DRAW LIKE A CAVEMAN FIND LEGENDARY CONSTELLATIONS IN THE SKY ORGANIZE A DINNER WITH KING ARTHUR DO SOME TIME TRAVELING… IN YOUR TOWN GO ON A NIGHT TRIP WITH YOUR FAMILY BUILD A MINIATURE WORLD…INSIDE GLASS CREATE A SECRET AND ENCRYPTED ALPHABET
CAPSULE
ORGANIZE A SLEEPOVER PARTY IN...2250
BECOME A NERD AND CHALLENGE YOUR FRIENDS
CREATE YOUR OWN NEWSPAPER
CREATE A WORK OF ART USING… NATURE
BUILD A COMPASS TO…
WRITE A RAP SONG TO PROTECT SHARKS
PAINT SOME MURALS
ORGANIZE A TREASURE HUNT…IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
MAKE AN ACTION MOVIE...WITH YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL
MAKE KNOTS LIKE THE PIRATE BLACKBEARD
GROW CARNIVOROUS PLANTS
MAKE YOUR TOWN BLOSSOM WITH SEED BOMBING
CREATE A COMIC ABOUT YOUR LIFE… ON MARS
MAKE A RESTAURANT FOR BIRDS
PREPARE YOUR SURVIVAL KIT AS AN ADVENTURER 16 19 22 25 28 17 20 23 26 29 18 21 24 27 30
WARNING: THIS CHALLENGE DOES NOT REQUIRE YOU TO VENTURE INTO A CAVE
WHAT YOU NEED
1 SHEET OF PACKING PAPER
PAPER MASKING TAPE COLORFUL CRAYONS
You will have to face this drawing challenge by lying on your back. That’s right—using the masking tape, fix a sheet of packing paper to the underside of a low table, such as the coffee table in your living room.
BE CAREFUL TO TAKE MEASUREMENTS FIRST!
You should be able to lie comfortably under the table, without getting stuck. Then you can start drawing in the prehistoric way by extending your arm and letting your creativity flow!
YOU DON’T NEED TO DRAW THE OUTLINE OF A BISON TO MAKE YOUR DRAWINGS LOOK LIKE THE CAVE ONES! IN FACT, YOU CAN ENJOY DRAWING MODERN AND TECHNOLOGICAL OBJECTS IN A PREHISTORIC WAY!
No 4 Challenge FIND LEGENDARY CONSTELLATIONS
IN THE SKY
LOOK UP TO THE CELESTIAL VAULT!
ASTRONOMICAL GEOGRAPHY
Mapping the night sky is an adventure that has engaged humans since ancient times. With the passing of time and the evolution of technology, we have been discovering more and more about the stars that light up the night. Unfortunately, however, that mysterious and legendary aura that hovered around the first interpretations of the stars has been lost.
THE CONSTELLATIONS
The celestial sphere has been divided into 88 parts, each of which is represented by a constellation. By observing the sky, humans tended to group together the stars that seemed to be positioned next to each other; modern astronomy has shown that stars thought to be close to each other in reality are often separated by large distances, while others that appear distant are indeed very close!
STARS AND MYTHOLOGY
In ancient Greece, the star-studded sky was a veritable collection of legends. Other civilizations, when observing the stars, grouped them in a similar way, giving them different names and myths. Ursa Major in Greek mythology was Callista, a nymph loved by Zeus and transformed by him into a constellation to escape the anger of Hera, his wife. For the Aztecs, the same constellation was instead called Tezcatlipoca, the god of the night.
ANTI-MOSQUITO FUNCTION
Many bats are insectivores and are very useful for freeing humans from mosquitoes! A bat can eat hundreds of mosquitoes in one night.
They also feed on parasitic plant insects—they are not only a natural mosquito repellent, but also a pesticide!
Bats produce waste containing substances such as nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus, so their droppings are highly fertilizing, contributing significantly to the growth of plants and flowers.
BUT BE CAREFUL: THE POOP SHOULD NOT BE TOUCHED WITH BARE HANDS, ONLY WITH GLOVES!
PRECIOUS POOP!
No 15 Challenge MAKE DINOSAUR FOSSILS
IT
IS NOT EASY TO COME ACROSS A TRICERATOPS FOSSIL WHILE
DIGGING IN THE GARDEN…
PALEONTOLOGY IS...
...the science that studies fossils: remains, or even just footprints, of living organisms preserved in the earth’s layers, but also inside ice or resin (such as amber, which can encapsulate insects from thousands of years ago!).
It is believed that the oldest fossils ever found date to 3.7 billion years ago; these were stromalites, microscopic remains formed by communities of bacteria.
HUNTING FOR FOSSILS
There are areas of the planet that abound in fossil remains—they can even be found on the beach while walking, just like shells.
One of these areas is in the United Kingdom; on the beaches of Lyme Regis (now called the “Jurassic Coast”), at the beginning of the nineteenth century, many enthusiasts used to collect fossils here. Among them, a little girl named Mary Anning even discovered entire dinosaur skeletons (like a plesiosaur, in 1823). She became a self-taught paleontologist.
No 23 Challenge PAINT SOME MURALS
GIVE FREE REIN TO YOUR CREATIVITY…ON A WALL!
WALL ART
Drawing on walls is a very ancient custom—from cave paintings in prehistory, to sacred frescoes, to the decoration of the interiors of palaces.
The word “mural”originated in Mexico in the early twentieth century, when many artists began to create art on walls with subjects that referred to the country’s history and politics.
MURALS AND GRAFFITI
The world of graffiti is different. Born in the 1970s in New York City, they are drawings that mainly originate from the graphic reworking of a signature, but they can also be proper artwork.
WHEN YOU SEE A TRAIN CARRIAGE DECORATED WITH SPRAY PAINT SIGNATURES AND DESIGNS, YOU’RE LOOKING AT A GRAFFITI!
No 27 Challenge
CREATE A COMIC ABOUT YOUR LIFE... ON MARS
DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY MISSIONS TO MARS HAVE BEEN ORGANIZED SINCE THE MIDTWENTIETH CENTURY? NEARLY FORTY, AND MORE THAN HALF HAVE FAILED! MARS IS NOT VERY EASY TO APPROACH!
The first time people saw an image of the surface of the planet Mars, man had not yet landed on the moon! In 1964 the NASA spacecraft Mariner 4 managed to orbit the red planet and captured 22 shots of its surface. In 1971, a Soviet orbital vehicle, the Mars 2 probe, orbited Mars.
THE FIRST PHOTO
VIKINGS ON MARS
In July 1976, the Viking1 probe, called a lander, landed on Martian soil, with the goal of examining the martian ground.
The Viking1 “orbiter” spacecraft, however, was in the planet’s orbit and mapped its surface.
SINCE THEN, STUDIES OF THE RED PLANET HAVE CONTINUED WITH SUCCESSES AND FAILURES AND ARE STILL GOING!
No 30 Challenge PREPARE YOUR SURVIVAL KIT AS AN ADVENTURER
YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN A NEW ADVENTURE MIGHT COME ALONG!
STARS OF THE PAST
Did you know that decades ago, before cinema, television, and the internet became the means of communication that established the stars and divas of their time, there were many celebrity adventurers. That’s right. The news of their adventures in the most inhospitable places on the planet and their stories when they returned home were very popular! They were the idols of children, who dreamed of one day becoming just like them.
