Outdoors & Oceans in October Contest

Dhana, an environmentally-friendly clothing line, is hosting a fall contest for kids ages 5 to 12. To enter, kids create artwork celebrating the theme of "Outdoors and Oceans in October"; parents post a photo of their child's art to Dhana's Facebook page. Contest entries should be created using pastels, oil, water color, crayons or mixed media (which includes just about everything other art supply that you can think of!).

The deadline for entries was just extended to Monday, October 17th, so you know what that means -- your odds are good for winning a prize! You could win a T-shirt from Dhana, a bag of treats & toys from my friends at Green Halloween®, or a mystery prize.

Good luck!

Where we live, October always includes a visit to a local farm.

Get Ready for National Trails Day®!

June 4 is American Hiking Society's National Trails Day® here in the United States. Search for an event near you and make plans to take a hike or explore a trail! This year's theme is "Made With All Natural Ingredients." This year marks the 19th annual celebration of the event.

Kids 12 and under are invited to participate in a coloring contest sponsored by the American Hiking Society. Winners will receive a prize pack. The deadline for entry is August 1, 2011. Good luck!

Take the Hexapod Haiku Challenge!

Do you like writing poems about insects? The North Carolina State University Insect Museum wants to hear them!

The Hexapod Haiku Challenge runs through March 20. The contest judges are looking for short poems that celebrate insect life:

"We would love to have haiku, senryū, haiga, and pseudohaiku that feature any familiar arthropod associated with the field of entomology ..."

Visit the contest website for more details. There's a special category for poets under the age of 13. I especially enjoyed looking at this poem about a bee from an eight-year-old runner-up in last year's contest.

Good luck!

Photo credit: carol2chat, via flickr // CC BY 2.0

Earth Science Week 2010

In the United States, October 10 - 16, 2010 is Earth Science Week. This year's theme is "Exploring Energy."

An online toolkit, containing an Introduction to Earth Science is available in both English and Spanish from the American Geological Institute.

NASA has also set up a special page for Climate Change: Earth Science Week 2010, where you can test your "energy I.Q.", view Energy Essentials like the image below, and more.

Human use of artificial lights at night in the western hemisphere.
Data courtesy of Marc Imhoff (NASA/GSFC) and Christopher Elvidge (NOAA/NGDC).
Image by Craig Mayhew (NASA/GSFC) and Robert Simmon (NASA/GSFC).

If you live in the US, folks of any age can enter AGI's photography contest for Earth Science Week. The theme is "We Depend on Energy." Photographs may be submitted electronically.

For little US residents, AGI is also hosting a poster contest for kids in grades K-5 on the topic of "Energy on Earth." Entries must be mailed. Older kids can enter AGI's essay contest for US students in grades 6-9. The typed essay must contain no more than 300 words on the topic of "How Energy Powers the Planet."

The winner of each contest will receive $300 and a copy of AGI's Faces of Earth DVD. The deadline for all three contests is this Friday, October 15, 2010. Please visit AGI's contest page for more details.

Want to keep Earth Science Week going throughout the year? Check out AGI's Earth Science Activity Calendar for the 2010-2011 school year. Each month focuses on a different topic and includes some special dates in earth science. You can even sign up for a free monthly E-newsletter - Earth Science Week Update - from AGI.

Good luck with the contests and have fun celebrating!

Enter the Kids Count for Earthday Haiku Contest!

What does Earth Day mean to you? Can you write a poem about it? If so, you could win a prize and your writing might be published in Sketchbook, a Journal for Eastern and Western Short Forms.

The international Kids Count for Earthday Haiku Contest 2010 is looking for haiku poetry (17 syllables or less) written by children and young adults ages 7 - 20 years. Poems must be written by individuals; each person can only enter once. There is no fee to enter. The theme of this year's contest is "What Earth Day means to you".

According to the Kids Count for Earthday website,

"The contest is designed to combine the love of earth with the sheer simple fun of writing Japanese haiku in English!"

The deadline for this haiku contest is May 23rd (postmark of May 22nd). For more details about where to send your entry and what information to include, please visit Kids Count for Earthday 5-7-5 Haiku Contest 2010.

Good luck!

[Update 10/9/10: Read the winning entries here!]

Kids' Science Challenge

Ashwin Vasavada, planetary scientist at JPL, throws a Frisbee in the Mars yard (Photo credit: Kids' Science Challenge)

Would you like to see a scientist work to solve a problem or experiment that you designed? If you live in the U.S. and are in grades 3-6, you've got six days left to enter the three science contests presented by Kids' Science Challenge.

Let's say that you like astronomy. You can enter the Sports of Mars contest. In the future, astronaut explorers might colonize Mars. What kind of games could people play there? How would the Martian climate (dusty, with less atmosphere than Earth) affect the ways sports and games are played?

If Mars isn't your thing, check out the Detective Science Challenge ("Can you think of an everyday mystery that you can solve with the scientific tools of detection?") or the Bio-Inspired Designs Challenge ("Birds inspired airplanes. Seed burrs inspired Velcro. What part of nature will inspire your new invention?")

Visit the media arcade for inspiration. You can enter one idea for each contest! If you have a winning submission, you will get to work with a scientist to put your idea in action. And, your entry could win one of these awesome prizes, including a week at Space Camp, a bionic eye, or night vision goggles.

The entry deadline for all three contests in the Kids' Science Challenge is February 28, 2010. You can enter individually or as a team. You will have to describe your idea and tell how you came up with it; a sketch of your concept is optional. Complete rules are listed here; you'll need to register first. The official entry form (this is a .pdf file) can be mailed, faxed, or submitted online.

Good luck!

Win $500 for your green idea!

Got a green idea? Are you over 18 and living in the US or Canada (excluding Quebec)? Can you put your environmental solution into three words in a snappy video running under 30 seconds? If you can sell your green idea like a television ad, you could win $500!



The Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University is running the Green in 3 video contest (detailed contest rules can be found here). There are three contest windows; five winners will be chosen from each period. The first contest ends Friday, so get those entries in! You can view submissions from other entrants at the Green in 3 YouTube page.

Good luck!

American Tarantula Society's poetry contest for kids

Are you under the age of 18, living in the US or Canada? Do you like to write poetry about spiders and other creepy crawlies? Then I've got a contest for you!

I recently spoke with Wade Harrell, President of the American Tarantula Society, via email. He gave me permission to repost this information about ATS' current poetry contest for kids. This information comes from the ATS Discussion Board, a great resource for any tarantula enthusiast.

If you plan to enter, don't delay! The deadline for entries is December 10, 2009. If you have any questions about the contest, please direct them to Payton MacDonald (contact information below).

Good luck!

The ATS has received a generous donation to support more kids' contests ... The first contest is for original poetry. We seek two poems per entry, one a haiku and the other in a form of the applicant's choice. The content of the poems must relate to tarantulas, scorpions, and arachnids in general.

The winning entries will be chosen by a committee. The prizes are as follows:

First Place: A Nintendo Wii or Wii games
Second Place: A free year subscription to the ATS Forum
Third Place: A tarantula T-shirt

Each participant must be under 18 years of age (living in the US or Canada). Winners of an ATS contest in the last six months are ineligible. Multiple members of the same family may enter the contest. Please send submissions to the Kids’ Section editor via email if possible. Regular mail is also acceptable. Submissions must arrive by December 10, 2009.

Please submit entries to Children's Editor Payton MacDonald:
payton [dot] macdonald [at] gmail [dot] com

(replace the "dots" and "at" with the appropriate symbols)

Photo credit: Alvaro Guzman, through a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License via Flickr.

Ugly Bug Contest 2009

Be sure to drop by Arizona State University's Ask A Biologist page sometime before December 15, 2009 to vote for this year's ugliest bug. Of the ten contestants, my bet's on the cockroach. How can it possibly be losing to the snakefly?

Photo of American cockroach by Drew Avery,
through a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License via Flickr.

Last year's ugly bug contest winner was the tick, the blood-sucking frequent disease carrier, who won by a wide margin. You can learn more about the other six contestants from 2008, including the stink bug and weevil, here.

Get into the spirit with these bug-themed coloring pages, which include sheets on bat wing bones, a human skeleton, and the terrestrial ecosystem, in addition to ugly bugs. You can also download your very own ugly bug contest poster (this is a .pdf file).

(Note to self: Eew! They really *are* ugly!)


If you liked this post, you might also like:

Steven R. Kutcher's Bug Art

TOYchallenge 2010

Looking for a creative way to teach science to your group? How about TOYchallenge 2010? This toy design competition is for 5th to 8th graders in the U.S. and Canada, offered through Sally Ride Science. With an adult coach, each 3-6 member team of kids (half of the team must be female!) designs a new toy over the remainder of the school year. But you don't have be affiliated with a school to join in - homeschoolers, after-school clubs, and neighborhood groups are welcome.

Toys must be original and can not be built using pieces of existing toys. Each proposed toy must fit into one of three categories: Toys that Teach, Games for the Family, or Get Out and Play. After choosing your category, each team follows an engineering design process to prepare a written description and drawings of the proposed toy, due in the Preliminary Round Entry, which closes on February 12, 2010. Promising design teams are then invited to travel to compete in the Nationals (you can apply for travel assistance to off-set the cost, but all teams are expected to fundraise to offset their costs). Last year's competition was held in May at the United States Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia, but previous competitions have been held in other locations.

Check out last year's winners for inspiration. There's even a page of ideas to get you started. But there's only a week left to register, so be sure to sign up now! (Note: there is a $65 registration fee.)


Photo credit: Kok Leng Yeo through a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license via flickr.

Send your teacher to school!

Calling all 3rd to 5th grade teachers in the U.S.! This is the last week to apply for the free, all-expenses paid science training to be held at the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy next summer. One hundred teachers will get to spend five days at the Liberty Science Center networking and learning new ways to teach science using math. Send your teacher a note to let them know about the training! The last day for teachers to submit an application is October 31, 2009. Good luck!


Photo credit: Kristine Breen, BurningWell.org (photo cropped by Mama Joules)

Design a poster for the National Zoo!

If you are between the ages of 8 - 14 and live in the United States, consider entering the poster contest at the Smithsonian National Zoo. Copies of the winning poster will be displayed at the zoo and at schools in the DC area. You and your poster could be honored at a special ceremony and you would win a gift basket with six tickets to this year's opening night of ZooLights!

According to the website, in order to be chosen, your poster must be the best at showing these three things:

* the Zoo is a wonderful place to see animals, trees, and plants,
* does a lot to save wildlife,
* and is always FREE.

Your poster must be at least 8.5" x 11" and no larger than 11" x 17". You can scan your work and enter online, mail in your entry (you'll need to include this entry form -- this is a .pdf file), or you can hand in your work at the Visitor's Center at the zoo. Contest entries must be received by November 12, 2009 and you can enter more than once.

Good luck!

Win $20,000 for your green idea at Green Effect™

Do you have an idea for how to improve the environment in your community? If so (and you are over 18 and a U.S. citizen), head on over to Green Effect™, a new venture from National Geographic and SunChips®, to submit a short essay about your proposed project. You could win $20,000 to spend on implementing your idea. Don't wait, though, because the contest closes June 8, 2009. Ten finalists will be chosen by a judging panel (and win camcorders!); visitors to the website will select the top five. These five lucky winners not only receive seed money to start their project, they also get to travel to Washington, D.C. to present their idea to environmental leaders. You can read the current set of 1,200 submissions to see what's already been suggested.

Don't be intimidated by this contest! A good, solid, simple idea that would have a positive impact on your community and the local environment should do well. According to the rules, 1/4 of the points awarded at judging are for "alignment with SunChips® brand's philosophy of 'Small steps add up to meaningful progress and positive change.'"

Good luck!

Website of the Week: Immersion Presents

This week's website is the not-for-profit Immersion Presents, an organization founded in part by Dr. Robert Ballard, the scientist who discovered the Titanic.

Bringing "ocean adventures and discoveries" to children is the focus of the organization, and the website comes complete with video clips of ocean exploration, interviews with scientists about their careers, and science videos by kids. Online games include puzzles, making a map of a shipwreck, designing a remotely-operated vehicle, and learning how to behave like a dolphin.

Immersion Presents also has information about a Marine Art Contest for children ages 5-13 sponsored by the International Marine Environment Protection Association. The deadline for entry is February 13, 2009; please check the website for more details. (I couldn't find a detailed description of the rules; you might call Immersion Presents -- try their contact us section -- for more information.)

Website of the Week: Engineer Girl!

This week's website is Engineer Girl!, brought to you by the National Academy of Engineering. Learn about different engineering careers and find out what type of classes to take in high school to prepare. You can also read Profiles of Women Engineers and ask them questions about their jobs.

Engineer Girl! is currently sponsoring the 2009 Imagine That! essay contest for girls AND boys ages 8 to 18. You could win $500! Write an essay inspired by one of three images describing the item, how it might be used, and what engineering design might have gone into making the object. Be sure to read the rules carefully, including the Essay Publication Agreement (this is a .pdf file). Entries must be received by March 1, 2009. Good luck!

Contest: Young Scientist Challenge

Today's contest is for my U.S. middle school friends. (If that doesn't describe you, skip ahead to the last paragraph!)

Discovery Education and 3M are sponsoring the 10th Annual Young Scientist Challenge, "designed to encourage the exploration of science and innovation among America's youth and to promote the importance of science communication." The contest runs between January 15 - May 20, 2009.

To enter, kids in grades 5-8 must submit a 1-2 minute video online entry about one of four topic areas chosen by the judges (as per the rules). The entries will be pared down to 51 over the summer, with one semifinalist chosen from each state (and DC). In the fall, ten finalists will fly to New York for a final round of contests and judging. (Last year's final challenges were all about outer space!) Those reaching semi-final status and beyond win cool prizes, with the winner receiving $50,000 in U.S. savings bonds, a trophy, and the title of "America's Top Young Scientist."

For my friends outside of the U.S. (along with those closer to home!), check out Discovery Education's whelmers, ten science experiments to try at home. They also have a great page of Science Homework Help, with videos and interactive games on Earth Science (waterways), Physical Science (chemical changes), and Life Science (backyard habitats).

Contest: Hands-On Explorer Challenge 2009

Do you want to go to Peru? If you are a U.S. resident (excluding Puerto Rico) between the ages of 9 and 14 (as of June 3, 2009), this contest is for you! (If not, skip ahead to the P.S.)

National Geographic Kids is currently running their Hands-On Explorer Challenge for 2009. You need to write an essay of up to 300 words about the interesting things that you have found while exploring your world, take a photograph of your essay topic, and submit both (along with your parent's permission) to the contest. There are some pretty specific requirements for the photograph, so read the contest rules carefully. Exploration and the environment should be key themes for your entry. If you need some inspiration, you can see examples of last year's winning entries that won a trip to Australia!

Fifteen grand prize winners go to Peru with their parent/guardian for twelve days this summer (end of May/early June). If you win, you will learn about the culture of Peru, including tribal medicine, Inca rituals, and Peruvian dances. You also get a new digital camera to record the event, which includes a visit to Machu Picchu, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. All entries must be postmarked by February 5, 2009, so get writing! Good luck!

P.S. For my friends outside of the U.S. (as well as my friends close to home), check out the extensive listing of free National Geographic E-mail Newsletters on everything from photography to living green. There are two newsletters specifically aimed at kids & education: My Wonderful World (for parents & kids to share) and Education Update (for teachers). Enjoy!

Website of the Week: New7Wonders of Nature

This week's website, courtesy of a tip from CricketB, is New7Wonders, where you can vote for the seven new (and natural) wonders of the world. People have nominated 261 natural sites, natural monuments, or landscapes across the globe for the honor of making it to the top seven. The goal of the New7Wonders Campaign is to raise awareness of the incredible beauty and natural diversity found in our world today.

This campaign follows up on the highly popular 7/7/07 launch of the Official New 7 Wonders of the World. The new wonders campaign, also sponsored by the New7Wonders Foundation, netted over 100 million votes from across the globe. The new seven Wonders of the World, as chosen by popular vote, include such man-made feats as The Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal. (Interesting sidenote: The Great Pyramid of Giza is the only remaining site from the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.)

Great Pyramid of GizaPhoto courtesy of Wikipedia
So, what kind of wonders might represent the best of the natural world? How about the Grand Canyon in the United States, the Great Barrier Reef near Australia, and the Kalahari Desert in Africa?

Grand Canyon National ParkPhoto credit: Mark Lellouch, National Park Service
Unfortunately, it appears as though the larger the natural feature -- and the more countries involved -- the harder it is for the natural wonder to get sponsored by an OSC, or Official Supporting Committee, from each country. This seems like a potential flaw in the design of the contest. I can't imagine a list of the seven greats not including the Great Barrier Reef, for example!

So, cast your vote and make your choices known! And if you represent a local, regional, or national government group with responsibility for one of the candidate natural areas, consider becoming an OSC!

Contest: LEGO® Holiday Building Challenge

Have you been working on a holiday-themed LEGO^® sculpture? If live in the U.S. and you are age six or older, visit the LEGO^® Club to learn about their latest contest. You could win a trip for four to the Carribean on Norwegian Cruise Line! Build any size holiday-themed model using only LEGO^® pieces, take a color photograph, and then submit your entry form along with a short (50-word) essay describing your design. Winners will be picked from each age group: 6-9 years, 10-14 years, and 15 and older. But you need to hurry! The entry deadline is January 9, 2009. Good luck!

P.S. If you live outside of the U.S., you might want to visit one of these regional LEGO^® Play Sites: Great Britian, the Netherlands, Germany, and France.

Name NASA's next Mars Rover!

My friend CricketB shared this great news with me that she found online:

Disney/Pixar is currently running a contest for children in grades K-12 in the U.S. (ages 5 -18) to Name NASA's Next Mars Rover! This new rover is scheduled to launch in 2011 and (hopefully!) will land the following year. You can visit NASA to Learn About the Rover, including its robotic arm, legs, laser, and wheels. Be sure to read the Quick Facts (this is a .pdf file) to discover tidbits like these:

* The rover's laser can turn rocks into a cloud of vapor.
* The rover may be the size of a small SUV, but it weighs nearly 2000 pounds!
* The rover looks just a little bit like WALL-E.

Image credit: NASA
If you win the grand prize, you not only win a trip to both the Jet Propulsion Laboratory AND Disneyland, you also get a bunch of WALL-E stuff including a robot! Nine finalists and thirty semi-finalists will also win some cool WALL-E gear, so if you are a fan of the movie, you should definitely enter. (My older son was excited that we found Disney/Pixar's WALL-E online games).

The contest has three grade level categories (K-3, 4-7, 8-12) and you have to write a short essay along with your suggested name. There are certain restrictions on the names you can suggest (no copyrighted names, no names of anyone living, no names used on other space missions), so read the rules carefully. You also have to get your parent or guardian's permission to enter. The contest deadline is January 25, 2009, so start writing! (Gee, I wish I could enter!!)