Why a Scavenger Hunt?

When you’re looking for creative, inexpensive ways to engage your child, you can design your own scavenger hunt using your home.

Whether your home is a house or an apartment doesn’t matter, you and your child can have fun looking at old thing in new ways.

It’s especially useful during inclement weather and your stuck inside.

Examples

This activity is inspired by a 2008 challenge at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the book Everyday Mysteries by Jerome Wexler. It involves not looking at an object as a whole but focusing on its details.

Here’s a sample from the Met challenge. For access to more examples and downloadable pdfs click here.

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Montessori Sound Baskets – Explained

Unless you’ve been exposed to the Montessori philosophy and teaching method, you may not have heard of or seen sound baskets.

Sound baskets are a simple, straightforward method to spark understanding of letter sounds.

Read a full description here.

The Benefits

 ✔️ Active engagement

 ✔️ Employs Reasoning

✔️ Employs Critical Thinking

✔️ Reduces screen time

      ☑️ See study on impacts of screen-time on youth development 

 ✔️ Encourages independent learning and exploration

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The Night Sky – 2025 Edition

The night sky 2025  will offer many opportunities for spectacular views. 

The year has kicked-off with unfavorable night sky viewing conditions across much of the United States and other locations. We hope there’s rapid improvement.

Tracking the sky can be done for little or no money, and is a great way to spend time away from technology while enjoying the natural world. Excessive screen time is considered to have negative impacts on youth development.

We use a mix of websites for this post, so you can select the one(s) that best matches your taste.

SUMMER 2025 – What Can You Observe?

Days are long and nights are short but there will be plenty to see during the warm months of the summer. Some events will be difficult to observe in areas with intense light pollution. 

Visit our K-12 Learning Resources for more astronomy and other science resources, including NASA @home under the “Virtual Tours” tab.

August 2025

Challenge 1 – Summer Triangle | August 1

A fishy full moon.  Sturgeon Moon  | August 8/9

Challenge 2: Perseid meteor shower  | August 12

Challenge 3 – Moon, Venus and Jupiter | August 21

More August events.

As of this posting the August 2025 video from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory hasn’t been released. Check here for an update in late July/early August.

July 2025

From the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Download the guide from What’s Out Tonight.

From the National Space Centre in the U.K.

June 2025

From Sky & Telescope for the first week of June 2025.

July & August 2025

Use this calendar to plan your viewing. We’ll update this section with video at the end of June and July.

The Night Sky 2025 Beginnings

Depending where on your location, you may have witnessed the Northern Lights to close 2024.

Also starting at the end of 2024 and continuing into the 2025 night sky is the Quadrantis meteor shower.

More January Events

Night sky, January 2025: What you can see tonight [maps] | Space

What to Look for in February

You’re familiar with the term crescent moon, but have you heard of crescent Venus?

This requires viewing with a telescope, if you have one and weather conditions permit, venture out on February 19 to witness this event.

Other February Events

Calendar for February

What to Look for in March

There will be a total lunar eclipse starting the evening of March into March 14 (when the moon is full). Click here to download visibility map from NASA.

Later in the month there will be a partial solar eclipse.

Other events in March

We will update this post each quarter, but if you want to plan ahead use these reference links to search for occurrences for the entire year.

We will update this post each quarter, but if you want to plan ahead use these reference links to search for occurrences for the entire year.

The Night Sky – April 2025

Planet conjunctions, meteor showers and Mercury

One of the highlights for the month of April comes in the third week.

The Lyrid meteor shower will be visible April 16-25 with the peak occurring on April 22.

Happening during the same timeframe witll be the conunction of the moon and Saturn on the 24th and the moon and Mercury on the 25th.

Full calendars of April 2025 Events

In the Sky

Space Tourism Guide

May 2025 Sky Events 

Will there be a new star?

Let NASA explain:  What’s Up: May 2025 Skywatching Tips from NASA

The Eta Aquariid meteors will peak on May 6, 2025.

Final Thoughts

Want to compare 2024 to 2025 night sky events? Take a look back at our year-long blog post. Keeping a journal of your observances through the years a great way to document your activities.

Check back for summer sky happenings.

Use the comments to share your viewing experiences.

Enjoy!