Just a few things folks ought to pass on to their kids.
If they don't do it, maybe I will.
Even if it's not in the core curriculum standards.


Find a meteor:

Get a blanket.
Wait for dark.
Look up--if you see starts, lie down on blanket and continue looking up.
Wait some more.
Wow!

Catch a frog:

Get a small net (optional).
Find a pond.
Make sure pond is not frozen.
Look for jumping green objects as you approach the pond.
Crouch by the edge of the pond (or in it if you like).
Wait.
Wait some more.
When you see a pair of eyes poke out of the scum, swing net in general direction.
Feel through net now full of duckweed, algae, mud.
If no frog felt, dump net.
Watch frog you didn't feel hop away from blob of pond drek you just dumped.
Repeat.

Catch a boxer turtle:

Find a woods.
Wait for rain.
Go crawling around woods during rain and look for splotches of bright yellow.
(I know this sounds odd, but when we were kids we could sniff them out.)
Pick up your turtle.

Taste nectar:

Find a blooming honeysuckle vine.
Pull off a flower.
Carefully pinch the very bottom of the flower.
Slowly pull the bottom of the flower, pulling the stamens with it.
If you're lucky, a drop of nectar will rest at the base of the flower.
Suck on the flower like a straw.
Yum.

Find a (tiny) meteorite:

Put a bucket under a rain spout.
Collect rainwater, then let it sit somewhere dry and forget about it.
Rediscover bucket a few months later.
Put a magnet under a piece of paper, then scatter dried contents of bucket on the paper.
Shake the paper.
Look at the tiny bit left under a microscope.
Some will be pitted and look like meteorites under the microscope.
Why? Because they are!

The frog and flower are from the National Wildlife Service; the micrometeorite from NASA.