Page Type: Elementary

A woman in the U.S. state of Tennessee was able to start her own flower-growing business, thanks to some generous neighbors. 

Marisa Mender-Franklin is a florist, meaning she grows and sells flowers. Mender-Franklin, who was once an art teacher, discovered her love of flowers when she grew them to decorate her own wedding in 2020. The experience gave her an idea: Why not start a flower farm and sell the flowers? There was just one problem. Mender-Franklin didn’t have enough land. 

Which animals make the most caring parents? Dinosaurs may be on the list. Scientists have found evidence that some dinosaurs carefully selected the food they gave their young.

Researchers at Ohio State University learned what dinosaur families ate by studying the wear and tear on the teeth of a type of duck-billed dinosaur called Maiasaura. Maiasaura, which lived in North America about 80 million years ago, was an herbivore. This means it ate plants, not animals.

The researchers found differences between the wear and tear on adult Maiasaura teeth versus juvenile (young) teeth. Adult teeth showed that dinosaur parents often ate stems and leaves, which are fairly hard to chew. Juvenile teeth suggested that young dinosaurs were eating softer fruits.

You never know what treasures are lurking under the ground. When a 6-year-old named Henrik Refsnes Mørtvedt discovered a half-buried metal object, it turned out to be a sword that was made more than 1,000 years ago.

Henrik, who lives in Norway, found the sword while walking through a field with his 1st-grade class this past April. The students were trying to find rocks for an art project. Spotting the metal in the ground, Henrik had two thoughts. One was, “What if a tractor drives over the metal, and its tire is ruined?” The other was, “What if this is some kind of important object?” 

“This part stuck out,” Henrik later told Hadeland, a Norwegian newspaper, pointing to the sword’s handle. “It was rust and dirt. So I thought I would pick it up and see what it was.”

That’s when the full object was revealed. It was a sword with a single-edged (sharp on only one side) blade called an enegget. Henrik’s teachers decided to call some archaeologists, scientists who study objects from the ancient past. 

What happens when soccer (football) fans from all over the world gather for a giant competition? It turns into an opportunity for friendship, music, and fun!

The 2026 World Cup has been taking place in several cities across Canada, the United States, and Mexico since mid-June. The event features soccer teams from 48 countries. But it’s not just the players who have made themselves at home in North America. Enthusiastic fans from all corners of the globe traveled thousands of miles to see the games in person. Together with their hosts, they’re making the World Cup a celebration of goodwill and kindness.

Here are a few World Cup stories that are making us smile.

Kansas Welcomes Algeria

Across the United States, Americans celebrate Independence Day with parades, fireworks, and backyard barbecues. But in Coney Island, New York, July 4 brings another tradition: a hot dog eating contest. 

The annual Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest is exactly what it sounds like. Competitors have 10 minutes to eat as many hot dogs and buns as they can. It’s okay to dip the dogs in a cup of water to make it easier to swallow. It’s not okay to add ketchup, mustard, or anything else. The competitor who has eaten the most hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes wins the contest.

Redwings Horse Sanctuary in the United Kingdom (UK) provides love and care for more than 1,000 horses and donkeys. But even the kind sanctuary workers can’t keep flies from biting the animals.

“In the summer, flies take a fancy to our donkeys’ legs and can cause a lot of pain and scabs,” Jenny Herod of Redwings told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 

Luckily, the donkeys are getting help from an unlikely place: a football (soccer) club. Arsenal Football Club, a legendary soccer team, is donating its players’ old socks to the sanctuary. The bright red socks have no “feet,” so it’s fairly easy to put them on donkeys’ legs. They protect the animals from flies and many other things.

“The socks are being used for anything from protecting our rescued residents’ sensitive legs from flies to holding their vet bandages in place,” Nicola Knight of Redwings told the Southwest News Service.

Life was very different 200 years ago, but some things never change. People loved candy then as much as they do now. A store called The Oldest Sweet Shop is proof of that. It’s been selling many of the same candies since it opened in 1827, making it the oldest sweet shop in England. 

Located in Pateley Bridge, England, The Oldest Sweet Shop still stocks candy varieties that people loved nearly 200 years ago—like striped hard candies called humbugs. Some other candies, like bonbons, kola cubes, and rhubarb & custards, have been available at the shop for decades. There’s also licorice, chocolate, fudge, and jellybeans. Although the shop stocks more modern candy as well, the commitment to old-school treats is what keeps customers coming back.

“We have all different types [of candy] from across different centuries, but it’s the old ones people want,” Ben Howie told SWNS. Howie owns the store and runs it with his brother, James. “I guess you can’t escape the classics. They are still the favorites for a reason.”

The word fungus makes some people cringe, but not all fungus is bad. In fact, the yeast in our bread and the mushrooms on our plates are both fungi. Now, a company in Denmark has developed a door with fungus as a main material.

Danish company Rebound worked with an architectural company (a company that designs buildings) to develop a door that contains mycelium. Mycelium is a bit like the roots of a fungus. If you were to dig a mushroom out from the ground, the mycelium would be the part that’s underground.

When elephants eat farmers’ crops, are they really just trying to treat their illnesses? Farmers in the African nation of Gabon noticed that elephants that steal their crops eat the leaves of the plants, but not the fruits. A new study suggests that this may be because certain leaves are like medicine for elephants.

Scientist Steeve Ngama collected dung (poop) samples from some elephants that are known for stealing crops in Gabon. Ngama found that some of the dung samples contained parasites. A parasite is a living thing (often a kind of worm) that lives inside another living thing. Parasites can make people and animals sick. 

Krista Richard has a collection of bicycles and tricycles she’s fixing up. She’s not planning to sell the bikes but to give them to kids as part of a program she started called Bikes and Trikes for Everyone.

Richard, who lives in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, collects donated bikes with the help of a small team of volunteers. Between April and October, after doing any necessary repairs, she holds giveaways. Kids get to choose a bike out of several available options.

In the past 14 years, Richard has given away thousands of bikes. She says it’s a good way to encourage kids to play outside at a time when video games and other activities often keep them indoors. Riding a bike provides fresh air, exercise, and more.

“If you get a bunch of kids on their [bikes], then they get to know each other and then the families get to know each other,” Richard told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). “I think the more time you spend outside, the better.”

Richard also gives some bikes to adults to encourage parents to ride with their kids.

Bikes and Trikes for Everyone has proven so popular that there’s a waiting list, so Richard relies on community members to continue to be generous. In May 2026, she posted a request on the Bikes and Trikes Facebook page.

“I have given out 116 bikes so far, but I still have a lot of kids on the waiting list…especially for 20”, 24” and 26” bikes. Please continue to donate your gently used bikes. Thank you,” Richard wrote. Along with the request, there was a list of people who had already donated. 

Richard says that as long as people keep donating, she’ll keep doing the giveaways because bikes make kids happy.

“Just to see their joy, their smile, it makes everything worth it,” she told the CBC.