Chills ’n Thrills
New Winter Wonders Await
If your kids are tired of building the same old snowman or taking another sled trip down the hill this winter, here are three fresh ideas for kids and teens — or the young at heart — to have new adventures in the snow.
to use the mounds of flakes as a yard-length white canvas? All they’ll need to create art in the snow are squirt bottles, food coloring, and their imaginations. If you’re short of food coloring, your kitchen offers plenty of art supplies. For example,
you can smash up blueberries and mix them with water to create natural purple “paint,” use tomatoes to make a red solution, and strawberries can add a touch of pink. Just be sure any ingredients your children use are safe for the environment — and watch as they create their own Picassos on your property!
FROZEN BUBBLE FUN While adults may not care much for freezing temperatures, kids who dress warmly enough can find plenty of fun things to do in cold weather besides building another Frosty in the front yard. If the air is frigid enough, they may be able to blow bubbles that will freeze mid-air. Watching frozen bubbles pop can be a delight, as they often resemble broken glass as they cascade to the ground. If this activity sounds like a great time, ensure your kids are well protected from the elements so they don’t get too cold while creating their makeshift shards.
PLUNGE LIKE A POLAR BEAR Now, this one’s not for the faint of heart. A “polar bear plunge” is an activity where groups of people take ice-cold dips, runs, and leaps into a nearby river, lake, or ocean in the dead of winter, often to raise money for charity. If diving into freezing waters makes you shudder (or if there’s no way you’d let your children do that), you can still enjoy the event as a spectator — dressed comfortably in your warmest winter clothes.
BOLD ART ON THE SNOW If heavy snowfall has kept your kids from attending school for the day, why not turn their time away from class into a fun opportunity
Weird Stories From World War II Ghosts and Gold
World War II, the largest conflict in human history, saw millions of soldiers engaged in fierce battles across the globe, from the deserts of Tunisia and the muddy fields of Kursk to the streets of Singapore and the tropical atolls of the Marshall Islands. Some oddities go overlooked among the countless acts of heroism, savagery, desperation, stalemates, victories, and defeats. Bizarre events, characters, and plans that sound too outlandish to be true (but are!) prove reality is often stranger than fiction. THE GHOST ARMY Deception is a prominent part of war, but the U.S. Army invented an entirely new way of misleading the enemy. The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, nicknamed the “Ghost Army,” was a unit dedicated to creating a fake army
capable of drawing enemy attention and resources away from the rest of the front. Deployed on Jan. 20, 1944, the Ghost Army comprised around 1,000 men, including artists, fashion designers, and geniuses. The unit utilized inflatable tanks and vehicles, sent out phony commands over the radio, and even created a landfill big enough to convince any aerial reconnaissance that a much larger force was camped at their location. OPERATION GOLDEN EYE Following the Spanish Civil War, a fascist regime sympathetic to Nazi Germany, led by Francisco Franco, assumed control of Spain. While Spain was neutral during the war — partly due to skillful diplomacy by the Allies — the British Army prepared for the worst. If Spain entered the war and Germany
invaded British Gibraltar, they needed a plan to repel the invasion and defeat the Spanish and German armies. The British tasked Commander Ian Fleming of the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve with this task. The plan was nicknamed Operation Golden Eye. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Ian Fleming went on to write a series of spy novels starring its titular character, James Bond.
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