Kids News - Social Studies for Kids

With Halloween falling on a Monday this year, chances are you are feeling a little sleep-deprived. Here is some good news at least for those that live in North America. This weekend marks the end of Daylight Saving Time (DST), which means that on Sunday, November 6, you can enjoy an extra hour of sleep (or play) by simply turning back the clocks....

Today, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists worldwide, will begin the countdown to Diwali. Also called the Festival of Lights, the annual event is the most anticipated and eagerly awaited of all Indian celebrations. Though the holiday is always observed in late October or early November, the exact date which is determined by the position of the moon and the Hindu lunar calendar, differs....

If you visit Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington DC, you may notice one of the zoo’s resident elephants, Shanthi, strolling around in stylish Teva boots. While the footwear makes the 9,000-pound pachyderm stand out among her peers, its primary purpose is to provide the 41-year-old relief from the side effects of arthritis, a chronic condition that causes painful inflammation and stiffness of joints....

Legendary artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, who conducted the first systematic study of friction, has always been credited as the pioneer in Tribology. But while his famous machinery design sketches reflected the inventor’s knowledge of the benefits and drawbacks of friction, precisely when and how Leonardo developed these ideas, has remained a mystery....

In August, a team of Mongolian and Japanese researchers unearthed the world’s largest dinosaur footprint in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert. The print that measured 3.6-feet long and 6.4-feet wide, is believed to be that of the titanosaur, a diverse species of sauropod dinosaurs that inhabited Earth during the Cretaceous period, between 70 and 90 million years ago....

Researchers have long attributed the evolution of human intelligence to the size of the brain. It turns out that while a larger skull certainly helped, it was the extra blood sucked in by the brain that transformed humans into one of Earth’s smartest species. The surprising revelation that overturns the previous, long-standing theory comes from a team of scientists at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa and the University of Adelaide in Australia....

Five years ago, Finland resident Rami Adham embarked on a mission to help the Syrian refugees in his former hometown of Aleppo. The father of six used all his savings to buy food and medicine. As he was leaving for Syria, his three-year-old daughter, Yasmin, offered to donate her toys, in exchange for a new Barbie doll. A deal was made, and the aid worker added 25 teddy bears and 36 Barbie dolls to his already heavy load....

On September 10, 2016, a meteorite weighing more than 30-tons (68,000 pounds) was unearthed in Argentina’s Campo del Cielo (Spanish for “Field of Heaven”) region. The space rock that is amongst the largest intact meteorites discovered thus far, is believed to be part of a massive meteor that disintegrated as it entered Earth's atmosphere approximately 4,000 — 6,000 years ago....

Three-year-old Bailey suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a medical condition that affects the spinal cord’s motor nerve cells. As a result, she is unable to sit, stand, crawl, or walk on her own. She also can’t swallow food efficiently or breathe without the help of a machine. But thanks to Surf Dog Ricochet (and some human volunteers), Bailey and a few other kids suffering from SMA recently did what most children their age only dream of — go surfing!...