Inventions 2

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Presents...

3 Check It Out! 4 Accidental Invention 7 The Kid Who Invented TV 8 Women Inventors 10 Carbon Dioxide Candy 11 Who Invented the Line?

12 The Horse Fell on the Camera 14 Puzzles 16 What’s Candy Floss?

17 Who Invented the Trampoline?

18 Sticky Business 19 Pizza Fit for a Queen 20 Skateboarding for 100 Years 22 10 Cool Things to Invent 24 Cowboy Clark & Larry 25 Static Magic Wand 26 Story of a Young Inventor 29 Kidz Corner 2 30 Puzzle Solutions

BAZA Production/Shutterstock.com

Have you ever asked your parents or your grandparents what it was like to live without computers or cell phones? Did you know that just about everything you use every day was most likely invented by someone? In fact, some of your favorite items may have been invented by kids just like you. You may have wished you had a certain something that would make doing your chores or homework easier. This is exactly what inventors think. They keep thinking and drawing and eventually come up with their own inventions.

As you enjoy this new issue about how some things you use were invented, keep in mind that certain something that you wish you had. Maybe you will be the inventor of something that all of us will appreciate.

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George Crum was the son of an African-American father and a Native American mother.

Time to check on the roast duck!

Let’s see. . . the clam chowder is done.

In 1853, he was working as a chef at an elegant resort in upstate New York. It was here that he unintentionally created a new dish.

George, we have an order for French fried potatoes!

Coming right up!

Accidental Invention written and illustrated by Andrew Wales Here’s your order, sir.

Harrumph!

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These fries are too thick and soggy!!!

I’m sorry, sir.

Let me get you a different serving.

George, one of the diners sent these back.

He’d like thinner potato slices.

Fine! I’ll cut him some thinner potatoes!

I’ve got nothing better to do with my time!

Bah! Those potatoes were fine!

Here you go, sir. I hope you like these better.

Blech!!!

Still too thick!

Take them back!

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Hee-hee-hee! I’ll cut the thinnest potatoes ever fried!

He what?!!

Why is he so picky?

And they’ll be so crispy, he’ll never get a fork in them!

Here you are, sir.

Then I’ll coat them with so much salt, no one could eat them!

I LOVE THEM! So delicious!

Hmm?

Hey! What’s he having?

I’d like some!

The dish became a hit – first at the restaurant and then all over the country.

Even though he never patented his invention, George Crum is remembered the world over for inventing potato chips!

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Philo Farnsworth was a little boy fascinated by the way things worked. He could always find ways to make things work better by mechanizing them.

Born in a log cabin in 1906, Philo was only six years old when the telephone and gramophone became well known. He developed a great interest in motors, magnets, and all things electrical.

He began to experiment with motors while still a child. Before he was a teenager, Philo built a motor and installed it on his family’s hand-powered washing machine. But this would not be Philo’s claim to fame.

About a year later, Philo began experiments with electronic devices. Eventually, he created what he called an “image dissector tube.” It was a vacuum tube that could shoot streams of images and display them over a fluorescent screen. When he showed his invention to his brother-in-law, the older man was astounded at what he saw. Philo was actually creating an image, sending it through the air with invisible waves, and displaying it on a screen. He said, “I don’t know what you have here, Philo, but whatever it is, it will create quite a stir.”

The brother-in-law loved the invention. But he wasn’t too crazy about the name “image dissector tube.” He suggested Philo change the name of his invention. After much thought, Philo came up with a new name. He called his invention “television.” That’s right. A 14-year-old boy invented the most widely used invention in the world – TV.

This photo is of a reader’s grandmother and her family’s first TV. Notice how small the TV screen is and how big the cabinet is. She is sitting on her “TV dog.”

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by Georgia K. Hammack

American women have been inventors, just like Thomas Edison and Eli Whitney. Some historians say a woman named Catherine Greene gave Whitney the idea for a workable cotton gin. But women of that time were not allowed to file for patents.

It was a woman who invented the squarebottom paper bag that conveniently stands open to be filled with groceries. As early as 1886, a woman invented the first practical dishwashing machine and, in 1896, a child-carrying strap.

Many women’s inventions were designed to make women’s live easier. In the days when most women stayed at home, they welcomed improvements in feather dusters (1876); a pail, mop, and wringer (1891); and a combined egg beater and potato masher (1917). All were invented by women. And what about better bloomers, a woman’s undergarment (1897)?

Maybe this girl is working on an invention that will help people and make her famous!

But women of earlier generations weren’t concerned only with their homes. They used their ingenuity to invent: • a submarine telescope (1845) • improvements in locomotive chimneys (1879) • the fire escape (1887) • the first windshield wipers (1903) American women inventors have also been interested in fun. In the last decades of the nineteenth century, they invented bicycle skirts and bicycle seats. Now they could easily hop onto those new-fangled, two-wheeled contraptions!

Women have made many important scientific discoveries.

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A rag doll with eyes that open and close and the Barbie doll were invented by women. One woman in the mid-1880s invented a motion-activated fan attached to a rocking chair. In 1928, a woman invented a permanent wave machine to style hair.

The names of many women inventors have been forgotten over the years, but we really should remember Betsey Metcalf. In 1798, she devised a new method of braiding straw. This led to a flourishing bonnet industry that employed thousands of women.

Another name to remember is Gertrude Elion.

In 1988, Elion was a Nobel Prize co-winner in medicine for her work on anti-cancer drugs. In 1991, she was the first woman to be elected to the National Inventors’ Hall of Fame.

Women invented new ways of making clothing, like this poke bonnet.

Inventions by women show that women have important roles both at home and outside the home. For instance, a lightweight canister vacuum for cleaning house as well as the first user-friendly computer software were both invented by women. A woman invented Scotchgard™, which keeps stains and dirt from clinging to sofa and chair fabrics. Kevlar is a strong material used in space vehicles and to make bullet-proof vests. It was invented by a woman.

Female inventors have been all ages. In 1996, a 70-year-old woman amazed scientists and firefighters with a new fireproof building material.

She called it GeoBond. In 1974, a 12-year-old girl received a US patent for a device she’d invented two years before. It’s called Glo-Sheet. Doctors, nurses, and police officers use it for writing in the dark.

Girls were frequent winners in annual national invention contests for kids. One winning idea was elastic shoelaces that don’t have to be tied.

Another was a spoon-shaped cracker that a pet can eat after the cracker has been used to put food in a pet’s dish. No spoon to wash!

There’s no telling what women and girls will invent next!

A woman inventor helped locomotives blow their steam straight up, instead of inside the train!

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Did you know that cooking is really science? Do this kitchen chemistry cooking experiment with your grandmother or any adult family member. You’ll have fun using science to make something delicious to eat!

TRY THIS FIRST: Carbon dioxide is an invisible gas that you can easily make. Put a spoonful of vinegar in a glass. Add a spoonful of baking soda. WHOOSH! Lots of tiny bubbles form. Each tiny bubble is filled with carbon dioxide. When the bubbles burst, the carbon dioxide goes into the air, and you can’t see it. You’ve just performed a science experiment!

Now head to the kitchen and use science to make Carbon Dioxide Candy.

What You Need:

• 1 cup sugar • 1 cup dark corn syrup • 1 tablespoon vinegar • 1 tablespoon baking soda • a candy thermometer

What You Do: 1. Stir the sugar, corn syrup, and vinegar together in a heavy pan.

2. While stirring, cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.

3. Stop stirring. Have an adult clip the candy thermometer to the side of the pan. The thermometer bulb should not touch the bottom of the pan.

4. Continue cooking WITHOUT STIRRING, until the candy thermometer reads 300° (brittle stage).

5. Remove from heat. Quickly stir in the baking soda and mix well.

6. Pour, don’t spread, into a two-inch-deep pan.

7. Cool, break into pieces, and EAT!

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The Science Secret

Vinegar and baking soda are chemicals.

Mixing together different chemicals to produce even more chemicals is called “chemistry.” Cooking is also doing chemistry. You mix together ingredients to make different things. We don’t call cooking ingredients chemicals, but they are!

by Barbara Vecqueray illustrated by Ba Rea

I’m mad at the person Who invented the line, ‘Cause now we overuse it In school all the time.

We walk in a line to move down the halls, Line up for our milk, and put back the balls.

We stand in a line to use the white sink, We stand in a line for a long cool-down drink.

I just don’t get it, as much as I whine.

What’s the big deal about being in line?

Why can’t we line up In another shape?

Like a squiggle, Or a square, To keep us shipshape?

I’m mad at the person Who invented the line ‘Cause now we overuse it In school all the time.

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by Brooke Dauenhauer You are on a family vacation looking at mighty Yosemite Falls. The sky is brilliant blue.

Water gushes down the rocky cliffs. Your dad takes out his cell phone. He pushes a few buttons. A moment later, your aunt, who is three states away, sees a new message on her cell phone. It’s a photo of the waterfall! You pull out your digital camera and snap a few shots. Later, you plug the camera into your dad’s laptop and email the photos to friends back home. Taking and sharing photos 175 years ago was not so easy.

Beginning in 1851, huge improvements were being made over early forms of photography. Some “armchair travelers” wanted to see photos of exotic lands. Other people were interested in seeing the American West or photos from battlefields. A number of adventurous photographers traveled the world to produce such photos. People were fascinated to see the pyramids and sphinxes of Egypt. Photographers traveled there to capture these images.

Instead of today’s digital cameras or cell phones, a traveling photographer in the middle to late 1800s needed a lot of equipment to make the glass negatives that would create photos. Basins; bottles or crates of chemicals; boxes of glass plates, often in different sizes; plate holders; water tanks; and a darkroom had to be transported to the photography site. One photographer taking photos in Algeria carried more than 2400 pounds to make his negatives! Depending upon where the photographer traveled, teams of men, wagons, and pack animals (such as camels, horses, and mules), carried the burden.

Oregon’s Crater Lake, 1910

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Today

Egypt’s Sphinx and Great Pyramid, 1941

Today California’s Yosemite Falls, 1912

Aside from the massive amount of cargo, early travel photographers faced other challenges.

Dust and sand stuck to the glass plates. Heat and wind caused trouble. Chemicals spilled or became useless. Pure water was in short supply. There was rarely anywhere to repair or replace equipment. Photographers might have to cross rivers and climb up and back down mountains. There were many opportunities for equipment to be destroyed. Some photographers faced more serious obstacles. During the Civil War, photographer Mathew Brady’s wagon was hit by a cannonball.

Francis Frith was shipwrecked twice and captured by bandits!

Today we have cell phones with top-of-the-line cameras built right in and small digital cameras.

So the next time you’re ready to travel, no need to worry about a horse falling on your equipment.

Just pop a cell phone or camera in your backpack and go!

Today

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Fun with Inventions Logic Puzzle

by Julie Truesdell

Each of the four students in this puzzle is writing a report on a different invention. What invention is each writing about, and when was it invented?

In the grid, put an “x” in the boxes you know doesn’t go with the student. Put an “o” in the boxes that do go with the student.

Hints: 1. Devon is writing a report about crayons, but they were not invented in 1824.

2. London is writing about an invention from 1767, but it isn’t the balloon.

3. The flashlight was invented in 1898, but Harley is not writing about it.

Devon Harley London Parker

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1903

1898

1824

YEAR INVENTED 1767

JIGSAW PUZZLES

FLASHLIGHT

CRAYONS

BALLOONS

INVENTION

by Lynn Katulka illustrations by Rebecca Spohn Naming a wonderful new product is a very important part of inventing. As an invention becomes popular, sometimes the original name just doesn’t seem to fit, and it changes.

See if you can match the original name of the inventions below with what we call them today at the bottom.

1. ____ ELECTRIC FLOWERPOT 2. ____ WATER CLOSET 3. ____ STYLUS 4. ____ SLIDE FASTENER 5. ____ ICE BOX 6. ____ FLYIN’ SAUCER 7. ____ BLIBBER-BLUBBER 8. ____ FROZEN ICE ON A STICK 9. ____ HOISTS 10. ____ MOTION PICTURE MACHINE 11. ____ PENNY LICKS 12. ____ BABY CARRIAGE 13. ____ BONE SHAKERS 14. ____ CARPET SWEEPER 15. ____ NICKEL-IN-THE-SLOT MACHINE A. TOILET B. BUBBLE GUM C. JUKEBOX D. VACUUM E. ELEVATOR

F. ZIPPER G. REFRIGERATOR H. ICE CREAM IN A CUP I. POPSICLE

J. FRISBEE K. MOVIE CAMERA L. BICYCLE M. STROLLER N. FLASHLIGHT O. PENCIL

Creative Crossword

by S. Allyn Kelley illustrations by Rebecca Spohn

Ed i s on S udok u

by Evelyn B. Christensen

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Choose from the following words: SANDWICH, ROLLER SKATES, FRANCE, MARBLES, ICE CREAM, EYEGLASSES, PIGGY BANK, GUM, LIGHTNING ROD, WHEELBARROW, ELECTRICITY

ACROSS

1. Thomas Edison invented a way to light up a glass bulb using this.

2. Benjamin Franklin invented this. It reduced the number of house fires and saved many lives.

3. There was a short king in this country in the sixteenth century. A cobbler made him high-heeled shoes so that he was taller than his subjects.

4. This game involving small round balls was invented in Egypt more than 5000 years ago.

5. While drinking from a glass, Silvano Armato realized that his vision improved. His invention is still used to help people see better.

6. In 1762, the Earl of Sandwich ordered that his meal be brought to him between two pieces of bread. This way, he could continue playing a game and eat with just one hand. This invention was named after him.

DOWN

1. Thousands of years ago, the Chinese invented this to carry goods from one place to another.

2. The Chinese also invented this yummy cold treat.

3. The first stick of this was sold for just one penny in 1871.

Thomas A. Edison was one of America’s most creative inventors.

Fill in the squares so that each row, column, and 2x3 rectangle has the letters E-D-I-S-O-N.

Word Find

by Francis Wheeler

WHAT DO YOU CALL A FOURHUNDREDPOUND MAN ON WATER SKIES?

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____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ Find the words above, and circle them in the puzzle. Look up, down, forward, backward, and diagonally. The remaining letters spell out the answer to the question.

4. In the Middle Ages, pygg was an orange-colored clay used to make pots and other objects. Some people stored loose change in these pots.

Somewhere in England, a clever potter decided to mold a pot into the shape of a pig, and this bank was invented.

5. In Belgium in 1759, Joseph Merlin decided to add wheels to the bottom of his shoes to attend a party. His invention was a real hit!

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What’s Candy Floss?

by Marcy L. Collier

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n France, it’s called papa’s beard. In Germany, it’s known as sugar wool. People in Great Britain know it as candy floss. What is it?

Here’s a hint. You’ll find this sweet treat at amusement parks, fairs, or carnivals.

If you’ve guessed cotton candy, you’re right!

In 1897, two Nashville, Tennessee, candy makers invented an electric machine to create spun sugar. Their names were William Morrison and John C. Wharton.

The machine was a heating device with a cylinder that ran down the center of a large spinning bowl.

Sugar was added to a quarter-sized hole in the base of the machine. The sugar melted to a liquid. As the big bowl spun around, the liquid sugar was forced up through tiny slits in the cylinder. Once it hit air, the melted sugar cooled and turned into sugar threads! The two inventors called the spun sugar “fairy floss.” The name cotton candy didn’t become popular until 1920.

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This new candy was introduced at the 1904 Louisiana World’s Fair. Vendors sold a whopping 68,655 servings. Nearly 50 years later, the Gold Medal company of Cincinnati, Ohio, improved the cotton candy machine. Now there are even small machines that let you make this sweet treat at home. The fluffy stuff even has its own holiday! December 7 is known as National Cotton Candy Day. Would you believe cotton candy is made from only one to two tablespoons of sugar?

Cotton candy has less sugar and fewer calories than a can of soda. Most vendors add flavor and color for variety.

So now when you eat cotton candy, papa’s beard, or sugar wool, you’ll know how it came about. You’ll also know why you can eat so much of it and still have room for a funnel cake.

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by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes • illustrations by Neal Levin

A day at the circus launched a boy’s dreams To sail through the air, but not as it seems.

His name was George Nissen, eleven years young, When he watched the performers above as they swung.

Leaping and flipping and spinning, and yet What thrilled the boy most was the bounce of the net.

The net was for safety but seemed like such fun, George figured that he and his friends should have one.

Later, in high school, at last he was able To work on constructing his own “bouncing table.”

For years he kept at it until it was right – Portable, safe, and superior flight.

With hope and persistence his dreams set aloft When sales of his trampoline finally took off.

George Nissen, the dreamer, inventor, and boy, Bounced into success with a high-flying toy.

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by Lynn Katulka illustrations by Andrew Wales

Inventor George de Mestral carefully stepped over branches and leaves, trying not to make a sound. He was trying to capture a big fat damsel fly for his collection.

SWISH went the net over the leaf the damsel fly was resting on. SPLASH went George’s foot into the brook, and . . . nothing. Once again, the damsel fly got away.

George didn’t catch any damsel flies, but his trousers had much better luck catching hundreds of sticky, prickly burrs. George tried, but the burrs wouldn’t let go of his trousers. When he got home, George decided to look at the stubborn burrs under his microscope to see what made them stick.

He found that each burr was covered with hooks that looked like a monster’s mouthful of spiked fangs.

These hooks grabbed onto anything with a loop, such as clothing fiber, animal fur, or even human hair. This gave George the idea of making two different kinds of fabrics.

One fabric would have hundreds of tiny grabbing hooks.

The other fabric would have hundreds of tiny catching loops. Press these two fabrics together, and you have instant sticky business.

George tried for several years to master the sticky fabric. Sometimes the loops were too big for the hooks.

Sometimes the hooks were too big for the loops. He kept trying, and success finally came. Soon he was weaving together 300 tiny hooks and loops in one single inch of fabric. George de Mestral had invented VELCRO®!

VELCRO is seen almost everywhere today. Look around. Do your sneakers have it? How about your backpack? The brace on your sprained ankle probably has VELCRO straps. It’s used in places you wouldn’t expect, like by the military and even by NASA!

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The ball in this toy has hundreds of tiny loops.

The catcher has hundreds of tiny hooks.

by Kirsten Birkhard

Who invented pizza? It wasn’t Papa John or Little Caesar. It wasn’t made in a Hut, either.

People have been eating flatbread baked with toppings for thousands of years.

In eighteenth-century Naples, Italy, pizza was peasant food. Peasants experimented by topping the bread with different ingredients, such as herbs, olive oil, and cheese before baking it. When they took their invention from the brick oven, the golden-brown masterpiece bubbled with flavor. The peasants decided their scrumptious creation needed a name. They came up with the word picea, a Latin word their ancestors called bread when it turned black from the oven.

The popularity of pizza spread throughout Naples. It was cheap, easy to make, and most of all, delicious. It was sold all around Naples by “pizza deliverers” (typically young boys) who carried it in mini tin stoves on their heads and called out to customers. After a while, pizza sellers became tired of carrying their stoves. They began opening restaurants called pizzerias.

One afternoon, King Umberto I and his wife, Queen Margherita, came though Naples for a town inspection. The queen noticed people eating pizza and became curious. She summoned her guards to bring her a piece and was instantly hooked.

Raffaele Esposito was considered the best pizza maker in Naples.

Queen Margherita got word. “I am requesting that Raffaele bake me a selection of his famous pizza. I simply must have it!”

In honor of the queen, Raffaele created a special pizza with tomato, mozzarella cheese, and basil. With its red, white, and green colors, the pizza looked just like the Italian flag. The queen loved it! Raffaele’s pizza became her personal favorite. Soon people everywhere heard the news, and the pizza we know today as “pizza Margherita” became a hit.

To this day, Raffaele’s pizzeria, called Pizzeria Brandi, proudly displays a royal thank-you note dated June 1889.

The rest is pizza history!

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by Diane Winebar

If you’ve ever wondered who invented the skateboard, the answer is . . . lots of people! Skateboards did not always look the way they do now. As with most inventions, different people used their imaginations to make changes here and there and come up with something even better.

Are you surprised to learn that kids built the earliest things that resembled skateboards? You shouldn’t be. Young people are always inventing something new out of something old.

The first type of skateboard probably started out as a homemade scooter over 100 years ago. Kids would take a wooden board, attach four roller skate wheels to the bottom, and nail a wooden crate to the front of the board for steering. Before long, kids were ripping off the crates and balancing themselves on their handmade skateboards. They had invented something new!

Other creative kids in the 1920s made skateboards using something invented for cross-country skiers. It was a metal device with three wheels that skiers would strap to their feet. This allowed them to practice on roads. They used poles to push themselves along. Soon, kids were 10- yea r-ol d skat eboa rder thinking, “Hmmm. . .” They realized that perform s a tric k they could give themselves thrilling rides by standing on only one of those devices.

No poles needed!

Some say that true skateboarding began in Hawaii and California in the early 1950s. When ocean waves weren’t good for surfing, young people nailed roller skate wheels to short surfboards.

Instead of riding wild waves, they did what people called “sidewalk surfing.”

Kids have been attaching wheels to boards for generations. But the first person to call his design a “skateboard” started having fun with wheels and wood in the 1940s. His name was Bill Richards, and he was 12 years old. No surprise!

Now let’s get skateboarding!

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Basic Tricks • A kickturn is what you do when you have to turn quickly. Just lift your front wheels off the ground and pivot to change the board’s direction.

• A manual is simply riding along and balancing on your back wheels without having the back of your board touch the ground.

Te e n p r o M it c h ie

Brusco at a ge 15

• The Ollie probably is skateboarding’s most famous trick. When you Ollie, you slam your back foot down onto the tail of your skateboard – hard – while jumping. This makes the skateboard pop up into the air. The Ollie was named after an actual person.

Alan “Ollie” Gelfand, an American skateboarder, invented this trick in 1978. Most tricks are based off it.

Skateboarding Slang Like many sports, skateboarding has its own language! Here are some examples: • “Carving” means to lean into turns.

• Skaters are “stoked” when they are excited about something.

• If a trick is “sketchy,” that means it could have been done better.

• A skater “bails,” or jumps off, right before falling.

• If a skater puts his left foot in front while skating, he has a “regular” stance. If he uses his right foot in front, he rides “goofy.”

The technique behind the O llie

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From her perch on the fence, Mrs. Whiskers watched Cowboy Clark and Larry run into the house, then back out. In / Out. In / Out. “Enjoying yourself, boys?” She asked.

Larry bounded over, panting. “Isn’t it neat? Cowboy Clark’s two-legger installed it last night. It’s a doggie door. Now he can come and go whenever he wants.”

Mrs. Whiskers yawned. “Seems more like an open invitation for raccoons to waltz in.”

“Come on, Larry,” Cowboy Clark barked, purposefully ignoring Mrs. Whiskers.

“Hey, Cowboy Clark, Mrs. Whiskers has a point. What if raccoons use the doggie door and get inside the house?”

“I’d run them back out.” Cowboy Clark puffed up his chest.

Mrs. Whiskers coughed. Indeed, it was a fake cough. She looked at Larry. “New collar?”

“Yes! It has a reflector and some gizmo that tracks me if I’m lost or separated from my two-leggers.”

“How spectacularly inventive!”

Cowboy Clark barked, “It’s a nice collar and all, but a collar is a collar. Now take my doggie door. That’s a cool invention.”

“Is it?” Mrs. Whiskers asked. “You consider a hole in a door inventive?” She jumped off the fence. “If you think about it, it’s a little sad.”

“Sad?” Larry and Cowboy Clark both said at the same time, cocking their heads to the side.

“Look at it this way. Larry’s two-legger gifted him with a new collar that ensures they can find him any time.”

Cowboy Clark sniffed, “Yeah, and my two-leggers trust me to go in and out on my own. What’s your point?”

“True. Or you could see it as they can’t be bothered to even get off the couch to open the door for you.”

“Oh, that’s not true, Mrs. Whiskers,” Larry said as Cowboy Clark howled and chased her out of his yard.

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If you were a magician, you would have a magic wand and make amazing things happen. Be a science magician and make a magic wand that will make something happen that will surprise even you.

What You Need:

• four plastic drinking straws • the hair on your head

What To Do:

1. Set two of the straws down on a table, side-by-side, about six inches apart. This is your track.

2. Take the other two straws and hold them by one end.

Rub the straws back and forth through your hair for about 30 seconds. Be sure to rotate them as you rub so all sides of both straws rub against your hair.

3. Place one of the straws you rubbed on your hair on the middle of the two straws on the table.

The Science Secret

4. The straw that is still in your hand is your “magic wand.” Hold it beside the straw lying on the track.

Now move your magic wand toward that straw. The straw on the other two straws will SUDDENLY and MYSTERIOUSLY start to MOVE and roll down the track!

This is an experiment with STATIC ELECTRICITY. When you rub the straws in your hair, you are covering them with static electricity. This is made when two things rub together.

The straw you set on the track is covered with invisible static electricity. Your magic wand straw is covered with it too. The static electricity on both straws makes them push apart. It’s not really magic – it’s science!

5. QUICKLY move your magic wand to the OTHER side of the rolling straw. The straw will stop and roll the other way! Move your magic wand from one side of the rolling straw to the other. You will quickly catch onto how to make your magic wand control the rolling straw.

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by Andy Wales Alva only went to school a few months. He tried to pay attention, but his mind traveled to distant places.

He often drifted into daydreams that resembled trances.

Madam, your child is inattentive and unruly!

He tried to sit still, but his body was in perpetual motion. On one occasion, he let down a baited fishhook and hauled up a flapping, squawking chicken!

Success! My experiment worked!

A child learns by sitting still and listening!

Your child won’t stop asking questions!

And such flights of fancy!

Why, the other day he suggested that kerosene lamps might one day be replaced with electric!

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Just because it’s never been done doesn’t mean it never will.

Do you see what I mean?!!

Such insolence!

I can see one thing -- I’ll be teaching him at home from now on!

You need to face the facts, madam...

Your child is not meant for school!

The boy’s mother taught him the basics at home, and he also taught himself through reading.

He acquired chemicals and taught himself through experiments...

I’m not going to tell you the answer -- you need to learn to work through problems yourself!

... experiments that sometimes had disastrous results!

This began the career of Thomas Alva Edison.

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In 1868, Edison changed his career from telegraph operator to inventor. His first patent was for an electric vote counter... a device to be used by elected bodies to speed the voting process and ensure accuracy.

Negative results are just as important!

The invention was a commercial failure.

He resolved that in the future he would invent things that he was certain the public would want.

Accuracy in voting! Ha! Ha! Ha!

No, we don’t need a machine for that!

His next inventions were hits! The phonograph, microphone, etc. Next, he set his sights on the perfection of the electric bulb.

It took him two years of failed attempts, new discoveries and prototypes before he would find success. He tried six thousand different fibers before discovering a carbon filament that worked.

Of his failed attempts at the light bulb, he said, “They taught me something I didn’t know -- what direction to move in.”

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Thomas Edison at age 14

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your drawings, poems, and jokes & riddles, and photos for publication! If you write a letter to Ziggy, the Fun For Kidz dog, he will write back to you!

EMAIL TO: kidzcorner@funforkidz.com OR MAIL TO: Kidz Corner, PO Box 227 Bluffton, OH 45817-0227

by Avyaan Rangbulla, age 7

Time Machine by Andrew Choi, age 13 Andrew attends middle school in Korea. He like math and science, and he sometimes draws what he imagines.

Grassland A grassland has a lot of grass, And it seems giraffe and lion are having a class.

And today is our test, and we better pass.

And if we don’t pass, The giraffe will eat all of the grass.

And then we won’t get to go to class!!

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Write to Ziggy, the Fun For Kidz dog. If you write to Ziggy, he will write back to you! Send letters to:

Dear Ziggy, Hi! I like your magazine because it is fun to read and to do the puzzles. I like nature, baseball, and building with Legos.

I am in Boy Scouts and I want to go camping in the summer.

Your friend, Tyler Merkel Hudson, FL

Hi Ziggy!

I got an aquarium for my birthday! I am so excited because I love to watch my fish swim around. I turned 8 in December. My friends came over and we had cake and lots of good food. Then we played games. It was fun.

From, Cecily Rainey Toronto, ON, Canada

Fun For Kidz, Attn. Ziggy PO Box 227, Bluffton, OH 45817-0227

Dear Ziggy, We have a collection of Fun For Kidz. All the issues are my favorites. I like the ones that talk about long ago and science. My brother Curt really likes the animal ones. We do all the science experiments.

Thank you for writing such a good magazine for kids!

Sincerely, Shyla (9) and Curtis (11) Sydney, OH

Dear Ziggy, I love reading and playing with my friends.

My family has two birds named Pete and Pat, a dog named Sparky, and two hamsters. They are Goldie and Ruffles. I help take care of them all. I am in fifth grade, and I like school. I can’t wait to get a letter from you!

Have fun!

Cammie Mahajan Brooklyn, NY

29

Creative Crossword on page 15 5 R 5

Word Find on page 15

H

W

H

A

T

S

S

1

O

W

L

U

U

D

B

M

K

E

H

L

C

R

N

N

G

I

U

A

E

U

D

A

S

O

L

F

O

U

R

M

Y

B

C

U

K

L

D

P

N

O

E

O

3 F R A N C E

E

A

A

W

A

T

E

R

D

R

C

M 4 P

R

I

E

S ____ U ____ B M ____ ____ E____ R____G____E____D____

1

E

L E C T R

E 2

L

I

4 M A R B

2 G H T N I

L E S

O W

What’s It Called on page 14

C

I

T Y

E R

3 N G R O D

T

5 E Y E G L A

G

M

Y

S

A S S E S

B

1-N, 2-A, 3-O, 4-F, 5-G, 6-J, 7-B, 8-I, 9-E, 10-K, 11-H, 12-M, 13-L, 14-D, 15-C Edison Sudoku on page 15

I

A 6 S A N D W

I

K

Fun with Inventions Logic Puzzle on page 14

I

D

STUDENT

YEAR INVENTION INVENTED

S

O

N

Devon

crayons

1903

N

D

E

S

Harley

balloons

1824

E

S

I

N

O

N

O

D

E

S

I

London Parker

jigsaw puzzles flashlight

1767 1898

I

S

O

N

D

E

S

N

E

O

E

D

I

O

I

D

C H

Photo Credits: Black & white sphinx and pyramid – by Tom Beazley 1941, published by aussiejeff [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons 13 (top-left); Toy - ©[Marlene Johansen/123RF.com] 18 (bottom); Mitchie Brusco – by Alex Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brasil [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons 22 (top); Ollie Trick – by Use as you like [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons 22 (bottom).

30

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V i s i t U s O n l i n e ! F a c e b o o k . c o m / F u n F o r K i d z • w w w. F u n F o r K i d z . c o m Vol 22 No 2 • MAR/APR 2023 Publisher: Thomas M. Edwards Editor: Marilyn Edwards Associate Editor: Diane Winebar Graphic Design: Gaurakisora Tucker Marketing Director: Jonathan Edwards Circulation Manager: Mark Studer Science Editor: Larry White Science Illustrator: Alan Wassilak Cowboy Clark & Larry Editor: Lisa Rehfuss Cover Artist: Chris Sabatino

FUN FOR KIDZ (ISSN 1536-898X) is published bi-monthly Subscriptions: All subscription inquiries and changes of by the Bluffton News Publishing and Printing Company, address should be addressed to FUN FOR KIDZ at P.O. Box 227, P.O. Box 227, 190 Sunset Dr., Bluffton, OH 45817. Bluffton, OH 45817. Telephone: 419-358-4610.

Telephone: 419-358-4610. POSTMASTER: Send address Subscription rates are six issues (1 year) $32.95; twelve issues changes to Fun For Kidz, P.O. Box 227, Bluffton, OH (2 years) $55.90; eighteen issues (3 years) $68.85. Canadian 45817-0227. Periodical postage is paid at Bluffton, OH postage - first class - $18 per year, all other foreign countries first and Preston, ID. class airmail - $37.50 per year.

FUN FOR KIDZ, INC. accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any Replacement Issues: We will replace one damaged or lost-ininjuries arising out of the use or misuse of ideas, materials, and the-mail issue per year. Your request must be made within 45 activities featured in its publications or products. days of the specific issue’s date: January 1, March 1, May 1, July Copyright © 2023 by the Bluffton News Publishing and Printing 1, September 1, or November 1.

Co. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. FUN Attention Readers: Send in your letters, short stories, FOR KIDZ™, and the FUN FOR KIDZ logo™, are trademarks of FUN poems, jokes & riddles, and drawings for publication. Send to: Kids Corner, PO Box 227, Bluffton, OH 45817.

FOR KIDZ, The Bluffton News Publishing and Printing Co.

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BEAKS

WINGS /funforkidz funforkidz.com

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Watch Out for That Bird!

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The Duck’s Tongue

The Great Impersonator

Macaws Have It All

Ducks Can Quack You Up

Summer’s Hummers

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