Innholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2020 i Spider Magazine Stories, Games, Activites and Puzzles for Children and Kids

“CAN’T YOU GUYS quit bragging for even two minutes?!” Dandelion complained to her brother Doodlebug and their cousin Punky. The three of them, along with their other cousin Rudyard and their good buddy Bog, were sitting in Bog’s parents’ pickup truck at the Starlite Drive-In Theater eagerly awaiting a very special movie. “But Dandelion, Punky and I are gonna be celebrities!” Doodlebug crowed. “You think people will want our autographs, Punky?” “NO!” Dandelion shouted, annoyed. She grabbed a bag of popcorn they’d brought and stuffed a handful in her mouth. Bog laughed and Rudyard giggled. “Of course they will, bozo-boy! Everyone’s gonna wish they WERE us!” Punky snorted. “We trained the flamingos—for the best scene in the whole movie!” “Ugh,” Dandelion muttered through her popcorn mouth. She hoped the movie…

MY BIRTHDAY WAS going to be extra special for two reasons. For one thing, like Commander Park said, “Nobody’s ever turned nine in space before, David.” Mom, my sister Rebekah, and I were moving to Mars for a year. We’d spent almost two weeks in the spaceship so far. It would take another thirty days before we got to the Martian colony. I was trying to keep the other reason secret. But the day before my  birthday, Rebekah caught me with my cheeks puffed way out. “What are you doing? Practicing to blow out all the candles this year?” She laughed. “This time I will,” I said. “Everybody on the ship will be watching, so—” “Oh, David,” my sister interrupted. “Your cake can’t have candles.” “Why not?” “Everyone knows fire…

ONA TUESDAY night in April 2019, a bright fireball streaked across the sky over Aguas Zarcas, Costa Rica. A meteor! As it entered Earth’s atmosphere, the meteor broke into hundreds of small pieces that rained down on the small town. A piece fell through someone’s roof and smashed their table. Another fell through a doghouse and woke up a sleeping dog named Rocky. (Don’t worry. Rocky didn’t get hurt!) What had fallen to earth were big, black chunks of an unusual space rock. And they smelled . . . like Brussels sprouts? Space Rocks Space is full of rocks, from giant asteroids to microscopic specks of dust. There are also billions of comets, balls of dirty ice and snow. Pieces of asteroids and comets sometimes break off and form meteoroids,…

What You’ll Need: ½ cup butter 1½ cups pretzels Bundt or other large cake pan 10 cups popped popcorn 16 ounces mini marshmallows spatula 1½ cups chocolate candies, nuts, and/or dried cranberries 2 large microwaveable bowls What to Do: 1. Butter the cake pan. Pour popcorn, pretzels, candies, nuts, and/or cranberries into a bowl and mix. 2. Put butter and marshmallows in the other bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, then stir. Repeat until fully melted and smooth. 3. Pour melted marshmallow mixture over popcorn mixture. Stir until everything is coated in marshmallow. The “batter” will be sticky! 4. Pour “batter” into cake pan. Let set at least one hour. Flip pan upside down to remove cake. Ask an adult to help slice with a sharp knife and serve.…

Grate a slice of Mars rock and chunky moon cheese. Add juice of one fresh meteor. Remember: gently squeeze. Whisk in an ocean—Earth has plenty to spare. A puff of atmosphere will make it lighter than air. A tiny ring from Saturn is all you really need. Catch and chop a comet zooming in at super speed. Pour in a solar flare—two, if you are braver. Crumble in some asteroids, bring out the cosmic flavor. Sprinkle in a pinch of the brightest starlight glow. Simmer it in Jupiter’s biggest volcano. Pop it in a crater and tuck in with a lunar spoon. Share your creation with the little girl on the moon.…

I came from the future. I won’t explain how. I already told you five minutes from now. I’m trapped in a time loop, or so it would seem. If I see 8:15 one more time I might scream. If I see it again, I might scream. I might scream. If I see it again, I might scream. Oh, the monotony of this routine! Please, help me fix my time-travel machine. We’ve failed the first fifteen time loops or so. But I know we can stop it this time, I just know. I know we can stop it, I know. I know. I know we can stop it, I know. My quantum converter is right through this door. Be careful, you broke it on loop number four. Under the dashboard, go…

What You’ll Need: scissors unsharpened pencil tape plastic drinking straws What to Do: 1. Cut out blue rocket body. Wrap lengthwise around the pencil and tape into a tube. Remove pencil. 2. Cut out blue rocket tails. Line up the center rectangle of tail 1 with the stripe on the rocket body.Tape it on. Line up tail 2 and tape it to the opposite side of the rocket body (figure 1). 3. Gently bend the triangular fins of each rocket tail in along the dotted lines (figure 2). 4. Pinch the very top of the rocket flat, then tape the end closed. Trim off extra tape. Repeat to make red rocket. 5. Prepare for takeoff! Place the Mars target on the ground and stand a few feet away. Place a…