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Fall: 10 facts kids will love
Whether you're exploring the pumpkin patch or collecting colouful leaves, there's plenty to do once fall hits. Impress your kids with these awesome autumn facts.
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Your kids will tell their friends
This autumn, don't just watch the leaves fall with your little ones, teach them why they fall, along with nine other mind-blowing facts you never knew about the windy season.
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Bobbing for apples: did you know?
Bobbing for apples is often associated with Halloween, but it's actually a Roman tradition (when they conquered Britain, they brought apple trees with them). Eventually, the Celtic Samhain festival merged with the harvest festival (now known as Halloween), and bobbing for apples was created.
The apple-bobbing champion is New Yorker Ashrita Furman, who bobbed 34 apples in one minute.
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Squash: did you know?
The largest squash on record belonged to Joel Jarvis. His prize-winner weighed 1,486.6 pounds. Think about how much butternut squash soup could be made with that!
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Umbrellas: did you know?
Umbrellas were originally invented 4,000 years ago to provide shade from the sun. The first modern European umbrellas were made of wood or whalebone and were covered in alpaca or canvas.
The first umbrella shop — opened in 1830 in Oxford, England — was called “James Smith and Sons.” It still exists today.
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Leaves: did you know?
When leaves change colour in the fall, they are actually becoming their true colour. In the summer, the chlorophyll (which is how the leaves receive nourishment from the sun) takes over and causes them to turn green and hide their colour.
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Pumpkins: did you know?
Pumpkins were once believed to remove freckles and cure snake bites. They are also grown all over the world: six of seven continents (all except Antarctica), to be exact.
Love pumpkin pie? The largest ever was over five feet in diameter and weighed over 350 pounds. It took over six hours to bake… now that’s patience!
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Halloween: did you know?
Black and orange are typically associated with Halloween. Orange represents strength and endurance (as well as harvest and autumn), whereas black is the symbol of darkness and reminds us that Halloween was once a festival about life and death.
The first known instance (in print) of trick-or-treating took place in Blackie, Alberta in 1927. Many countries, however, such as Australia and France, don’t even celebrate Halloween because they see it as overly commercial and an American tradition.
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Cornucopia: did you know?
The mythological origins of the cornucopia have to do with baby Zeus, who had to be hidden from his devouring father, Cronus, so he was put in a cave on Mount Ida to be cared for and protected by Amalthea, the goddess of nourishment.
Zeus accidentally broke one of her horns, which then had the divine power to provide unending nourishment, much like the cornucopia of Thanksgiving represents.
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Trees: did you know?
The world’s tallest tree measures more than 360 feet. It's a coast redwood and lives in California. That’s only a few feet shorter than the Empire State Building!
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Carrots: did you know?
The ancient Greeks called carrots philtrons, meaning “love charm.” They believed they had the power to make people more amorous.
The largest carrot ever recorded was almost 17 feet long, whereas the heaviest carrot weighed 18.985 pounds.
Another cool thing about carrots is that if you eat too many of them, you can turn orange (and that’s scientifically proven, not just on The Magic School Bus).
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Rain: did you know?
Rain drops fall at the speed of about 22 miles per hour, whereas snowflakes fall at about three miles per hour (and take about an hour to reach the ground). Rain drops don't fall in the shape of a tear drop, either, they come down in flat ovals.
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