Spider Magazine Stories, Games, Activites and Puzzles for Children and Kids November/December 2016

“I’LL BE UPSTAIRS if you need me,” Mrs. Bogsworth announced to her son Boggington Bogsworth the Third and his two best friends, Doodlebug and Dandelion Pinkley. “I’m so proud of you kids. Making a whole Thanksgiving dinner isn’t easy.” “No sweat, Mom,” Bog said. “Go finish grading your papers. We got it covered.” “We’ll follow your instructions exactly,” Dandelion promised. Mrs. Bogsworth had spent the morning giving them lessons in gaxtro-cooking, a strange, science-based way of making food. The turkey was in the oven. Now the kids would use what they’d learned to make the other dishes. Mrs. Bogsworth wasn’t actually a chef. She taught high school science. Bog’s dad, Brogue Bogsworth the Second, was an airline pilot. But their kitchen had as many modern cooking gadgets as a restaurant.…

What do you get when you cross a pastry with a snake? A pie-thon! (python) Samantha O., age 6, Georgia What did the snowman say to the snow? “Oh, someday you’ll be alive.” Madeline H., age 7, California Who is your coldest relative? Aunt Arctica! Shelby L., age 9, Wisconsin Why is it hard to spot a cheetah? It’s not. They come that way. submitted by Tristan A., age 7, California Why did the puppy not want his mom to turn off the light? Because he was afraid of the bark. Ray S., age 8, California Send your favorite jokes to spider@cricketmedia.com!…

ON DIWALI, THE Hindu Festival of Lights, people in India give sweets to show good will. Kulfi (firm Indian ice cream) is a special treat, often bought from street vendors. Many Indian villagers don’t have refrigerators. To make kulfi at home, they must order large blocks of ice from local factories, crack the ice into small chunks, and make an ice bath to freeze the kulfi. A freezer makes this recipe a lot easier! What You’ll Need: 1 cup sweetened condensed milk › cup heavy whipping cream 1 cup whole milk ¼ cup crushed pistachios (optional) ½ tsp. saffron (optional) ½ tsp. cardamom powder (optional) 4–6 Popsicle molds or small paper cups 4–6 Popsicle sticks What to Do: 1. In a large bowl, stir together the condensed milk, cream, and…

LILU’S HOUSE WAS bustling. It was Diwali, the Indian New Year and Festival of Lights, and her family was throwing a big party. Lilu wanted to help. But she wasn’t sure how. She wondered what her cousins far away in India did. Maybe they just ask, she thought. So Lilu looked for someone to ask. She found Grandma Nanima sitting on the den floor in a sea of marigold flowers. Nanima was making garlands to dress the doorways. The garland she was working on draped over her legs and snaked across the floor. Lilu sat next to her and picked up a marigold. “Can I help?” Smiling, Nanima took the marigold. “You can keep me company,” she said, poking her needle and string through the marigold. She gently slid the…

JUST LIKE YOU lugging a heavy backpack, the earth travels at a tilt. While the top part of the planet (the Northern Hemisphere) leans away from the sun, it’s winter there. While it’s tilted closer to those toasty rays, it’s summer. In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice is the moment each year when the North Pole points most directly away from the sun. If you live on the East Coast of the United States, for example, the 2016 winter solstice will happen at 5:44 A.M. on December 21. Set your alarm! But don’t expect to see much sun—this is the shortest day of the year. The summer solstice is the opposite: the moment when the North Pole points most directly toward the sun, in the Northern Hemisphere. In 2017…

I LIVE IN a log cabin in Fairbanks, Alaska. In the winter it is cold and dark outside. My dad brings in wood for the stove and he lets my sister Rose help him snap the kindling to get her wiggles out. My mom is melting snow on the stove, for water to wash the dishes. Rose calls to my father, “Josie is too little to help split logs!” But I have wiggles, too! I go to the wall of our cabin. The big round logs are smooth where my mom and dad scraped off the bark. I put my fingers in the groove between the logs. My dad filled the cracks with mortar and it’s rough and gray. I can climb the logs. I’m not too little. I climb…