Reading Oktoberfest

    Palmer Park is the perfect place to host the first Reading Oktoberfest, which takes place 15—18 September 2017.

    You can experience everything that makes Oktoberfest, held in a huge Beer tent. We'll have live music and DJs and thousands of people going crazy.

    Opening hours:

    Thursday 15 September 17:00-23:30

    Friday 16 September 17:00-23:30

    Saturday 17 September 12:30-23:30

    Sunday 18 September 12:30-19:00

    Ramsbottom Festival

    With its riverside location, Ramsbottom Festival is one festival which can truly be called beautiful. Here you can enjoy a mix of music, great arts and family shows, as well as a variety of Great British and international food.

    Ramsbottom Festival takes place 16—18 September 2017 at Ramsbottom Cricket Club. Bury, easily reachable by public transport from Manchester city centre.

    The Willow Festival Dorset

    The Willow Festival—the world's largest festival showing new and undiscovered live music bands and artists is coming to Dorset. Fun for all the family, the event also has a shopping area, a world food village, and plenty of activities for kids.

    Tickets are just £10.00, which covers a come-and-go attendance (出席) for all three days.

River Cottage Festival

    It's our first ever family-friendly music festival, right here at River Cottage HQ in Devon. On 17—18 September 2017, the farm will be filled with live music from popular bands in the UK. In between all that dancing you'll be able to watch shows from local craftspeople (匠人) and make your own piece of jewelry (珠宝).

    Tickets will cost you just £35, or £l0 for children under 12 (babies under 2 go free).

    You may not have heard of it before, but solid rain (固体雨)has been helping Mexican farmers fight droughts(干旱) for over ten years. The magic solid rain looks like sugar and it can take in water up to 500 times as its own size and keep it in the ground for up to a year.

    The story of solid rain began in 1970, when American scientists developed a product used to take in water and help keep babies' bottoms dry. However, a Mexican chemical engineer saw this magic product as an opportunity to fight the drought. He developed a different kind of the product, which could be mixed with soil and slowly feed water to crops over a long period of time. His company, Solid Rain, has been quietly selling the product to Mexican farmers for over 10 years.

    Solid rain seems to be working wonders in Mexico. However, it has not come into use around the world. Well, that's mainly because a lot of people still don't know about it. The Mexican company has invested (投资) almost nothing into marketing, relying instead on word of mouth between Mexican farmers. However, recently, they have gotten requests from other dry countries like India and Australia.

    Solid rain has received the Ecology and Environment Award, but it has also received some negative views. Dr. Linda Scott says that the product is hardly new and that there is no scientific evidence that it can hold water for a year or last in the ground for ten years. Besides, solid rain can cause more harm than good in certain conditions.

    However, real-life use seems to show that solid rain is actually of great use to their farms. Frank Torres, a former green bean farmer used to rely on it even though drought wasn't such a big issue. He said that the production had increased by 50%.

    Do you believe in the power of music? If you're like most kids these days, you probably have an electronic device loaded with hundreds or even thousands of your favorite songs. At any moment in time, you can fill your headphones with the sounds of a particular song that suits your mood at that exact time.

    Are you getting ready for a big soccer match or do you need to get excited? Maybe some hip hop with a strong beat will do the trick! Besides, you might be ready to study for a big exam the next day. To calm your nerves and help you concentrate, a little bit of Mozart might make memorization more manageable.

    But is there any scientific evidence of these effects that music seems to have? You bet there is! Scientists have long recognized the power of music. Over the years, many studies have been conducted to examine in greater depth the nature and extent of the effects music has on people.

    For example, scientists at the University of Missouri have found that listening to music can have a positive effect on your mood. Their research gives scientific credibility(可信性) to the behavior that many people have already experienced on their own: listening to upbeat music can brighten your day and boost your mood.

    Other studies have shown that upbeat music isn't the only type of music that can be helpful, however. When people are sad or have suffered a personal loss, sad music can be helpful because people identify with the tone and lyrias(歌词) of the music. Likewise, people under a lot of stress or experiencing upsetting situations can benefit from listening to angry music. Although angry music might not help you if you're in a normal mood, its tone can benefit you when you are dealing with stressful and upsetting situations.

    Below is a web page from http://www.parents.com/ .

    Kid of the Year Photo Contest

    Enter your kid's photo today and win! We're giving away 52 weekly $250 prizes from Readers' Choice votes. PLUS our editors will select one entry (参赛作品) to win our grand prize of $7,000.

    Official Contest Rules

    No purchase necessary to enter or win. The Kid of the Year Photo Contest entry period begins at 12:00 a.m. March 23, 2019, and ends on January 21, 2020 (the “Entry Period”). Entries must be received by 9:00 p.m. on January 21, 2020 (“Entry Deadline”). Entries will not be acknowledged or returned.

    SPONSOR: Meredith Corporation, 1716 Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa.

    ENTRY: There will be two methods of entry.

    Share My Entry:

    Visit http://www.parents.com/photos/photo-contests-1/kid-of-the-year/ and click the button to enter. Then complete the registration form and follow the instructions to upload one album of up to six photos of your child aged three months to eight years. Photos must be taken by entrant, non-professional, unpublished and may not have won any prize or award. Photos must be .jpeg or .bmp image formats (格式) and cannot exceed 3 MB.

    Facebook Entry:

    Visit Facebook.com/ParentsMagazine and click the Kid of 2019 tab. Fill out the registration form and upload one album of up to six photos of your child aged three months to eight years. You may provide one description and one album title that will be applied to all photos. Photos must be taken by entrant, non-professional, unpublished and may not have won any prize or award. Photos must be .jpeg or .bmp image formats and cannot exceed 3 MB.

    This promotion is in no way sponsored, supported or run by, or associated with Facebook. You are providing your information to Parents Magazine and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used to run the promotion and register for Parents.com.

    Photos must not contain material that infringes the rights of another, including but not limited to privacy, publicity or intellectual property rights, or that constitutes copyright violation. Photos must not contain brand names or trademarks.

    LIMIT: One entry per household, per eligible (有资格的) child, per week. One weekly prize per child. For entries of more than one eligible child in the household, the entry process must be completed separately for each child. No group entries.

    Music Festivals

    The movie The Wizard of Oz has thousands of fans around the world. But back in 1939 when the film opened, audiences were not particularly fond of it. It was only a modest box office success. It was nominated for Best Picture at that year's Academy Awards, but so were nine other great films. It lost out to Gone with the Wind.

    The Wizard of Oz really gained an audience when it was broadcast regularly on TV. That began in the 1950s. The film's plot follows young Dorothy who is knocked unconscious during a tornado. She dreams about following a Yellow Brick Road through the Land of Oz to the Emerald City. She wants to meet the Wizard of Oz who lives there. He's the only one who can help her to return home to Kansas. Along the way she makes friends with the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. They help her and her dog Toto overcome the Wicked Witch of the West!

    According to the Library of Congress, The Wizard of Oz is the most watched movie of all time. What is it about the film that appeals to people? It includes themes that people can relate to. Through most of the movie Dorothy is trying to get home to Kansas. When she finally gets to go, she speaks the words, "there's no place like home." People identify with that thought. Home is the welcoming place where they feel secure.

    At the beginning of the film, Dorothy sings of a place "over the rainbow." There, the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true. So while home is a great place, dreaming about something different is all right too.

    The Wizard of Oz also deals with courage. Dorothy learns that true courage isn't being unafraid. It's facing danger when you are afraid. Her friends face plenty of danger to rescue her.

    As one of the true classics of American literature, The Wizard of Oz has stirred the imagination of young and old alike for over four generations. Celebrate the 80th year of this fabulous film by watching it again.