Blog Archives

An Award For "At The Beach"

3/27/2020

Teaching children how to enjoy and also take care of the ocean is so important. The ocean is the source of life and we are polluting it, abusing it and destroying it. I am so proud that my little book, At The Beach, was just awarded an international award because it is about taking care of the beach and the ocean while enjoying it, an issue that is critical to all of us, The health of the ocean and the appreciation of it and healthy enjoyment of it are basic to our wonderful world. In this book, Lae Lae and Timmy go the beach and play at the water's edge under Lae Lae's mom's watchful eye. The children learn beach safety in addition to beach appreciation. Beaches can be treacherous with strong tides and children have to be carefully watched over around them. Timmy and Lae Lae learn what is at the beach and what should be left there and what should be picked up and either thrown away or recycled. There is so much that is carelessly being swept into the ocean today and so much that our fish and ocean creatures are ingesting that is very harmful for them...and for us.

As with all of the other books in the collection, there are fun games and activities to enjoy that help teach children about how to care for and enjoy the big beautiful world that they live in.

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Just a reminder, in days when children are forced to stay inside, there are free coloring pages and stickers that can be downloaded from this website over and over to enjoy freely. Look on the pages where the books are listed and you will see the PDF files to download. Printed books can be ordered and E-books are also available. Enjoy teaching your kids about our earth, and its creatures. They can play along with Lae Lae and her gang of friends (including her invisible friend, Poco and her puppy Patches) as they learn through the story and the games and activities..

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A Child's Aquaponics Garden Tower

3/13/2020

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Aquaponics, the growing of plants with water and fish, produces edible garden plants - with an underlying aquatic ecosystem as its base. Children can enjoy learning how this works with a self-sustaining aquaponics garden tower. In this multi-layered garden tower the fish in an aquarium below feed the plants up above and the plants then provide clean water back to the fish below creating a completely enclosed self sustaining eco system. Aquaponics differs from hydroponics in that it is not developed with a chemically treated water system but is more like a "wetland" or pond world.

How does it work? Fish living in an aquarium at the base of the tower produce a waste product which is filtered to break down the toxic ammonia and is turned into a nitrogen fertilizer. That water is pumped up through tubes via a power source, either electric, battery or solar, where it feeds the plants in trays above, giving the plants needed nutrients to help them grow. In return, the plants filter out the nitrogen in the water and the overflow goes back down a second set of tubes to the aquarium, denitrified, to the fish below. It's fascinating to see how the "two worlds" work together to produce wonderful healthy green plants, lush fruits and vegetables and happy fish. Another positive aspect of the system is that a well maintained aquaponics fish tank is self cleaning and shouldn't need to be cleaned by hand.

Many different kinds of fish will do for the aquarium If you are using them just to enjoy, goldfish are wonderful because they are beautiful, come in many varieties and naturally grow to the appropriate size of their living space. Be very careful to feed the fish only once a day with a food for your type of fish and remove what is not consumed in 30 minutes. Overfeeding will produce rotting food and disease.

Worldwide, aquaponics is being utilized to produce healthy, wholesome food in small spaces and more than 150 different vegetables, herbs, flowers and small trees have been grown successfully in aquaponic systems. Aquaponics is becoming an important way to provide food to the world today.

Aquaponics Garden Towers with fish and plants are fun for a child to build, watch and learn from and they will be proud of what they have accomplished as they share their produce and show off their little fish partners to their friends.

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