I’m reading Healing Night: The Science and Spirit of Sleeping, Dreaming, and Awakening. Author Rubin R. Naiman explains how the erosion of night (darkness) by artificial light is one of the things contributing to sleep disorders like insomnia. I’m one of those people who like a dimly lit room and am constantly turning off the lights my family turns on. Still there’s nothing like going camping or into the countryside away from the town lights, and observing stars, planets and meteor showers with your family.

Sometimes it’s impossible to leave the city. Instead, you may want to try sleeping on the roof like the little girl in At Night who needs the night sky to help her fall asleep. Written and illustrated by Jonathan Bean, the book will be released in late July/early August by children’s book publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Two other wonderful books that deal with night come from Sylvan Dell Publishing. Influenced by Native American folktales, How The Moon Regained Her Shape deals with bullying, self-confidence, and understanding the phases of the moon. The "Creative Minds" section explains the phases of the moon and helps to answerquestions like "Why does the shape of the moon change? Moon crafts and games are also included.

Pieces Of Another World is the story of a father and child’s nighttime excursion to watch a meteor shower. The "For Creative Minds" section is loaded with information about meteors and meteor showers. While I loved the artwork in How The Moon Regained Her Shape, Pieces Of Another World struck a cord with me. I really loved how the father took his daughter on a surprise trip to share something as magical as a meteor shower. Not only is this a book about appreciating nature, but it’s about father-daughter bonding, too.

Pieces Of Another World comes with a recipe for Comet Cookies. It’s a little messy, but it sounds like a bit of delicious, educational fun.

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When I saw this snack on the FamilyFun e-newsletter (sign up here) I just had to share.

Snail Snack
Makes 4 to 6 pinwheel sandwiches.

This silly-looking snack may appear to be moving at a snail’s pace, but it goes together — and disappears — quick as a wink.

Ingredients:

1. Mayonnaise or whipped cream cheese
2. Large tortilla (square if possible)
3. Lettuce or baby spinach
4. Sliced deli meat of your choice
5. Sliced cheese of your choice
6. Gherkin pickles
7. Chive stalks

Instructions:

1. If necessary, trim the rounded edges of the tortilla to make it square, then spread on a thin layer of the mayo or cream cheese.
2. Layer on the lettuce or baby spinach, then the meat and cheese, and roll it up tightly.
3. With the seam on the bottom, slice the tortilla into 2-inch-wide pinwheels. For the snail’s heads, cut a pickle in half at an angle. Poke two small holes in the uncut ends and stick pieces of chive with knots at one end in each for antennae.
4. Slip each pickle half under the edge of a pinwheel, securing them together with a toothpick, if necessary.

Click here to see a step-by-step video demonstration of this recipe.

Since this snack appeals to the preschool crowd, a great book pairing would be Are you a Snail? (Backyard Books) or Snail, Where are You? Make the snack, and read aloud while you enjoy your snail treat. Yum!

Now that Nestlé Chocolatier™, a premium baking chocolate with a high percentage of cacao, is available your local grocery store there is no excuse not to make some terrific chocolate desserts.

I found out about Chocolatier through their website. Not only does it have a terrific recipe finder that will help you find some fun chocolate recipes to make with the kids, but it’s educational, too.

So, let’s tackle dessert. Kids love to dip, so why not make chocolate fondue?

Dark Chocolate Orange Fondue
Preparation – 15 min | Cooking – 10 min |Yields – 4 | Makes 1 1/4 cups

Ingredients:

1. 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
2. 1 (8 oz.) NESTLÉ CHOCOLATIER™ 53% Cacao Dark Chocolate Baking Bar, finely chopped
3. 1 tablespoon orange liqueur (optional)
4. 1 teaspoon grated orange peel
5. Marshmallows, fresh fruit (washed and patted dry), cake cubes and/or pretzels

Directions:

1. HEAT cream in small, heavy-duty saucepan over MEDIUM-HIGH heat; bring just to a boil.
2. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; stir until smooth. Add liqueur and orange peel; mix well.
3. TRANSFER fondue to fondue pot; place over low heat.
4. To serve, dip marshmallows, fruit, cake and/or pretzels into melted chocolate. Stir often while on heat.

While you’re enjoying your fondue, how about giving the kids a lesson or two? Nestlé’s Explore Chocolate section goes into the history of chocolate and gives you a historical timeline. In the Health Benefits section there’s a discussion of flavonoids and antioxidants. Check out their media player for instructional cooking videos.

For an in depth look at chocolate, check out Usborne’s Story of Chocolate. The book looks at the world’s most popular treat and where it comes from. Children ages 5 to 12 will discover the bean behind each bar and follow its journey from the American rainforest to factories everywhere.

Like chocolate, knowledge is addicting! Who knew that chocolate was yummy and educational?

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Star Trek season premier. The TV show originally appeared on NBC, and has been going on in some form – movies, television, cartoons, comic books, novels, websites, and so – ever since.

Why not share your love for all things Star Trek with your kids? After all, Star Trek teaches an appreciation for science fiction and science fact like astronomy, physics, engineering and all the other sciences that have gone into exploration and space flight.

The series showed appreciation for cultural diversity with its Vulcan philosophy of IDIC – Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. Most importantly, the Star Trek expressed the hope that humanity did destroy itself, but matured and found peace, and went on to explore the galaxy to find new life and new civilizations.

HOPE – this is the lasting legacy that Gene Roddenberry gave us. Thanks sir, may you live long and prosper!

TV Activities:

First, TV Land is celebrating Star Trek with a 40th Anniversary prime time salute tonight. TV Land will showcase four of the most talked about and best remembered episodes from the series, including the show’s premiere and the historic episode featuring TV’s first interracial kiss from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. ET/PT before the show joins the TV Land roster beginning November 17, 2006. In November, TVLand.com’s new broadband media player will stream full-length episodes of Star Trek, which have previously not been available for free on the Web.

Web Activities:

Visit some cool websites with your kids (Thanks to the Delphos Herald for pointing some of these out):

• Startrek.com — The official Star Trek website
• TrekGuide — The definitive guide to every episode ever. Also find an intricate map of the Star Trek galaxy. Lot of Star Trek merchandise for sale at this huge site as well. Also a Star Trek news section and message boards.
• Star Trek Quotes — Who doesn’t want to live long and prosper or be beamed up by Scotty? But what about the more obscure Star Trek quotes. One fan claims to have the definitive collections. From the original series to the feature films, there are hundreds of quotes to peruse. There’s also Star Trek humor, a fan forum and links to more sites.
• StarWrecked — So you’d rather be making fun of Trekkies than reading about how the show got its start. Here’s a site that pokes fun at the show and its followers. See fixed photos, read jokes and “reworked” biographies. Also find some trivia, computer screen savers and wallpaper.
• BBC News – The BBC has a wonderful section on their website covering the Seattle conference, a picture gallery, a discussion of the definitive Star Trek, an interactive Star Trek timeline, fan films and clips, Star Trek through the eyes of a devoted fan, video clips, and Brent Spiner’s (Data) memories of working on ST:NG and the movies.
• More Star Trek 40th Anniversary news at Google

Museum Activities:

For you folks fortunate to live in Seattle, Planet Expo and Seattle’s Science Fiction Museum will present the 40th anniversary celebration for the show. This site shows all the information for that event including celebrity photo and autograph opportunities, a champagne toast at the top of the Space Needle, museum tours and more. Dress up, bring the kids and have fun!

If you don’t live in Seattle, visit a space or science museum to celebrate Star Trek’s 40th anniversary.

Cooking Activities:

Finally, make a yummy Vulcan Apple Pastry. According to Voyager’s chef Nelix, in his The Star Trek Cookbook, Vulcans adore these as a quickie hot breakfast treat, or at room temperature, as a school lunch box treat.

Nelix says that these are great afternoon snacks if your kids have to go from school to practice or an after-school activity. And they’re great for parents on the go or college students between classes or labs. Geez, that Mr. Nelix really knows how us 21st century Americans are always eating on the run.

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As a child, I had a secret desire to be an archaeologist. There was nothing more fascinating to me than digging around in the dirt to find clues to the past. So this weekend when I came across the “Bernstein’s Backyard Archaeology Projects” article from USA Weekend Magazine, it brought back a lot of memories of trying to find Native American artifacts in my backyard in New Jersey. I never found any arrowheads or pottery shards (mom found a few horseshoes) but it was fun pretending the rocks and sticks I dug up were ancient relics.

In the article, writer Gayle Jo Carter interviewed survival expert Josh Bernstein, the president and CEO of the Boulder Outdoor Survival School here in Colorado. He’s also the host of the History Channel’s family-friendly, adventure-archaeology series, “Digging for the Truth” (and all around hunk, oh my). Josh gives families five ideas for conducting their own neighborhood digs. (Don’t forget the gloves, kids!)

(From Bernstein’s Backyard Archaeology Projects by Gayle Jo Carter)

1. Have a friend destroy a small clay pot and bury it in a secret spot. Then try to find it (no fair looking for fresh dirt!). Next, dig up the pot and try to put it back together.
2. Dig a 2-by-2-by-2-foot section in the ground. (Kids, get permission from your parents first, and stick to your own yard.) Note every item you find — rocks, wood chips, sticks. Pinpoint those findings on graph paper, and label and place the items in individual bags for your collection. Don’t forget to refill the hole with dirt.
3. Bury a chicken bone for two weeks. Then dig it up and compare it with a fresh chicken bone. Now imagine a bone that has been in the ground for 5,000 years. Pretty amazing.
4. Empty a bag of household trash (kids, if it’s not yours, get permission first) and search through it. Separate the items, looking for those that would not decay in, say, 10 years. Then try to reconstruct in writing what kind of activities took place in the house based only on those items.
5. For “explorer” extra credit: Try to find and list 10 insects, 10 birds, five mammals, 10 trees and 20 plants within 30 minutes just in your immediate neighborhood. Give the list to a friend or family member and have him or her try to find the same items.

Some wonderful books for your young archaeologists:

• Archaeology for Kids: Uncovering the Mysteries of Our Past is an activity book for kids ages 9 and up that contains practical, real world activities. Readers can analyze soil or make an oil lamp like ones the ancient Greeks used. Each chapter offers an overview of a historical era then describes the pioneering efforts of archeologists who worked on digs from those times.
• Hands-on Archaeology: Real-life Activities for Kids – For children in grades 4-10. This book shows parents and teachers how to help children conduct real-life archaeological digs. Hands-on Archaeology offers small-scale activities for at home or in the classroom using everyday materials. Then there are activities where the author takes kids out if the school to an empty lot in the community.
• Stone Age People (Make it Work! History) – Helps children ages 8-11 discover the past by hands-on projects, facts, photographs, costumes, and maps.
• Archaeologists Dig for Clues (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) – This is a great introduction to archaeology for children ages 5-9.
• Fossils Tell of Long Ago (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) – for ages 4-8
• Let’s Go Rock Collecting (Let’S-Read-And-Find-Out Science. Stage 2) – for ages 4-8