Among the present and past names added to the list this year were King Gillette, famous for his razors, and stained glass lampmaker Louis Tiffany. And since 1996, six bright minds have been added every year to the National Gallery for America’s Young Inventors, where you can read comic strips explaining how each inductee came up with their award-winning idea.

Some invention websites don’t just talk about the subject, they let you participate as well. When you’re done browsing the Inventor of the Week archives at MIT’s Invention Dimension, you can try your hand at games that look at the connections between inventions, test yourself with “Which Came First, or take a trivia challenge. There’s also links on science and invention education, news, and contests. The MIT program was established by Jerome Lemelson, one of the world's most prolific inventors, and his wife, Dorothy, who also are behind the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the Smithsonian Institution. The Center’s website, Invention at Play, shows how fooling around leads to new discoveries. Along with inventors’ own stories and articles on the importance of play, and an online exhibit of toys, the site has all kinds of interactive opportunities for solving puzzles, doodling, writing collaborative stories, and more. Then there’s The Great Idea Finder, from the Vaunt Design Group. It’s not only full of invention resources on the Web, the bookshelf, and the screen (TV and DVD, that is), there’s even an Idea Wish List, where you can suggest something – sugarless chocolate, hair straightening shampoo, or a tool to make your hamster quiet at night – that YOU would like to see someone invent. (My only quibble with the site is that the grammar in the articles is sloppy.)

Inventors can share their ideas with the world through contests, online, and even on TV. (The Ellen DeGeneres Show invites kids 5 to 10 years old to show off their inventions.) By Kids For Kids goes further, by actually researching, developing and marketing kids’ ideas, for free. But the first step in selling an invention is to protect your idea, so you’ll get the credit due AND the profits! The US Trademark and Patent Office Kids Page walks you through the steps (and it’s also lots of fun – try the Trademarked Sounds page). So get your family thinking – you’ll never know where it’ll lead!

Family Online Picks:

Enchanted Learning - US and Canadian Inventors and Inventions www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors

Smith College Ancient Inventions www.smith.edu/hsc/museum/ancient_inventions

National Inventors Hall of Fame www.invent.org

National Gallery for America’s Young Inventors http://nmoe.org/gallery

MIT Invention Dimension http://web.mit.edu/invent/invent-main.html

Invention at Play www.inventionatplay.org

The Great Idea Finder www.ideafinder.com

US Trademark and Patent Office Kids Page www.uspto.gov/go/kids

Ellen DeGeneres http://ellen.warnerbros.com/show/kidsinvent/

By Kids For Kids www.bkfk.com

Solar Wind and Water has its own blog!

Scoot over to www.solarwindandwaterpower.blogspot.com to find all the posts from this summer's ACC class. I'll be posting new info as I find it from time to time as well. Enjoy!

Save the Planet

So what did you do for Earth Day 2007? If the Oscar for “An Inconvenient Truth” and the more than 1,400 Step It Up demonstrations which took place around the country last month are any sign, the environment has become a hot topic. And kids are naturally going to want to find out more. But for many children, hearing dire predictions and scary statistics about pollution and global warming is plain depressing; after all, this is their future we’re talking about. So with my own kids, and the students in my “Solar, Wind and Water Power” class, a focus on what individuals and communities can do to help protect our planet – especially projects they can try at home -- has been the way to go. A search for “kids” and “renewable energy” will turn up many useful sites. Here are some worth visiting:

Government agencies, utility companies and other commercial energy suppliers, and environmental advocates all have websites for kids with general information about energy alternatives. Just be aware that each has its own slant on the subject. The Kid’s Info page of Solar Energy International, a nonprofit educational organization, answers questions about the difference between solar thermal (heat) and photovoltaic (electricity-generating) energy, how PV cells work, and other interesting topics. Divided into sections for younger and older kids, it’s clearly written and integrated with useful links. Alliant Energy, a Wisconsin energy holding company, has a kids’ section on Energy and the Environment, with a page on renewable resources including biomass and geothermal. Explanations are concise and come with illustrations and links to photos and videos of actual installations such as wind turbines that tower over the Spirit Lake, Iowa, school playground.

Kids Korner, a feature available on the websites of power companies such as the Tri-State (sic) Generation and Transmission Association of Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming and New Mexico, is aimed at a younger audience, with helpful (if sometimes cloying) graphics. The U.S. Energy Information Agency’s Kids Page may be a bit over-detailed and hard to follow, but along with energy facts it offers virtual field trips to different energy producers from oil rigs to wind turbines, the history and the people involved, an Energy Conversion Calculator and more. And at the US Dept of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (Motto: “Bringing you a prosperous future where energy is clean, abundant, reliable and affordable”), Dr. E’s Energy Lab (at a new URL since last mentioned in this column) has links to helpful sites.

Hands-on projects are a great way to learn about renewable energy. Re-Energy, a site from the Canada-based Pembina Institute, which works on environmental policy, has easy-to-follow construction plans for a wind turbine, biogas generator, solar car and more. Build It Solar has an excellent page of links to solar projects for kids, along with info for building “real” energy systems and eco-friendly entire houses. And the Solar Cooking Archive is the Internet authority on solar cookers of all kinds, with directions, recipes, and interesting information on how solar cookers are being used in parts of the world where traditional fuels are not available.

There ARE websites that can be helpful if you’re looking for a quick overview of global warming, or your kids are ready to delve into the details of climate change. Despite its wishy-washy approach – the overwhelming agreement of experts notwithstanding, the site only concedes that “many of the world's leading climate scientists” think human activity is helping to make the Earth warmer -- the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Change Kids Site is fairly complete and is presented in an easy-to-understand format. And The Weather Channel has a site called Climate Change - Forecast Earth, with short informative videos and news links. But I would steer clear of sites like OneWorld.net’s Kids Channel, whose cartoon penguin hosts presents facts about “megadeaths,” plague and Chernobyl, and blames global warming on “adults - including your parents and family.” Kids need hope, and it’s out there. As ClimateCrisis.net, the website for “An Inconvenient Truth” (and yes, my children did see and appreciate the movie) says:

“There is no doubt we can solve this problem. In fact, we have a moral obligation to do so. Small changes to your daily routine can add up to big differences in helping to stop global warming. The time to come together to solve this problem is now – take action.”

Family Online Picks:

An Inconvenient Truth www.climatecrisis.net

Step it Up http://stepitup2007.org

Solar Energy International www.solarenergy.org/resources/kids.html

Alliant Energy Kids www.powerhousekids.com

Kids Korner http://tristate.apogee.net/kids

U.S. Energy Information Agency www.eia.doe.gov/kids

Dr. E’s Energy Lab www1.eere.energy.gov/kids

Re-Energy www.re-energy.ca

Build It Solar www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Educational/educational.htm

Solar Cooking www.solarcooking.org

EPA Climate Change for Kids http://epa.gov/climatechange/kids

The Weather Channel Climate Change - Forecast Earth http://climate.weather.com

Oceans (May 2005)

We don’t live anywhere near the sea, but we still love to go to the shore. It may be a while before we get there again, but in the meantime we can enjoy a virtual voyage with marine scientists, learn about navigators of old, and watch creatures from the deep, live, on our own computer screen. The ocean offers so many interesting topics to explore that it’s hard to pick just a few. But here’s a quick selection I liked, plus some portholes, I mean portals, with links to dozens more.

Follow the day-to-day workings of scientists from Cape Cod as they use the submersible Alvin – the same craft that examined the wreck of the Titanic -- on the Dive and Discover section of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute’s website. When an expedition is in progress you can read regular updates, view videos and slides, solve puzzles, and even email the crew with your questions. If you missed this year’s voyage to the Galápagos Rift to study hydrothermal vents (May 20 through June 3), sign up and they’ll let you know when the next expedition will take place. In the Pacific, the NeMO Project studies the Axial Seamount, an active volcano off the coast of Washington. This year’s expedition was not covered live, but you can see what a real voyage looks like through computer simulations and actual footage taken by their remote vehicle ROPOS of underwater steam vents and the interesting life that exists near them.

Or get a taste of the sea the way Columbus did by trying some of the wonderful activities described in “The Age of Exploration,” an online exhibit of The Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, Virginia. We’ve built and used their printable astrolabe and quadrant, made our own primitive compass, and even enjoyed their recipe for hardtack. (To make it really authentic, though, you have to add weevils….) Modern-day adventurers will want to check out the University of Wisconsin’s site Underwater Exploration, which has information on diving, underwater archeology, and directions for an experiment that shows what happens when you get the bends. Wish you were there right now? See if the surf’s up down the shore with the webcams at Point Pleasant Beach, NJ. Or go to Yahoo! for 30 other beach cams.

While marine life can be fascinating, some species, sadly, have a face that only a mother (or a scientist) could love. Dr. Steve O'Shea of the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, is so enamored of squid that he holds the world record for keeping one alive in captivity. His current project is raising baby broad squid in a tank in his laboratory.You can visit the little squirts, complete with creepy eyeballs, on the real-time, remote-controlled SquidCam. (“Now with Extra-Active Squid!”) Next O’Shea hopes to move on to giant squid -- yikes. Manatees look like melted elephants, but see for yourself on the ManateeCam at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in Florida. The Park serves is a rehabilitation center and refuge for orphaned or injured animals.

Whales aren’t cuddly, but at least they’re better lookin’. And Lucy, the amazing do-it-yourself, life-size, inflatable whale you build using about $60 worth of materials from the home and garden store will feel like a member of your family in no time. She’s fits in an ordinary gym bag and is light enough for one person to carry! Order the directions for $10 from WhaleNet, a site created by Wheelock College in Boston.

Not swamped yet? Send budding oceanographers to OceanWorld from Texas A&M for easy-to-understand info on topics like waves and icebergs and recommended links. The website for NASA’s SeaWFS (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor), which guages the color of the ocean to learn about marine plantlife, is another good launching point for further discovery. Scroll down to How Deep Can They Go? and click on the objects on the chart (including the Titanic, submarines, and whales) for links. You’ll also find links to other sites, such as: Ocean Planet, an exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution with fact sheets, stories by “Jaws” author Peter Benchley, and The JASON Foundation for Education (formerly The JASON Project), a program that schools, homeschoolers and families can pay to join. Founded by Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard, JASON sends some lucky Student and Teacher Argonauts every year to work side by side with scientists at actual expedition sites.

Just for fun, NOAA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, has links to printable activities, coloring pages and other ocean-themed sites for young children. And MarineBio.org, a site where marine life scientists can find research, news, and trends and highlight the work they’re doing, has a kids’ page with links to online science games and activities. But if your kids really can’t wait to get to the seashore, let them make sandcastle sculptures at home that’ll keep forever with this recipe from KidsDomain.com. Just take 3 cups of sand, 1 1/2 cups cornstarch and 1 1/2 cup of water. Mix and cook over low heat in an old pot until thick. Spoon it out onto newspaper, shape, and dry. And happy sailing!

Family Online Picks: WHOI Dive and Discover (www.divediscover.whoi.edu/); NeMO (www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/nemo/dive.html); Mariner’s museum (www.mariner.org/educationalad/ageofex/); Underwater Exploration (www.seagrant.wisc.edu/madisonjason11/); Yahoo! beach cams (http://dir.yahoo.com/recreation/outdoors/beaches/beach_cams/); SquidCam

(www.thesciencesite.info/squidcam.shtml); ManateeCam (www.manateecam.com/manateecam.html); Lucy (http://whale.wheelock.edu/whalenet-stuff/LucyPage.html); OceanWorld (http://oceanworld.tamu.edu); SeaWFS (http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/); NOAA (www.education.noaa.gov/socean.html); MarineBio (http://www.marinebio.com/MarineBio/MindGames/).

Health

When the kids (or you) get sick, there’s no better tool than the Internet for checking out symptoms and finding a range of possible fixes, from mainstream to alternative to old wives' tales. But sorting through all the information you may find is vital. Is the advice you’re getting coming from a recognized researcher, or the 21st century version of a snake oil salesman? You need a list of reliable health sites you can count on as soon as fevers start to rise and everyone feels lousy. But for those in-between times, advice for sifting through the advice is just as important. Here’s some of both:

You can find links to pre-screened health care sites in general, and New York State services in particular, on the Health Information Center at Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls. Included is Crandall Medical Librarian Guinevere Forshey’s useful article called “The ABC’s of Evaluating Online Consumer Health Information.” Among her suggestions:

Ask yourself “Am I getting both sides of the issue?” Opinions are different from facts and they should be clearly stated as opinions. “Are they trying to sell me something?” A quality health site will not disguise advertising as facts. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Look for sites that give the author’s education or training. Good websites will have contact information that is easy to find and will include a phone number, postal and email addresses.

Forshey recommends Medline Plus from the National Library of Medicine & the National Institute of Health as a great place to get started. It has info on all kinds of topics, as well as its own list of links about interpreting and evaluating health websites. There’s even a medical encyclopedia and dictionary and links to health news from the last 30 days.

Forshey’s picks for parents include KidsHealth (“up-to-date information about growth, food and fitness, childhood infections, immunizations, lab tests, medical and surgical conditions, and the latest treatments”) and Family Doctor (“great information on common conditions from the American Academy of Family Physicians”). Both sites have facts for grownups, a fun section on the human body for kids, and topics teens are interested in, such as eating disorders and sex. Another Forshey standout is the Parents' Common Sense Encyclopedia by pediatrician Jeffrey Hull. It’s a quick-reference online parenting manual for questions about chilblains, knock knees, and other common childhood ailments. A library of pediatric textbooks for patients and health professionals are available at the Virtual Pediatric Hospital. And the medical library Medem has a section on children's health, as well as a free monthly newsletter, the Medem Smart Parents' Health Source e-mail service.

For some parents, sources like the ones above may take too much of a medical approach to some problems, especially behavioral questions like co-sleeping and discipline. Finding qualified experts who are open to alternative parenting options is hard, but AskDrSears may be a good choice. The Sears clan -- William Sears, MD, his wife, Martha Sears, RN, and their sons James and Robert, also pediatricians – have shared their advice with both TV news shows and attachment parenting magazines like Mothering. Their website is full of opinionated insight into breast and bottle feeding, sleep problems, fussy babies and other parenting concerns.

Nor should die-hard skeptics worry. There’s a site for you, too. Quackwatch, written by psychiatrist Stephen Barrett, is on a mission to attack misleading advertising and investigate questionable claims. If nothing else, his articles – on infomercials, homeopathic remedies and acupuncture -- will makes you think twice about alternative medicine. Barrett is also behind the Internet Health Pilot, billed as “Your Gateway to Reliable Health Information.” These related sites give searching strategies, tips for telling if a site is “quacky,” and a links to sites they like.

One of those sites is Keep Kids Healthy, written by pediatrician Vincent Ianelli. Most sites will give you medical advice, but Ianelli’s is the only one I’ve seen that delivers it in the form of haiku:

Croup

A bark like a seal
Trouble breathing and hoarse cry.
Try some steam or mist.

One final note: Forshey advises always checking with your healthcare provider before following any medical advice on the Web.