Daniel was wearing safety goggles.
There was only one problem.
They belonged to the bug viewer.
“Do I look like a scientist?” he asked.
Emily smiled.
“You look like someone who’s about to discover something.”
The Explorer Kit
The little nature explorer kit sat on Emily’s desk all week.
Every time she walked past it, she wanted to open it again.
The tiny magnifying glass sparkled in the sunlight.
The notebook had empty pages waiting to be filled.
The bug viewer looked like something a real scientist would use.
“Can we try it today?” Daniel asked.
“That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
They hurried outside into the backyard.
“Scientists make observations,” Emily said.
“What’s an observation?”
“Looking carefully.”
Daniel nodded.
“I can do that.”
The First Discovery
Emily knelt beside a row of flowers.
A tiny ladybug crawled across one of the leaves.
“Look!”
Daniel leaned closer.
“It has spots.”
“Let’s count them.”
One…
Two…
Three…
“Seven!” Daniel announced.
Emily wrote it in the notebook.
Ladybug. Seven spots.
“Scientists write everything down,” she said.
“Even if it’s little?”
“Especially if it’s little.”
Daniel smiled.
“I like little discoveries.”
The Ant Highway
Near the fence, Daniel suddenly pointed at the ground.
“Emily!”
“Come here!”
A long line of ants marched across the dirt.
Each one carried something.
A crumb.
A tiny leaf.
A seed.
“Where are they going?” Daniel wondered.
Emily followed them with her eyes.
The trail disappeared beneath a flat stone.
“They have a whole neighborhood under there.”
“That’s amazing.”
Daniel carefully placed one tiny crumb near the trail.
The ants found it almost immediately.
“They’re good at teamwork,” Emily said.
She added another note to the notebook.
The Experiment
“Real scientists ask questions,” Emily said.
“I have one!” Daniel announced.
“Do worms like sunshine?”
Emily laughed.
“Let’s find a different question.”
She looked around the yard.
Then she smiled.
“Which melts faster…”
“An ice cube in the sun…”
“…or an ice cube in the shade?”
Dad brought out two matching plates.
Mom gave them two ice cubes.
Emily placed one plate on the sunny patio.
The other stayed beneath the oak tree.
“Predictions?” Dad asked.
“The sunny one!” Daniel answered immediately.
“I agree,” Emily said.
They waited.
Every few minutes Emily checked both ice cubes.
She drew little pictures in the notebook.
After fifteen minutes, the sunny ice cube had almost disappeared.
The shaded one was still half its size.
“We were right!” Daniel cheered.
Emily smiled.
“Now we know.”
“Even though we thought we knew already.”
Dad nodded.
“That’s why experiments are useful.”
One More Surprise
Later that afternoon, Emily looked through the magnifying glass again.
This time she wasn’t searching for bugs.
She looked at tree bark.
Leaves.
Flower petals.
Everything looked different up close.
“There’s so much to notice,” she whispered.
Daniel looked through the magnifying glass.
“Whoa.”
“Grass looks like a forest.”
Emily laughed.
“It kind of does.”
The Library
On Saturday, Mom took Emily and Daniel to the library.
Emily wanted a book about insects.
Daniel wanted one about dinosaurs.
“Still?” Emily asked.
“Always.”
As Emily walked toward the science shelves, something colorful caught her eye.
A bright poster hung on the community bulletin board.
Across the top, in cheerful letters, it read:
ANNUAL PET PARADE
Bring your favorite furry, feathered, or scaly friend!
Emily smiled.
“Mom!” she called.
“Can we go?”
Mom walked over and read the poster.
“I think Coco would enjoy that.”
Emily imagined colorful ribbons, happy pets, and smiling families walking through the park.
“I think he would too.”
i love science too.
i love science too.
I love adventures