Innholdsfortegnelse for September/October 2025 i Spider Magazine Stories, Games, Activites and Puzzles for Children and Kids

In ancient times, the sweetest tastes people knew were fruit and—sometimes, if they were lucky—a little honey. Gift of the Bees Honeybees make honey from the sweet, sugary nectar of flowers. As the bees fly from flower to flower, they sip a little nectar from each. They suck it in and out to make it thicker. Then they fly back to the hive and spit the nectar into a wax cell of the honeycomb. Many more bees add their nectar. Other bees beat their wings to fan air over the comb. Slowly, the water in the nectar evaporates, leaving behind a thick golden liquid—honey. It takes nectar from around two million flowers to make one pound (about 0.45 kilograms) of honey. Bees eat the honey during the winter, when there…

In upstate New York, a long winter has given way to spring. The weather is warming up, and flowers are in bloom. But there’s still one thing missing to make it summer. You put up the special bottle feeder, fill it with sugar water, and wait and watch. Then, one day . . . there! With a quick buzz of wings, a tiny creature zooms in, seems to hang in midair, and sips from the spout. It’s a ruby-throated hummingbird! They’re back! There are many species of hummingbirds, small birds with long bills and a distinctive flying style. As they hover in front of flowers, their wings beat so fast they look like a blur. Hummingbirds live mostly on nectar, a sugary syrup found deep inside flowers. Sipping sugar all…

Best Pet In our February issue of Ask and our May/ June issue of Spider, we put out calls for cool canines, fine felines, and other amazing animal pals. Check out this perfect pet parade! FINISHED READING COVER TO COVER BUT STILL CRAVING MORE? We’ve cooked up a treat just for Spider readers. Check out “Spider’s Picks,” a sweet video playlist on Sensical, Cricket Media’s kid-safe free streaming app. To get there, ask a grownup to scan this QR code. https://sensicaltv.com/spider No purchase required, free to access. CONTEST Invent a new dessert and send us a picture. Rules: 1. Your entry must be signed by a parent or legal guardian, authorizing its publication in print and/or online and saying it’s your own idea. 2. Be sure to include your first…

What You’ll Need scissors What to Do 1. Cut out the cards. Mix them up. Deal all the cards face down into separate piles, one in front of each player. 2. Take turns flipping over the top card of your pile and putting it face up in the center. 3. When you turn over a Marvin card, take a card from the top of any player’s pile and add it to the bottom of yours. 4. When a Spider card is turned over, whoever slaps it first adds all the center cards to the bottom of their own pile. If you slap the wrong card, you must give the top card from your pile to the player who put out the card you slapped. 5. If you run out of…

Mommika Grandma says there cannot be anything new in the messy drawer. I’ve rummaged so many times before. But each time I look, I find something. There’s the gum wrapper chain Mom made when she was a little girl and a penny smashed flat by a train. Something small and green is stuck in the back of the drawer. It’s a tiny wooden doll. “Look, Mommika,” I say. Mommika wipes her hands on her apron. I put the tiny doll in her palm, which still has bits of potato stuck to it. She takes the doll closer to the window for a better look. “She was your mother’s,” says Mommika. “The first time your great-grandmother came from Hungary to visit us in America, she brought your mother three wooden dolls.…

No one knows who invented the first cup of hot chocolate. But several thousand years ago, ancient civilizations in Mexico and Central America enjoyed a drink made from ground cacao beans. First the Olmec, then the Maya, and eventually the Aztec people all put ground cacao beans in a drink. The Aztec people treated cacao like it was a gift from the gods. They hoarded large quantities of beans in storehouses. By the time Spanish conquistadors (conquerors) arrived in Mexico in 1519, only rich and powerful Aztecs enjoyed the cacao tree’s fruit. They combined ground beans with water and poured the mixture back and forth between two pots until it became frothy. They added a touch of honey or vanilla or chili peppers for flavor. But it was a spicy,…

Why should your taste buds have all the fun? Give your nose a delightful whiff of super sweetness when you make your own fruity scratch-and-sniff stickers. What You’ll Need What to Do 1. Place the egg carton on top of the newspaper. For each color, mix ⅛ teaspoon of drink mix with ⅛ teaspoon of water. Stir until each mixture is smooth. (Use one stirrer per color to avoid mixing scents or colors.) 2. On each label, use a crayon to draw an outline of a picture or design you want to paint. (We chose oranges, cherries, and grapes to match our drink mixes.) Press down when you draw to make thick marks. 3. Now paint your pictures. (It’s OK to paint over the crayon because the paint and the…

September/October 2025 $7.95 Volume 32 Number 6 cricketmedia.com…

These delicious dumplings can be served as a main course, a side dish, or a dessert. Makes 10 to 12 dumplings What You’ll Need For the dough 3 cups unbuttered mashed potatoes (fresh or instant)2 large eggs1 teaspoon salt2 cups all-purpose flour10 to 12 pitted small plums, rinsed (fresh or canned) For the topping 2 tablespoons (¼ stick) butter1½ cups plain breadcrumbs¼ cup cinnamon sugar What to Do Make the dough. 1. With an adult’s help, combine the potatoes, eggs, and salt in a large bowl. 2. Mix in the flour. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 30 minutes. Form the dumplings. 3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to about ¹⁄³ inch thick. TIP: If the dough is too sticky or thin, add more flour.…

From chocolate cookies to crisp, juicy apples, we humans are sweet on sugar. That’s only natural. All plants and animals need sugar to live. It’s the fuel that powers our cells. So it’s not surprising we’re hardwired to crave the sweet stuff. Building Sweet “Sugar” is the name for many different sweet-tasting molecules. They’re all made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. There are three basic sugar building blocks or “simple sugars.” These are called fructose, glucose, and galactose. All of the simple sugars can be found in plants. Fructose is what makes fruits taste sweet, for example. Combining these simple sugars makes other kinds of sugar. The most common is sucrose, also called table sugar. The sugar kept in your kitchen for baking or in the sugar bowl? That’s…

Dear Spider, This is my first time writing to you. Can you please take care of Nia for me? If yes, here are her things.Maggie H., age 8 Idaho Dear Maggie, Thank you for sending your cute pup and her bowl, ball, and bone.Your pal, Spider Dear Spider, Will you please adopt Molly? She is a checkered spotted corgi, and her favorite food is chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce. Please feed her two times each day, and she will only go to sleep if you play her a two-minute song on the flute.Claire S., age 8 Montana P.S. My favorite color is blue. What is yours? Dear Claire, We can’t wait to meet Molly and see her cool checkered spots. Miro will make sure she gets plenty of sweets…