Throwback Thursday: “Are caterpillars ticklish?” Part Two: The Tickling

Every once in a while people ask me why I named my blog Caterpickles. Believe it or not, there is actually a reason. Back in the days when my daughter’s question-to-declarative sentence ratio was a hefty 15:1, she asked me a question about caterpillars that launched an impromptu science experiment that was so much fun, I decided to document it (and a few of my daughter’s other questions) for posterity. “Mommyo, are caterpillars ticklish?”

What’s The Nine-Year-Old reading this week?

This week, The Nine-Year-Old reviews two popular kids magazines: Ranger Rick, a nature magazine from the National Wildlife Federation and Ask, a science and arts magazine from Cricket Media.

What’s The Nine-Year-Old reading this week?

This week, the 9 year old flits from math to science fiction to wondering in her reading. Join us for her reviews of Math for Kids & Other People Too! by Theoni Pappas, The Time Warp Trio by Jon Scieszka, and The Big Book of Why by the Editors of Time for Kids Magazine.

What’s The Nine-Year-Old reading this week?

Our mostly-weekly survey of the tidbits that cross The Nine-Year-Old’s desk. This week, The Nine-Year-Old reviews Missy Piggle-wiggle and the Whatever Cure by Ann M Martin, Mammoths and Mastodons by Cheryl Bardoe, and Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar.

The (then) Eight-Year-Old talks with Uncle Phil

Uncle Phil: “Have you ever seen magnesium burn?” The (then) Eight-Year-Old, sadly: “No. We don’t have that kind of science teacher.” Fortunately, she does have (carefully supervised)…

“Can crickets die of fright,” Part Two: “Do crickets have hearts?”

As you may remember from last week, The Nine-Year-Old and I have a working theory that her crickets, Narmer and Charles Allen, may have actually died from fright. We thought it was possible that after a certain unfortunate event, a surge of octopamine (the cricket version of adrenaline) flooded their system and caused their hearts to stop. Daddyo was not convinced. “Do crickets even have hearts?”

“Can crickets die of fright?”

For her third grade science project, The Nine-Year-Old has been keeping a series of crickets at home. I say series, because all the male crickets keep dying off. We can’t figure out why the one female cricket would be fine, while all the males are dying. Our working theory is that upon exposure to the Cricket Hellscape that is the 9YO’s room, the males are dying of fright. But can crickets die of fright?

RIP: Charles Allen Cricket

This morning, it is with differentially heavy hearts that we at Caterpickles must report the death of another male cricket. As reported last Friday, The Nine-Year-Old’s first…

“Mommyo, help! Does paper conduct even a low level of electricity?”

Even though paper is an insulator, not a conductor of electricity, it is possible to conduct a low level of electricity through paper, provided you have the right tools. Here’s what you’ll need to set up your own paper circuit at home.

Wordless Wednesday: The Eight-Year-Old’s Wild Tiger Rescue Kit

The Eight-Year-Old put her recent research into simple machines to good use this weekend. Here is her soon-to-be-patent-pending Wild Tiger Rescue Kit, complete with crane, sling, and gurney transport.