Giddy up, Mac KID families! It's time to rein in some family fun.
Here are five fun horse-themed things to teach your kids this week.
1. A silly joke.
Do you like a good horse pun? Yay or neigh?
What do you call a horse that lives next door? Your neighbor.
2. A new vocabulary word.
Many everyday words and phrases in the English language use "horse," "pony," and other horse-themed words that are only loosely associated with equines or completely unrelated. Check out our list of 9 and see if you can think of any others.
Here are some words with "horse" or "pony" or other horse-themed words:
- Horseshoes: A lawn game that involves throwing horseshoes at a staked target.
- Horsepower: A unit of measurement that describes the output of engines or motors. One horsepower is approximately 746 watts.
- Horseradish: A root vegetable used as a spice and as a condiment.
- Clotheshorse: A special frame used to hold up clothes for air drying.
- Ponytail: A hairstyle in which hair is gathered and secured at the back of the head.
- Sawhorse: A beam with a-frame legs used to support wood for sawing.
- Nightmare: A frightening or unpleasant dream.
- Hyponym: A word that gives a more specific meaning to a broader term. (Examples: A rose is a hyponym for a flower. To gaze is a hyponym for to see.)
- Neighbor: A person living next door.
3. A word puzzle.
To solve a rebus, consider not just the words but the placement, size, color, and quantity of everything within the box (and sometimes just outside the box!) when trying to decipher the puzzle.
A merry-go-round is a term often used interchangeably with a carousel. It is a ride that rotates on a large circular platform and typically has wooden horses and other majestic animals for guests to sit upon.
4. A fun fact.
Are you right-handed or left-handed? Have you ever wondered whether your pets are biased towards their left or right limbs?
Did you know that you can determine if a horse is left- or right-hoofed by looking at how its hair grows? Right-hoofed horses have hair that typically grows in clockwise whorls, while left-hoofed horses usually have counter-clockwise whorls. Understanding a horse's preference can make a massive difference in horse racing and other equestrian sports.
Learn more from Nature.com.
Does the same science work for humans? Take a look in the mirror and study your cowlicks. Do they match with the research found about horses?
5. Teach a personal discovery.
In the early 1800s, when steam engines took the place of workhorses, people started to wonder how many horses could be replaced by the evolving technology. James Watt is known for answering that question.
He used mathematics to determine how much a large horse could pull, push, and lift, thus resulting in what we refer to today as horsepower. Learn more at CarandDriver.com.
Some of the best-selling cars in the US in 2021 have horsepower ratings between 140 and 350. See how your vehicle compares at Autolist.com.
What was your first car? What features are different from the car your kid(s) may have as their first vehicle?
"All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind." –Martin Fisher
Did you learn something new? Now's the time to pass that knowledge on! Be sure to come back next week for another five FUN things to teach your kids.
