Read, wonder, and learn
Short educational articles picked for curious kids and family learning.
Is Summer the Best Season?
Summertime means fun in the sun, frozen treats, and time away from school. But summer can also usher in too-toasty temperatures and the occasional bug bite. So, is summer the best season? We asked TFK readers for their thoughts. What do you think?
https://www.timeforkids.com/g56/authors/lillian-stone/
Should Kids Play Contact Sports?
According to the latest data from the National Survey of Children’s Health, about 55% of U.S. kids play organized sports. These include low-contact sports, such as tennis and swimming, which don’t require physical contact between players. They also include high-contact sports, such as football and lacrosse. Some believe kids should avoid high-contact sports. Others say the benefits outweigh the risks. We asked TFK readers for their thoughts. Where do you stand?
Lillian Stone
Playing Pretend
Bonobos, primates closely related to humans, are capable of pretend play. That’s according to a study done at Johns Hopkins University, in Maryland. The study was published in Science. A bonobo named Kanzi watched researchers add imaginary juice and grapes to containers. When they “emptied” one container, Kanzi could point to the one that was still “full.” This suggests that recognizing pretend objects “is not uniquely human,” the study says
Candace Dipsey
Teen Wins Science Contest With Origami Research
When he was just 8, Miles Wu discovered a love for origami – the Japanese art of folding paper. Last October, the 14-year-old’s origami skills earned him the first prize in a national science competition – and proved that a simple sheet of paper can hold more than 10,000 times its own weight.
NFK Editors - February 19, 2026
What is encrypted, decrypted, and unencrypted?
Suppose you want to send a secret message to your friend. Since you don’t want anyone else to read the message, you and your friend decide on a code. For example, A is 1, B is 2. You decide that space should be indicated by a semi-colon, and a comma separates two letters. So, “Come Home” becomes 3,15,13,5;8,15,13,5.
kidsnews.top
Spot 5 differences
Can you spot 5 differences between these 2 images?
kidsnews.top
Books are Best
Schools in Sweden have decided to go back to more traditional learning methods that include reading from physical books after noticing that their reading standards dropped when ipads and laptops were used.
Red, Amber, Green and White?!
Yes, traffic lights in the future could have a fourth light before you set off and go! The suggestion by researchers in North Carolina, USA is for when we have more autonomous vehicles. It would not replace existing rules for human drivers. The white light would mean that self-driving cars are controlling traffic at that intersection.
https://www.thecuriousowl.net/
Famed detection dog ‘Bear’ retires after 10 years of saving our koalas
After a decade of sniffing out koalas in need of saving, detection dog Bear has hung up his fire boots for the last time to focus on a life of fetch and chasings. Find out why he is a true doggie legend
kidsnews.com.au
Kenzi the bonobo being groomed by anohter bonobo Animals A bonobo’s imaginary tea party hints that apes can pretend
Kanzi would sometimes play with imaginary juice and grapes, just as humans might. The bonobo's ability challenges old ideas about how animals think.
RJ Mackenzie
Is it possible to be invisible?
Being invisible is useful for animals that spend a lot of time in places with no good hiding spots, like the air or open ocean, says Kate Feller. She studies vision and behavior at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. The secret to invisibility is all about light. “The way we see things is when light is reflected back off of an object onto our eyes,” says Feller. The more light that can pass through something undisturbed, the harder it is to see that thing.
Sofia Caetano Avritzer
Brain scans reveal where taste and smell combine to become flavor
Flavor isn’t just on your tongue — it’s also in your brain. New scans identify a part of the brain that fuses taste and smell into flavor. Smell and taste are so connected that a whiff of a well-loved food evokes its taste without any thinking. These senses become linked the moment we bite into something, says Putu Agus Khorisantono. He’s a neuroscientist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
Siddhant Pusdekar
Let’s learn about autumn leaves
For many trees, autumn is a spectacular grand finale. Their summer greenery gives way to a rich display of gold, crimson and even purple leaves. But those splashes of color are short-lived before leaves fall off their trees. Why do so many deciduous trees undergo this radical transformation? It’s all part of how the plants prepare for winter.
Maria Temming
Rudolph’s red nose could glow through bioluminescence
This time of year, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is nearly inescapable. As the song goes, Rudolph is bullied for having a nose so bright it glows (like a lightbulb!). But one fateful Christmas Eve, his much-mocked nose makes Rudolph a hero. Using it as a beacon, Rudolph guides Santa’s flying sleigh through a foggy night to deliver gifts around the world.
Maria Temming
Most people will add something — even when subtracting makes more sense
Picture a bridge made of Lego blocks. One side has three support pieces, the other two. How would you stabilize the bridge? Most people would add a piece to the short stack, a new study suggests. But why not remove a piece from the taller stack? When it comes to Lego blocks, ingredients in a recipe or words in an essay, people prefer to add, not subtract.
Sujata Gupta
THE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF
Boy who called wolf
Adapted by Daniel Errico, Illustrations by StoryChimes
And That Was The Oddest of Things
I woke in the night to a noise from the kitchen, So off I set out on a fact-finding mission.
Daniel Errico
How Firefly Got His Light
Sun and Moon need someone to tell them when to rise and set, and Elephant, Turtle, and Owl have an idea of who it should be. This story for kids is an origin tale for the best and brightest of bugs: the firefly!
Written by Daniel Errico Illustrated by Daryna Yamoldinova
10 Lessons to Learn from Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry is an American animated series of short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. It centers on a rivalry between its two title characters, Tom, a cat, and Jerry, a mouse, and many recurring characters, based around slapstick comedy.
Ilaxi Patel
Yoga: Mind, Body & soul
The word Yoga itself means to join, unite or merge. Derived from the sanskrit root yuj, Yoga is a science and an art. Practiced by thousands of people round the world, it integrates the body with the mind and the mind with the soul, thereby helping us to understand or own natures and to live harmoniously with people around us.
Ilaxi Patel