From the category archives:

Age

Birds Walk on Their Toes

April 23, 2012 General science

In fact so do a lot of other animals, this walking on ‘feet’ business isn’t as simple as it seems. If you have a look at this photo something looks distinctly wrong about that bend in the middle. (Photo by Frank Vincentz) And this one, that looks right for a finch, but isn’t it wrong [...]

Greening My Home

April 20, 2012 Babies

On Tuesday I posted about ways to save energy at home with practical tips. Today I thought I’d look at our home and make some public commitments of things I can realistically change. The house is fairly well designed – it was a pre-airconditioning house for the desert so is up on stilts with all bedrooms [...]

Weather Fish

April 19, 2012 Activities

Last week during the school holidays it suddenly turned to winter, complete with thick jumpers and woolly socks. One of the games we played a lot of that both girls enjoyed was Go Fish. In case anyone doesn’t know this one, you have cards in your hand and have to try to make pairs by [...]

Wordless Wednesday – A Billion Tiny Moons

April 18, 2012 Earth and Beyond

Sometimes we all feel the need for pretty pictures, which is generally when I head over to NASA. The colours and images and thought of peering into the past are fascinating and soothing. And last night I saw something I’d never even heard of before. I don’t know many details of astronomy, but at least [...]

Things to do Right Now to Save Money and Energy in Your Home

April 17, 2012 Babies

I have an addictive new app from Science Alert, which brings the latest science research in Australasia right to my phone. I’m sure you can guess why I like it. The other day it had this study from Wendy Miller at Queensland University of Technology showing that green homes use 80% less energy. Living in the [...]

Toy Answers

April 15, 2012 Babies

What do you know about the things your little one is playing with? Close your eyes and click for the questions. 1. In spite of all the lovely pastel things in shops and our desire to smother our delicate little newborns in pale colours, they can’t really see them properly. They see contrast [...]

Baked Icecream Revisited

April 12, 2012 Activities

A while ago I tried to make Baked Icecream with fairly dismal results, but my lovely readers came to my rescue and concluded the recipe was wrong. So using suggestions from Jamie, Veronica, Lisa, Alicia and Trinity and based on Ann’s never-fail recipe, we tried again. First I turned the oven on to 230C so it [...]

Wordless Wednesday – Australia

April 11, 2012 Life and Living

Quiz – The Toy Edition

April 10, 2012 Babies

Getting back to the roots of this blog, looking at the things little ones love. What is the best sort of mobile for newborns? How do spinning tops work? Ancient toys have been found in India and Rome, what types of toys are they? Have you ever successfully got one of those cars on race [...]

Gondwana

April 9, 2012 Earth and Beyond

Quick quiz – do you think Australia’s jungles are more like the jungles of Indonesia (directly north) or the jungles of India (several islands away)? Seeing as there’s no point in asking a question with an obvious answer, you probably got it right by saying India, even if you have no idea why or how. The [...]