The Slice: Summer science lessons keep children in the know

There’s a classic summertime moment that parents don’t usually get to witness.

And that’s too bad, because it might make their day.

It happens after a little kid has been capturing insects in a jar.

You know how that goes. Some of the bugs are scooped up from the ground. Others get clamped into their holding pens after they alight on a bush or burrow into a blossom.

With steady hands and steely nerves, even the scary ones with stingers can be apprehended.

Someone usually thinks of pounding air holes in the lid. And a few budding mad scientists — “It’s aliiiiiive!” — will come up with the idea of putting different kinds of bugs in the same container, to see what happens.

“Are they fighting?”

“Not yet.”

There are a few other time-honored experiments. The less said about that, the better. But mostly, this activity involves intense observation.

Children who ordinarily have attention spans measured in milliseconds can sit transfixed for extended periods, staring at the captured creatures.

“What’s he doing now?”

“He’s moving his feelers.”

A few of these bugs can’t really look forward to happy endings. Science can be rough.

But sometimes, before it’s too late, the junior entomologist experiences a realization: Those creepy crawlies in the jar aren’t toys.

And so a little hand reaches down and unscrews the lid. Maybe the jar gets gently tipped over on its side in the grass. Or perhaps the young specimen-collector holds it up in the air like a torch, so the incarcerated bug will know to fly away to freedom.

“Go on,” the kid says. “Go back to your friends.”

Catch and release at its finest.

There are those who worry that children don’t learn anything over the summer. But I suppose that depends on how you look at it.

Warm-up question: What’s your favorite memory of listening to baseball on the radio?

Today’s Slice question: Where do you go when you want to experience absolute silence?