Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2022 i Spider Magazine Stories, Games, Activites and Puzzles for Children and Kids

“LISTEN UP, DOG-FOLK!” the casting director shouted to the eager crowd of canine owners. “I’m Sirius, and today we’re casting for the brightest dog star in the universe!” A tingle of excitement rippled across Doodlebug Pinkley’s skull. Casting directors were people who auditioned actors for jobs. In this case, they were looking for a dog, not a person. That dog would star in commercials for Rocket Dog Hash, a dog food. And Doodlebug was sure his beloved Don’t would be that star. Doodlebug studied the dozens of other dogs. There were tall, small, and bony ones. There were tufty dogs and scruffy ones, long dogs and lazy dogs, and one barrel-bellied bulldog. But Don’t stood out in the pack, mostly because Doodlebug’s sister Dandelion had helped get Don’t ready.…

FROM THE BALCONY of our tenth-floor apartment, I comb the sky with eager eyes hoping to see a shooting star. “Stars are afraid of city lights, but a little song is always good for something.” Nana wraps her arms around me and hums a gentle tune. “Star light, star bright,” I say, as a few pinpricks of light twinkle through the glow of the city night sky. These ordinary stars are for little wishes—everyday wishes—like getting extra frosting on your cupcake or finding a quarter on the sidewalk. But shooting stars are different. “Shooting stars are lucky,” Nana says. So I keep a special wish ready—ready for a shooting star to catch my wish in its tail and dance across the sky. “There are too many lights tonight, sugarplum,” she…

3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . Blast off! Roar! Rumble! Buzzzzz? The Space Shuttle Challenger blasted through the morning air on April 6, 1984, with 3,405 space explorers on board—5 astronauts and 3,400 bees. My great-great-great grandbee was that colony’s queen. Can you bee-lieve it? It was only a seven-day mission, so they went right to work. What was their job? To build honeycomb! Why? Tennessee high school student Dan M. Poskevich was curious if honeycomb would be made differently without Earth’s gravity. So he presented an experiment to NASA as part of the Shuttle Student Involvement Program. This program encouraged young scientists to design experiments to be conducted in space. It was similar to today’s Go For Launch! competition by Higher Orbits that…

Loving, Hating, or Missing Snow Ryan C., age 8 Shaker Heights, Ohio The Amazing Snow Day I ran downstairs and yelled, “It snowed!” I love snow! It is so fluffy and beautiful. I put on my snow gear and ran outside with glee. I sprinted outside and heard something by the driveway. I dashed over and saw the snowplow! I bolted inside to get my dad, so we could build a fort from the snow the snowplow pushed over. My dad and I got the shovel and spade and went to work. With the shovel, I traced out where we would dig. Then we started digging out snow from the mountain. My dad made the top of the snow pile dome shaped, while I dug out the inside. After we…

STELLA WAS ENJOYING a stroll across the schoolyard when she found the worm. She should have been in history with Avatar Barnett, but honestly, how much “War of Independence this” and “Battle for the Galaxy that” could a girl take? The sun was out. Rainbow trees were flowering. With her mum gone, Stella had hacked into the virtual timetable and given herself an extended lunch break. “Look, Galileo,” she called. “Here, boy! Come see.” Galileo scampered over, stopping only once to leap at a passing butterfly. “Moof, moof! Weow?” “Check it out.” Stella kneeled down and brought her chin close to something shimmery and wriggling. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that was a waste worm . . .” “Moof!” Galileo sprung forward, swatting at the worm. Sparks flew.…

W hat You' ll Need: 1 piece of paper per player 1 game die per player orange, purple, black, red, blue, and green crayon What to Do: 1. Each player draws a Martian body, head, and mouth. (Do NOT draw any other parts yet!) Then put all crayons in the middle. 2. Everyone says, “3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . Blast off!” and rolls their die onto their paper. 3. Based on your roll, grab your crayon. If more than one player rolls the same number, whoever grabs that crayon gets to draw. The other players lose their turns. Players who grab the wrong color also lose their turns. 4. Players with crayons then roll the dice at the same time to see which…