A story of natural selection for your kids. Here is a story about how the giraffe’s neck grew so long. A long long time ago giraffes had short necks. They could only reach bushes and the lower branches of trees. They ate those leaves on near branches and lived like that for centuries. They kept looking at the higher branches, but they could not get hold of them. It was all fine until one day there were too many giraffes grazing on too few leaves. They started to stretch their necks to higher branches, but they could not grab them. The famine grew more and more severe. Until a miracle happened. There...

A story about cell respiration for your kids. Our cells respire. They breathe in and they breathe out. They take in a gas called Oxygen and they give out a gas called Carbon Dioxide. But how can this happen? It is because inside each and every cell there are dwarfs tending the fire in a fireplace. What fireplace? Do we burn inside? As a matter of fact, we do. In a special way of course. There is no flame in our cells. The burning in the cell fireplaces is so slow that nobody notices it. Except the dwarfs, who are keeping the fire alive. But how can they keep it alive all the time? There are three...

A story for your kids. Auntie Photosynthesis is a teeny-tiny creature, which lives in each and every green leave and works for us. What is she doing? She grows potatoes below surface. The delicious potatoes, which mummies and daddies fry. And fried potatoes are the best. Almost better than macaroni and cheese. Yes, kids really like pommes frites. But how come aunties named Photosynthesis live up in the green leaves and grow potatoes deep down in the soil beneath the surface? Oh, that is a long story. It all started, when aunties bought super-powerful machines called Chlorophyll. That was when all the...

In this era of haste, we often hear the medical recommendation to take smaller bites. And to chew longer. The point is that the mouth is the first stage of digestion. Chewing means that the food gets processed mechanically, but also biochemically by the digestive juice called saliva. If the food is handled correctly in the mouth, the stomach has it easier doing its job. Our stomach handles a lot of stress that is unavoidable these days. Thus there is no need to put more pressure on it. By taking smaller bites we also get full by less food and thus put even less pressure on our digestive system. It...

May this year life give you a break from the first blossom to the last snowflake. Be fit and determined to reach all your goals. May destiny serve you year round delicious bowls. © Helena Smole, 2014