📚KIDS BOOKS👧🏼 | FANTABULOUS FACTS

GEOGRAPHY GIRL/ GEOGRAPHY BOY (nouns): LIKE NORMAL GIRLS AND BOYS BUT COOLER!

Did you know that Australia is the smallest continent
There are 7 continents on earth
5 billion people live in the largest called Asia
Are you also one of those?

Did you know the Sahara is the hottest desert
In the African sun, it sizzles
No man nor beast can walk long in that heat
The mood and the skin both shrivel

Russia and China each touch 14 countries
The Pacific Ocean is shrinking
20% of earth’s oxygen comes from the Amazon
The salty Dead Sea is sinking

The United States and Canada share
The longest border on our planet
It is 1500 miles of valleys and mountains
Now that is a fact fantastic!

Did you know that Mount Everest may be
The world’s highest peak in Nepal
But it is far easier to climb than K2
Which is situated in Pakistan

If you have ever wondered about
The biggest and smallest countries
Russia by far has the largest area
The tiniest is Vatican City

Volcanos are quite interesting things
They sometimes sleep and sometimes roar
The largest one in the world that’s still active
Is Hawaii’s Mauna Loa

Our world is a wonderful ball of creation
With plants and beasts no one’s still seen
While we have explored most of the land
Our oceans remain a mystery.

📚KIDS BOOKS👦🏻 | FANTABULOUS FACTS

OOPS! I THINK I INVENTED SOMETHING!

Crispy, salty and savoury chips
Icecream cones and corn flakes
What a treat they all are to eat
Did you know they were all made by mistake?

Another one that was meant for guns
To be fired in World War Two
Is now also used on jet planes
That magical thing called super glue

Sometimes being a bit of a mess
Can lead to fantastic creations
That’s how Alexander Fleming the scientist
Discovered the antibiotic penicillin

X-rays and microwaves are also inventions
That came about completely by chance
Also chocolate chip cookies because the chips
Didn’t melt as their baker had planned

An engineer in the navy, stumbled on the slinky
When he was working on serious stuff
Off tumbled a spring, that just kept on bouncing
And that’s where this toy comes from

Velcro fasteners - we love them or hate them
Were inspired from sticky burrs
While walking a Swiss engineer, got them on his trousers
And his dog got them stuck in his fur

Coca Cola, matches and play-doh
These inventions all so super
Silly putty and those handy sticky notes
All started out as bloopers.

📚KIDS BOOKS👧🏽 | FANTABULOUS FACTS

ONCE UPON A REALLY, VERY LONG TIME AGO …

Our ancestors were busy people 
All across our blue green earth
Building pyramids, temples and cities
From the Andes to Kuwait

The Egyptians used beer to buy things
The Mayans mastered astronomy
Roman vomitariums were not for vomiting
But theatre exits if you please

Neanderthals were built like wrestlers
They were strong and wild and free!
The Aztecs played deadly ball games
The loser died, the winner lived happily

The oldest letter of complaint
Is over 4000 years old
Nanni the Mesopotamian was upset
With the copper he had been sold

Did you know Cleopatra was not Egyptian
She was in fact quite Greek
The Chinese had invented toilet paper
While the Europeans still used leaves!

Human beings have always loved music
The oldest flute is from the ice age
The Stonehenge stones are so big
Each weighs as much as a blue whale

Egyptian gods had human bodies and animal heads
They were quite an awesome sight!
A Viking’s old poo was found in 1972
Ancient poop is called Coprolite

Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt
The fertile Indus River Valley
The ancient Chinese, the Inca, the Aztecs
These civilizations make up our history.

📚KIDS BOOKS | GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES

👹HADES💀

“Get in line now, don’t dawdle!” 
Comes the serious sounding voice
It’s the god of the underworld making sure
The spirits don’t make any noise

Hades the god of the underworld
Likes his land to be quiet and dark
Cerebrus, his three-headed dog agrees
With three separate growls and one bark

Hades which means “the unseen one”
Has a power no other god shares
His Helmet of Darkness makes him invisible
He can pounce on anyone anywhere

Prayers and sacrifices do very little
This mighty god is not swayed
If someone enters the spirit world
Then that is where they will stay

The bad spirits are punished by him
They carry big stones on their heads
The good ones get to swim in the Styx
And float back into comfy beds

Hades loves just one person most
Persephone his wife
He kidnapped her while she picked flowers
And now lives by his side

You can sometimes hear the rustle
Of Hades and his three-headed dog
Roaming around on a still night
When darkness cloaks the world.

📚KIDS BOOKS | GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES

⚕️HERMES🪽

Known as a trickster from the time he was born
When he was just four days old in his crib
Hermes stole Apollo’s sacred sheep
With a crawl, a jump and a skip

Hermes grew up to be a messenger
To the gods; they now send
Him on adventurous trips between
The worlds of gods and men

Magical winged sandals carry him
At fast as lightning speeds
One moment he is in front of you
The other moment on Mercury

When he is not carrying messages
He is busy making things
The sweet sounding lyre, the first ever fire
The dice and even writing

Hermes helped his brother Perceus
Kill Medusa and her wriggly snakes
The brothers fought bravely together
There really was no room for mistakes

The messenger of gods also protects
All travellers - merchants and thieves
Schoolboys and schoolgirls, fathers and mothers
Are all watched over by Hermes

In all this delivering, protecting and fighting
Hermes still finds time to play
This master of fun, when he fools someone
You can hear him laughing away.

📚KIDS BOOKS | GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES

🌹APHRODITE 🐚

Born from the lacy foam of the sea
Is Aphrodite the goddess of love
She is the original beauty queen
There is none lovelier on earth or above

Legend has it that this goddess
Despite her many charms
Can sometimes become jealous and mean
Many men have come to harm

She loves making people fall in love
But to herself she is also kind
Her belt that is magical, spins love triangles
A trickier goddess is hard to find

She started the famous Trojan war
Because of her spell on Helen of Troy
Paris did not have a chance against her
He was then just a love-sick boy

Venus de Milo the famous statue
Was sculpted as a tribute
To this goddess, but as to why it is armless
No one really has a clue

She has quite a few children
But her favourite by far is Eros
Sometimes an angel, sometimes an imp
He is always wild and mischievous

Filled with both beauty and brains
Aphrodite is graceful and stately
Roses and doves, spears and conchs
Make up the vibe of this powerful lady.

📚KIDS BOOKS | GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES

🌋HEPHAESTUS ⚒️

Known as the blacksmith of the gods
Hephaestus controls fire
He can mould metals into any shapes
And things that he desires

This god of fire can also breathe life
Into all his metal creations
He’s made two golden ladies who help him
They are both quite a sensation!

His workshops are many, countless in fact
Every volcano has one, we are told
He and his maidens make knickknacks and weapons
Of bronze and silver and gold

The tools that Heaphestus uses to build
Fabulous things in his workshop
Are also his symbols of magic and power
The hammer, the anvil and tongs

Some say he’s married to Aphrodite
The goddess of beauty and love
Whether she loves him back in fact
We really cannot be sure of

Hephaestus is the only god of Olympus
Who is lame and can’t really walk
But that doesn’t stop him from being
A great and powerful Greek god

So next time you see a particularly
Beautiful piece of metal art
You will know that in some volcano
Hephaestus is working hard.

📚KIDS BOOKS | GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES

🦮 ARES 🐗

If ever there was a grumpy god
Then Ares that would be
He really loves nothing more
Than to spread war and disease

His father Zeus and mother Hera
Often speak to him
About his unhealthy love for war
And other violent things

But Ares, he stays firm and strong
Polishing his lance and spears
Ever ready to pick a fight
He brings many folks to tears

Legend has it that boxes and jars
Have the god of war terrified
Twin giants once, had trapped him in one
And closed the lid down tight

The bronze jar then became his home
For almost four hundred days
Until Hermes pulled him out
Of that tiny little space

Even though he spends his time
Battling both men and gods
He skips around beautiful Aphrodite
Whom he loves and adores

Ares is always in the company of
His vulture, dog and boar
They keep faithful, wakeful watch
Over their master, the god of War.

📚KIDS BOOKS | GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES

🐆 ARTEMIS🏹

The goddess of the hunt is asleep
She does not walk tonight
Not a leaf nor a cat, a branch or a bat
Is awake or stirring outside

But there are nights and even days
When the woodland is alive
With the whip and whoosh and the ta-zing
Of her powerful arrows in flight

Artemis protects women and girls
And animals with hooves and wings
It is true, that she hunts them too
The animals, not the human beings!

She also has healing powers
The flu, measles or the mumps
Don’t have a chance when she’s around
She’ll pull you right out of the dumps

She is the goddess of nighttime
Of nature, moonlight and dew
She can transform into any creature
She can turn you into one too!

With her silver bow she is just grand
A huntress like her is rare
She never ever misses her mark
Be it a mean wizard or a hare

Sometimes Artemis spends time with her twin
Apollo the god of music and light
The woods are filled with laughter and song
And barbecues through the night.

📚KIDS BOOKS | GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES

🐦‍⬛APOLLO🏹

Unlucky in love is this god of the sun
But everything else he has aced
Music, poetry, art and healing
He can even spread a plague

He can look into the future
Sometimes that makes him sad
Other times he uses that knowledge
For good things and for bad

Also a bit of a troublemaker
Apollo lost his powers twice
But not for long, he can sweet-talk a storm
When he is being extra nice

He loves his mother Leto a lot
And has saved her life a few times
The first time was when he was four days old
He was a gifted child of light

Apollo is also the god of the muses
He inspires them in their art
Their poetry can bring tears to your eyes
As the words sit around your heart

This god of goodness also has his bad days
Then diseases spread fungus-like
Making Apollo lose his temper
Guarantees one a terrible life

Apollo, like his sister Artemis
Is brilliant at archery
The laurel, raven, the bow and arrow
Are symbols of his divinity.

📚KIDS BOOKS | GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES

🦉ATHENA 🕷️

Daughter of Zeus, king of the gods
Athena is a special one
She was born from the head of her father
Grown up, with her armor on

She is known for her intelligence
She is said to be brave and wise
She has always been a guide and teacher
To gods and humans alike

Athena’s special symbol of power
Is the wise and sensible owl
She’s an expert fighter, there’s no one like her
Or like her owl, no other fowl

She sometimes does get angry
Like all gods tend to do
That’s when she turns folks into spiders
And gives them Medusa heads too

Legend has it that the first spider
Was a lady who did weave
The goddess Athena became jealous of her
Ever so beautiful embroidery

Medusa too started out as one
Of her pious lady priests
Zappity zell! Athena cast her spell
The priestess became a beast

The Parthenon is her temple
It stands in Athens, Greece
So if you ever find yourself there
Pay your respects to Athena please.

📚KIDS BOOKS | GREEK GODS AND GODDESSES

🍇 DEMETER 🌾

She is The goddess of maize and corn
Of wheat and all other crops
She is also the mother of nuts and fruits
Of almonds and apricots

Demeter was a happy goddess who lived
With Her daughter Persophene
Until one day, while in the fields at play
They were visited by Hades

The god of the underworld saw lovely Kore
(That is Persohone’s nickname)
He picked her up from where she stood
And kidnapped her that day

Demeter was quite heartbroken
She had lost her favourite child
But she got some comfort by and by
When Kore chose to be Hades’s wife

Ever since then, the months Persophene spends
With Hades in the underworld
Are filled with icy winter winds
After the leaves and flowers fall

In the spring and summer months
When Persephone comes topside
Sunshine and colour circle the earth
Everything is lush and bright

Baskets of sweet, delicious fruit
Grain, golden and ripe
That our earth gifts us each year
Do this goddess symbolize.