Showing results by narrator "Dan Schoeneberg" in All Categories

Have you ever gotten bored when the weather is too bad to go outside for recess? Bored students and bad weather inspired James Naismith to invent the game of basketball in the late 19th century. Using a soccer ball and peach baskets, Professor Naismith worked out the rules of the new sport at the local YMCA.

When Thomas Edison was a boy, he loved performing experiments and coming up with new inventions. His curiosity sometimes got him in trouble, though, like when he accidentally burned down his dad’s barn! By the time he turned 12, he had found ways to make a living by learning how to print newspapers and send telegraphs in Detroit, Michigan. Imagine what he did as an adult!

Yoga is a great way to stimulate your mind and keep yourself active by learning how to mimic animal behavior. Even kids can do yoga too! Enjoy posing as a sitting butterfly, stretching your arm and leg muscles with downward dog, or posing like a cat while stretching your body and mind.

Why does a baseball travel much faster when hit with a bat than if pitched? Learn how force is applied in this fun experiment! Using a marker, a ruler, and a can, you can perform your own lever experiments. You'll understand the power of weight, such as how a balance beam operates, but on a smaller scale, while learning about the science behind balance.

On a chilly day in 1947, a Japanese inventor named Momofuku Ando observed people waiting out in the cold for a hot meal. He dreamed of bringing fast-cooking noodles to the whole world. And he did—with ramen noodles! Sometimes the simplest inventions are the best!

After a long drought caused a food shortage, Makani is one of the islanders chosen to head out in a canoe across the Pacific Ocean in search of a new home. The dangerous journey requires a skilled navigator to find their way across the open sea with no land in sight. They hope to reach what we today call Easter Island.

Kashima, a god in Edo, Japan, resides in his shrine to protect the people from Namazu, a catfish, from causing earthquakes that devastate the lives of the villagers. When Kashima helps one of the villagers, Namazu must decide whether to obey Kashima and stay put or swim and potentially endanger the lives of the villagers.

Jesse and his family visit the library. Jesse is looking for a book on fish and keeping an aquarium. What do you think he will find? When Jesse finds the books on animals, he learns how to check out books with his brand new library card.

Do you know how new fruit is made? Learn about the different parts of a fruit plant’s flower—the stigma, pistil, and stamen—and how they use pollen to make seeds in a process called pollination! The seeds grow into new flowers, which turn into fruit after they’re pollinated!

In the 1600s, a boy from colonial Jamestown named Thomas Savage was traded to the Powhatans in exchange for a boy named Namontack. The English hoped this gift would prove their friendship to Chief Powhatan and allow them to teach Namontack about England. While staying with the tribe, Thomas learned their language and culture, and served as an interpreter between the Native Americans and Europeans.

Have you ever wondered how pasta is made? While pasta only takes a few ingredients—flour, water, salt, and sometimes eggs—the process can be quite complex. Luckily, modern technology has greatly simplified the process from grain to flour, to dough, and finally to the pasta you find at the grocery store.

Spiders are nothing to fear! Even though they are carnivores and hunt all sorts of bugs, many spiders cannot harm humans. Spiders can only eat their prey by using their venom to liquefy a bug's insides—in other words, they make bugshakes! Follow along to learn more about common spider mealtime habits.

Have you ever visited the Grand Canyon? As one of the world’s seven wonders, millions of people have visited this landmark. Have you ever wondered how it was formed? Learn how the 3 "R"s- Rock, Rivers, & Erosion, have led to the formation of the Grand Canyon and the changes it undergoes in present day.

It’s the New Year in Thailand! Songkran is Fa’s favorite holiday. She loves the traditions—and the food!—that go along with it. Each year she hopes to play a special role in one of her family’s cultural ceremonies. Will this be her year?

The stench from a fearsome chimera rots the food throughout a fairy tale kingdom. The king’s wizard knows how to banish it, but needs one special thing—moss from the chimera’s cave itself. Someone needs to charm the chimera, but how can an honest kitchen boy succeed where clever knights have failed?

Garden spiders belong to a group called orb weavers, which spin wheel-shaped webs. Some webs are funnel-shaped and some are very sticky. In this essay about different kinds of spider webs, listeners will learn all about nature's masters of silk weaving.

Do your shoes fasten with Velcro straps? Have you ever wondered where this strange invention comes from? Sometimes nature provides excellent inspiration for new solutions! Plant burs stuck in his dog's fur gave Swiss engineer George de Mestral a good idea.

Mattias is getting ready to leave for his hockey game when his mother suddenly falls ill. His father is away tending their reindeer herd, so it’s up to Mattias to get her down the mountain through the snow and ice and find emergency help.

Tim is working on his science fair project—a robot! When he spends a weekend afternoon with his great-uncle, he learns that his love of engineering and technology runs in the family. After Great-Uncle Bate lends him a little creativity to help figure out what’s wrong with the robot, Tim learns an awesome secret about him!

What fun it must be to live in a houseboat! The family in this story resides in Florida, where they can explore the ocean and go fishing right from their home. Enjoy this glimpse into a child's life on a houseboat filled with sensory details.