Kite Flying in Oregon

Today we went to a kite shop here so we could buy two kites. We are going to be visiting a kite festival, so we wanted to learn more about kites before then. Here is the shop:

After picking out the perfect kite, we headed over to the beach to try them out. Here is how you begin when flying the kites:Then you wait for a gust of wind to lift the kite a little bit:And then you run really fast while the kite lifts into the air:Do you see how high it is in this picture? We had so much fun!
A Very Short History of the Kite:

The kite has been around since at least 2,800 years ago. The kite is believed to be invented by the famous 5th century BC Chinese philosophers Mozi and Lu Ban.


Kites can be designed with many different shapes, forms, and sizes. They can take the form of flat geometric designs, boxes and other three-dimensional forms, or modern sparless inflatable designs. Kites flown by children are often simple geometric forms (for example, the diamond). In Asia, children fly dried symmetrical leaves on sewing thread and sled-style kites made from sheets of folded writing paper.

Benjamin Franklin was known for flying a kite for an experiment. He was flying kites long before this though. In fact, young Ben once swam across a lake with a kite attached to his toe. He was curious whether it would carry him across the water, and it did.

How to Make Your Own Kite

Kite One
Kite Two
Kite Three
Kite Four

Books About Kites

The Emperor and the Kite
Curious George and the Kite

Unit Study About Kites

Study One
Study Two
Study for the book The Emperor and the Kite
Comprehensive study with tons of links
The virtual Kite Zoo
Crayola Chinese Kites

Arizona~Grand Canyon State

This is Show Family 2 reporting live from Arizona. We are here visiting for about a month.
Here is the state flag:
Arizona comes from two Papago Indian words meaning "little spring" or "young spring".

Arizona is home to many Indian cultures such as the Apache and the Navajo. Arizona has the largest Native American population of any state. More than 14 tribes are represented on 20 reservations, including part of the Navajo Nation, which is located in the Four Corners region of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.

Spanish treasure seekers from Mexico arrived in the area in the 16th century, thus establishing Mexico's claim to the area. The area was ruled by Spain until Mexico won its independence in 1821. Mexico ceded the territory to the United States as part of New Mexico during the Mexican-American War of 1848. The Gadsden Purchase, an area south of the Gila River, was added in 1853. Arizona was organized as a territory in 1863 and became the 48th state in 1912.

Arizona is full of beautiful natural attractions like the Grand Canyon and the Petrified Forest. It is also home to the old London Bridge.

Major Rivers: Colorado River, Little Colorado River, Gila River, Bill Williams River

More info
Desert animals
Desert plants
The Sonoran Desert

Coloring Pages
State bird and flower

Arts and Crafts
Desert Diorama

Sea World in San Antonio Texas-Beluga Whales

Show Family Two here reporting from San Antonio, Texas. One of our favorite things to see so far, was a show that we visited while at Sea World. The show had acrobats, dolphins and beluga whales.



We were so impressed with the interaction between the whales and their trainers!



We thought they were beautiful and graceful animals.



We hope to be able to spend more time seeing them while in California and Florida.



More about Beluga Whales:

Beluga Whales

Beluga whales are warm-blooded mammals that breathe air through the blowhole on the top of their head. Their blowhole is covered by a muscular flap which provides a water-tight seal. Beluga whales cannot breathe through their mouths and can hold their breath for 20-25 minutes. They are extremely social animals, living, hunting and migrating in groups called pods.
The beluga whales are the most vocal of the toothed whale. Arctic fisherman say they can hear the beluga whales’ sounds coming from miles away, and they can feel the vibration of their sounds coming through the hulls of their fishing boats. This behavior has earned them the nickname “sea canary.”


Fun Facts
• The beluga whale is the only whale with a flexible neck.
• A beluga whale uses its pectoral flippers (forelimbs) mainly to steer and stop.
• The beluga whale is also called the white whale. The word beluga comes from the Russian word for white, “belukha.”
• Beluga caviar comes from the beluga sturgeon, not the beluga whale.
• This whale has the ability to swim backward.



Adopt a Beluga Whale

More Facts:
National Geographic for Kids
Sea World Animal Bytes
Beluga Whales Facts
Facts and Fun Activities

Games:
Animated Jigsaw Puzzle
Whale Flip Game
Save the Whales Game

Arts and Crafts:
Origami Whale
Ocean Diorama
Whale Mobile

Coloring Pages
Beluga Whales
Whale Coloring Book
Page with Anatomy labels
Beluga Whale Page

Books and Stories
Interactive story about whales
Beluga Sky
Beluga Days
Beluga Whales up Close
The Little Lost Baby Beluga Whale

Unit Studies and Lesson Plans:
Unit Study from Sea World
Lesson Plans from Scholastic
Whale Migration Maps
Experiment about blubber

Bottle-nosed Dolphins at Sea World

Show Family Two reporting live from San Antonio, Texas: One of the things we've been able to enjoy at Sea World is the dolphins there. Here is some video that we took of them while we fed them (and others did too):


Some facts about the bottle-nosed dolphins:

Dolphins are mammals, not fish
Scientists believe that dolphins rank among the most intelligent animals
Bottle-nosed dolphins can measure 13 feet and can weigh as much as 600 lbs.
Bottle-nosed dolphins are gray, but their backs are darker than their undersides
Bottle-nosed dolphins show apparent great friendliness toward people
Bottle-nosed dolphins, living in groups of about 12, play and hunt food together
Bottle-nosed dolphins live in tropical waters and stay within 100 miles of land
Dolphins communicate via a series of whistles and clicks called phonationsMore Facts:
Facts and Fun Activities , Sea World Animal Bytes , About bottle nosed dolphins , More dolphin facts , And more dolphin facts , Kids Planet Facts , How dolphins use sonar





Games:
Coral Reef Creatures Game , Dolphin dash , Dolphin Diving , Drawing Game , Sliding Dolphin Puzzle , Crossword Puzzle , Dolphin Maze

Arts and Crafts:
Dolphin door Hanger , Dolphin and Whale Mobile , Dolphin Duo Card , Make a model of a dolphin , Dolphin and Boat pop up


Coloring Pages:
Many different dolphin coloring pages , Dolphins playing , More dolphin coloring pages

Books:
List of Kids’ books about dolphins




Unit Study/Lesson Plans:

Ocean Animals-dolphins unit study , Head for the Ocean Unit Study , Unit Study with Lapbook , Dolphin Unit Study , Dolphin Unit Study 2

****What do you like about dolphins? What do you want to share with us or ask us about dolphins? Leave a comment using the comment button below!

Gavin the Falconer

This is Show Family 2 reporting live from Lakehills, Texas:
This week, we met a really cool kid named Gavin. Gavin is a falconer. Here is Gavin with his mom and his sister.A falconer is a person who trains falcons or hawks for hunting. Gavin spent many hours learning lots of different things on top of having to apprentice or train under someone else in order to become a falconer. There are three falconers in his state that fly long wings like peregrine falcons. He and his father are two of those, so that means there is only one other falconer besides them. Gavin has his own falcon that he has trained. It took him many months to train his falcon and he is still training him to be better and better at hunting.

Falconry is one of the oldest forms of hunting and is often used together with hunting with horses and dogs. One of the differences between hunting with a horse or a dog and hunting with a falcon is the horse and dog are domesticated animals and the falcon is a wild animal. Falconry is the oldest field sport known to mankind.
Gavin also told me a bunch of neat facts about falcons. Here are some facts about these amazing birds:

Falcons have incredible eyesight. They are believed to be able to spot a pigeon from over five miles under ideal conditions. They are the swiftest of the birds of prey. In a dive, they can top speeds of 200 miles an hour. This makes them the fastest moving creatures on earth. It has been calculated that as a peregrine falcon comes out of a dive, and is straightening out for horizontal flight, it is pulling around 25G. Humans, on average, can tolerate 5-6G well.They are at the top of the food chain, so adults have no natural predators. The female is the boss of the house, so the male is cautious around her.How can these birds fly so fast? It is because of how they are built.

Falcons are very streamlined. They have pointed wings with slim, stiff, unslotted feathers. Because of this, they have almost zero resistance when flying. They have especially strong flight muscles that allow them to fly fast. They have a large, strong heart and ultra efficient lungs and air sacs. Everybody knows how difficult it gets to breathe when you're walking in a heavy storm. You have to turn your head to be able to breath. The falcon does not walk in the storm, it dive-bombs at 350 k/hour. Breathing would be absolutely impossible without special adaptions.The air pressure from a 200 mph (320 km/h) dive could possibly damage it's lungs, but small bony tubercles in a falcon's nostrils guide the shock waves of the air entering the nostrils (compare intake ramps and inlet cones of jet engines), enabling the bird to breathe more easily while diving by reducing the change in air pressure.To protect their eyes, the falcons use their nictitating membranes (third eyelids) to spread tears and clear debris from their eyes while maintaining vision.

Let's look at the lungs on a bird a bit closer. When a person breathes, air flows into its lungs and back out again. Bird lungs operate quite differently from ours. Instead of inhaling and then reversing flow when exhaling, birds have a clever lung design that permits them to circulate air in a single direction continuously.

Birds lungs with diagram and explanation

I can see why Gavin would want to work with such a fascinating animal!More resources on falcons:

Live webcams of Peregrine Falcons

Videos

Videos and slideshows , Video of falcon , Pigeon vs Falcon video , Facts and video clip

Coloring Pages

Falcon head , Peregrine Falcon , Another Peregrine Falcon Page , Falcon

Books
Audio: A to Z Mysteries: The Falcons Feathers

Raptor, A Kid's Guide to Birds of Prey , List of books for Young Readers , The Malted Falcon: A Chet Gecko Mystery

Facts and other Fun

National Geographic Kids Info on Peregrine Falcon (Has video, e-card and printable)

Birds of Prey Facts for Kids , Peregrine Falcon Facts , Facts and info on how to adopt a Peregrine Falcon

Games

Raptor Rescue Kids Games , Fierce Fliers Game , Peregrine Falcon Games

Arts and Crafts:

How to Make an Origami Falcon

Other Fun Stuff

Experiment related to Peregrine Falcon and DDT , Quiz on Falcons , Lesson plans on Falcons , Lesson Plans on Birds of Prey , Science Lesson Plan on Raptors , Unit Study with Falcon , Birds of Prey Unit Study ideas


*****Share your thoughts and questions with us through the comments section. Just click on comments and it will take you to the correct spot.

Whitetail Deer

This is Show Family Two. One of the things we have enjoyed since being in this part of Texas, is that the place we are staying has many whitetail deer here. We have been able to feed them right out of our hands.


The things we have fed them so far are carrots and corn that has been made into feed for deer. We bought a 50 pound bag of the corn, so we will have plenty of food to feed them during our visit.
This deer is named a whitetail because of its tail. The underside of its tail is white, and it's the only part that you can see when it is running.Some natural predators of deer are: man, bobcats, wolves, mountain lions and other deer. Some things that these deer eat are: acorns, hay, corn, apples, cabbage, pine, cedar and just about any green that they can get to.

The baby deer are called fawns. The fawns have spots which helps them be able to hide from other animals that might try to kill them.The whitetail deer have a language and some of the ways they "speak" are: flicking their tails, moving their ears, curling their lips and stomping their feet. The tail waving is typically used to warn other deer of danger. This deer saw our dog and thought it might be in danger:
We are really falling in love with these gentle creatures!

More facts about deer:
National Geographic

Some deer coloring pages:
*White tailed deer and some facts, *Many different deer, *Deer themed coloring pages,
*Deer pages and activivites

More fun:
*How to draw a deer ,*Deer arts and crafts , *Folding paper deer craft , *Pipe cleaner animals with fawn

Deer Games:
*Deer and Hunter Game , *Oh deer game

Books about deer:
*Lightfoot the Deer , *Fawn at Woodland Way , *My Little Book of Whitetails , *Whitetail Deer ,
*Bambi: A Life in the Woods

Online Books or Stories about Deer:
*Short story about deer , *The Tale of Nimble Deer

****Tell us what you like best about deer by leaving a comment.

****Are there any other things you want to say about deer? Leave a comment so we can all hear it.