4Kids.org - Week of December 27, 2009

Week of December 27, 2009

Visit the Featured Web sites to find the answers.

Which sport is featured in Erich's Mind puzzle category?

Baseball
Basketball
Tennis

Which two sailors need your help with “full stops”?

Bob and Will
Bo and Wit
Biff and Wilf

When was the new mail method, V-Mail, launched?

October 8, 1941
June 15, 1942
January 1, 1943

It'll Blow Your Mind

All the puzzle lovers in the world must check out Erich's Puzzle Palace, www2.stetson.
edu/~efriedma/puzzle.html. No matter what skills you are trying to sharpen, whether it’s number games or word plays, this site has something to solve in every category imaginable. If you are new to puzzles but feel their pull, click on Easy to get started. Those looking for a mega challenge should visit Hard for chess games and confounding mazes. Get ready to ponder for a while. Work the puzzles yourself before viewing its Solution.

Nominate a cool Web site at:
4Kids.org/nominations

Magic Adventures

space elf Learn while immersed in fantasy at the BBC's The Magic Key: Adventures, www.bbc.co.uk/
schools/magickey/adventures. Capital letters can certainly be confusing when you are trying to figure out when to use them and when to refrain. Join Lug and the Giant Storks for tips and tricks that will straighten you out in no time! Got questions about questions? Well, only the brave should venture into Dragon Land, where all the answers to your inquisitive queries await. Just choose the areas where you need improvement or extra practice to begin!

Encouragement by Mail

During WWII, soldiers were given special treatment when it came to receiving letters from loved ones. Visit the Smithsonian's You'll Write, He'll Fight: Victory Mail, www.postalmuseum.si.edu/
VictoryMail, to learn all the tricks of the mail trade. One thing is for sure: War can be depressing and lonely. But with great ideas, such as using lightweight stationery to decrease weight and cargo size, letters got to their recipients much faster. This helped to boost morale among the men and women away from their families. Love is always a great motivator.

What are you doing for
New Year's this year?

Speak Out Here!

Dear Amy: Do any spiders fly? — Morgan, Des Moines, Iowa

Dear Morgan: Spiders are pretty cool creatures, but none of them can actually fly. In Australia, you can find a “flying spider,” which is actually a type of jumping spider. They are also known as peacock spiders because the males have a colorful flap on their abdomen that is used to attract mates. To find out more, visit http://australianmuseum.net.au/Jumping-spiders.

Other spiders can glide on the wind using threads produced by their spinnerets. This is called ballooning. Young ballooning spiders climb as high as they can and wait for the wind to catch their threads. When the wind is strong enough, the spiders jump and let the wind carry them. Scientists are not sure why some spiders balloon, but there are many possible explanations. One idea is that the spiders spread out from each other so that they won't have to compete for food. Read more about ballooning spiders at http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/1998/10/60.htm.

Want to learn more about spiders? Spin your Web to http://animal.discovery
.com/invertebrates/spider and www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/
spidermyth.

—Amy

Ask Amy a Question