AccuWeather may receive a commission if you choose to purchase any of the products linked in this article.Prices are accurate at time of publish.
Egg chairs, like hammocks, make for a great way to relax on a warm summer's day. Unlike hammocks, they take up less space and are much easier to incorporate into your patio area.
As the name suggests, egg chairs are shaped like an egg and provide a cocoon-like feel to them that gives a comforting feeling for you to wind down in and enjoy a glass of wine or get through your ever-growing reading list.
There's plenty of styles to choose from, whether your interior or patio is modern, bohemian, or industrial -- we've gathered a great selection of egg chairs egg chair perfect for you recluse to after a tiring day.
Better Homes & Gardens Lantis Patio Wicker Hanging Chair with Stand and Blue Cushion
Walmart
$329.99
The Lantis Patio Wicker hanging chair comes with a durable steel frame and UV-treated, gray powder-coated stand, and a blue all-weather cushion. The modern rustic design works well both indoors and outdoors, so in the winter months, you can bring it into your sunroom and use it all year round.
The Mahaffey Hanging Egg Swing Chair is perfect to attach to a sturdy branch, in your porch, from a beam, or from a stand. It's stylish and durable and is made with a steel frame wrapped in polyethylene rattan resin wicker to resemble boho chic.
The Rusnak Swing Chair comes with everything you need to set up the ultimate snug. Including the stand and a mountainous amount of cushions to sink into, there'll be nowhere else you'd rather spend your evenings. It features a nylon rope chair back which strikes an industrial and boho charm to your outdoor space.
Suitable for a more edgy or modern space, the premium hanging chair has an overarching stand that feels very abstract, that contrasts well against the super soft and fluffy-looking cushions and headrest. It's also easy to assemble, just follow the instructions, and, with two people, it'll take no time.
Set this swing chair in your sunroom, on your patio, or in a snug for the perfect and most comfortable seat in the house. It's supported by a durable steel stand. The egg chair comes with cushions and a headrest, which you can choose the colors of to match your interior or exterior style.
School is out, but the fun and learning continues with AccuWeather Summer Camp. Join us for interactive experiments and activities that kids and interested adults can do at home to learn more about the weather and other science topics.
🔬 July 30 - Invention Station: Build a fire without any matches!
Do you want to enjoy an evening campfire, but can’t find matches or a lighter around your house? If you have a 9-volt battery and steel wool, here’s a way to get that campfire started!
Before we watch the video below, let’s go over a few rules – don’t attempt the activity shown unless an adult is helping you. Also, be sure to wear safety glasses and only try to ignite your fire on a fire-safe surface, such as concrete, a baking pan or in a fire pit. The last spot is perfect since this will help you start a campfire!
That electrical current will heat up the steel wool to 700 degrees Fahrenheit (371 degrees Celsius). Not only is that blazing hot, but it causes the iron to react with the oxygen around it and – zap – you get the spark and that keeps going throughout the steel wool. Now, who’s ready for s’mores?!
🔥 July 28 - Campfire Tales: Best time to hit home runs!
We all know that summer is a better time to play baseball than the wintertime, but did you know that even a change in the weather during the summer can raise or lower your chances of hitting a home run? Let’s find out more from AccuWeather Meteorologist Jake Sojda and his doggie friend:
🔥 July 25 - Campfire Tales: Why does summer heat lag behind the sun's strongest rays?
The first day of summer usually falls on or around June 21 in the Northern Hemisphere, and that’s when the strongest rays of the sun are shining down on places outside of the tropics. Wait a minute. We learned earlier that the Dog Days of Summer run from July 3 to August 11 – shouldn’t the peak of summer’s heat line up with when the sun is the strongest? Not at all, actually – here’s why:
If there is a heat wave during the Dog Days of Summer or even before or after these days, you have to remember to beat the heat by drinking plenty of water, wearing light-colored and loose-fitting clothing and push any play time until the evening hours when it is more comfortable.
(Photo/gjohnstonphoto/Getty Images)
🥤 July 23 - Water break! Gravity-defying ping pong balls
What happens when you put a ping pong ball against the opening of a water bottle and flip the bottle upside down? You would think the ping pong ball would fall out, right? We are all in for a surprise!
Why didn’t the ping pong ball move? The answer is air pressure – the air around us pushes in all directions and holds the ball in place against the force of the water pushing down.
🦒 July 21 - Petting Zoo: Dog Days of Summer have nothing to do with dogs
Have you ever heard about the Dog Days of Summer? Is it the time of summer where dogs get to party – running into sprinklers, jumping into ponds and eating ice cream? Our doggie friends probably wish that!
The hottest days of the summer are typically called the Dog Days of Summer, but the reason has nothing to do with dogs – instead, a star in the sky is how these days got their name. Let’s find out more:
🔥 July 20 - Campfire Tales: Why does summer heat lag behind the sun's strongest rays?
The first day of summer usually falls on or around June 21 in the Northern Hemisphere, and that’s when the strongest rays of the sun are shining down on places outside of the tropics. Wait a minute. We learned earlier that the Dog Days of Summer run from July 3 to August 11 – shouldn’t the peak of summer’s heat line up with when the sun is the strongest? Not at all, actually – here’s why:
If there is a heat wave during the Dog Days of Summer or even before or after these days, you have to remember to beat the heat by drinking plenty of water, wearing light-colored and loose-fitting clothing and push any play time until the evening hours when it is more comfortable.
(Photo/gjohnstonphoto/Getty Images)
🏊🏽 July 18 - Time to hit the pool! Build your own water park
Many people are trying to figure out exciting ways to have summer fun from home. Find out how to build a water park in your own backyard for next to nothing:
🎨 July 17 - Art Station: Make your own thermometer (and volcano!) at home
What’s the most common weather instrument – a thermometer, right? So, let’s make one, and even a volcano if it works just right!
All you need is a clear water bottle filled with one-half cup of 91 percent rubbing alcohol (have an adult help you) and one-quarter cup of water. You’ll also need food coloring, Play Doh and a clear drinking straw:
If the water doesn’t come out through the straw, your Play Doh may not be airtight. And if you use enough Play Doh on the outside to maintain the seal, it will look a little like a volcano.
As the air inside the bottle warms, it will expand and push down on the liquid and force it up the straw. If there is a hole in your seal, the air will seep out instead of pushing down on the liquid.
The thermometer in your home, not a digital one, works about the same way – as the liquid warms, it will rise up the thermometer and will fall back down as the liquid cools and contracts. And if the water rises all the way up through the straw and shoots out the top, then you’ve also successfully made a volcano.
🔥 July 14 - Campfire Tales: Lightning bugs are just looking for a date!
Have you ever spent a summer evening collecting lightning bugs (known as fireflies to some) in a jar? It is cool to see them light up your jar, but did you know that they light up because they are looking for a new boyfriend or girlfriend!
While lightning bolts heat up the air to a temperature five times hotter than the surface of the sun (wow!), the light from fireflies doesn’t produce any heat. That means that lightning bugs are the most efficient light producers in the world – even better than any of the lightbulbs around your home! If you get close to a lamp, you will feel at least a little warmth emitting from it.
Lightning bugs are found on every continent except Antarctica (just like tornadoes!), our friends at Firefly Conservation and Research told us, and they estimate there are more than 170 species that exist just in North America. Have you ever noticed that the blinking light you see from fireflies is not always the same? That’s because different species have their own blinking pattern.
Don’t forget to open your jar and let the lightning bugs out after you’ve watched them light up your jar – the adults only live 3-4 weeks, and they want to spend that time with their new significant others and friends!
🔎 July 12 - Weather Detectives! Why don’t you see rainbows around lunchtime in the summer?
Have you ever noticed that rainbows typically only follow rain and thunderstorms early in the morning or later in the day during the summer? It’s all about the sun!
“[Sunlight] has to pass through the water droplets at a low angle to make a rainbow,” according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Samuhel. From sunrise to mid-morning and then again from late afternoon to sunset are the best opportunities for you to see a rainbow.The sun is too high in the sky around lunchtime for a rainbow to form in the warmer months.
The sun sits lower in the sky during lunch in the winter, but the pop-up showers and thunderstorms with breaks of sunshine in between that are perfect rainbow-making weather aren’t usually around that time of year. Instead, we see blankets of clouds with steadier bands of rain or snow and not many rainbows.
🎨 July 9 - Art Station: Make your own rainbow at home
Making a rainbow at home is pretty easy. If it’s sunny outside, spray a garden hose (not at a sibling!) with the sun at your back and watch a rainbow form.
You can even create a rainbow inside with only a flashlight and a CD (your parents should have one from the 1990s). Shine the flashlight on the back of the CD and play with the angles until you see the display of colors. By adjusting the angles, you are causing the light to bend in a way that is necessary for a real rainbow to form outside. This experiment works best in a dark room with a white wall.
🪐 July 7 - Space Exploration: Earth is farthest from the sun in summer?
If you had to guess what time of year the Earth is closest to the sun, would you say January? If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, that doesn’t seem to make sense since that is a colder month. But actually, January is the right answer.
As weird as it sounds for those of you living in the Northern Hemisphere, the Earth is farthest from the sun when it’s your summer and closest to the sun when it’s your winter. The reverse is true for the Southern Hemisphere. Let’s grab some sidewalk chalk to understand this a bit more:
Sorry, we asked you such a tough question! When it comes to why we have seasons on Earth, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Samuhel sums it up best: “It’s not how close you are to the sun; it’s what angle the sun’s rays reach you” – and that is due to the tilt of the Earth on its axis. It just happens to work out that the summer season lines up with when the Earth is at its closest point to the sun in the Southern Hemisphere.
The sun setting in San Diego on Jan. 7, 2017, before a green flash appeared. (Brian Lada/AccuWeather)
🔥 July 4 - Campfire Tales: Best time to see the Milky Way Galaxy is now
Actually, any night that you see a star in the sky, you are seeing a small part of the Milky Way Galaxy – the galaxy that Earth and all of us live in! However, where the Earth is located on its journey around the sun in the summer allows us to see the best of the Milky Way in the sky – that’s when AccuWeather Digital Journalist and Meteorologist Brian Lada filmed this stunning time lapse:
How many stars do you think make up the Milky Way Galaxy? Here’s a guess – it’s in the billions. The answer is between 200 and 400 billion stars, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Samuhel.
“What we refer to as the Milky Way that you view in the night sky is actually the center of the galaxy,” Dave said. “The milky-looking cloud that stretches from horizon to horizon is the galactic center of the Milky Way, and it’s made up of lots and lots of stars.”
The “fireworks” were able to form in the jar since food coloring is made with water, and oil is less dense than water. That causes the oil to float on top of the water, while the food coloring will eventually fall through the oil, and come out bursting like a firework into the water!
Another view of how your "fireworks" will look in this fun activity. (Photo by AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Krissy Pydynowski)
🍳 June 30 - Cooking Activity: Forget the campfire; use the sun to make s’mores
Do you love eating s’mores in the summer? If you don’t want to wait until the evening to start a campfire and make these yummy treats, have the sun do the work!
All you need is a dark-colored shirt, a glass pan, the ingredients to make s’mores and a sunny day:
Not only did we get to enjoy a tasty snack, but we saw how strong the sun is. It wasn’t a very hot day when the sun cooked these s’mores – the high temperature was near 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius). Much like how a greenhouse works, the glass holds in the warmth from the sun and allows the marshmallows to cook and get all gooey.
🥤 June 29 - Water break! Make it rain on a sunny day!
All you need is shaving cream, a jar filled with water and separate bowls with water dyed with your favorite colors. As AccuWeather Meteorologist Renee Duff shows us, you can give your cloud any shape and see the rain streak down to the ground.
Notice how the rain doesn’t reach the ground right away. If the air near where we are standing is too dry, the rain falling from the clouds will evaporate before reaching us – big word time – that’s called virga. One tip meteorologists look for to see if there is virga in the sky, they see if there are any doughnut holes on radar!
🦒 June 27 - Petting Zoo: Don’t let your dog’s paws get burned!
If the sun is shining and it isn’t too hot outside, you may think that it is a perfect day to take your dog for a walk outside. However, be careful in the late spring and summer – the pavement may be surprisingly too hot for your dog’s paws.
If the air temperature is around 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius), what do you think is the temperature of pavement that has been sitting in the sun all morning? How about that same pavement but has been kept in the shade? Let’s find out:
Was that surprising to you? Your dog hopes you remember this for your walk on a sunny day. They may like a walk through a park or on grass instead of the hot pavement!
🏥 June 25 - First aid class: Does cracking your car windows help on a hot day?
If you only crack the window a little bit, it really doesn't make a difference. The car will still get dangerously hot inside for any kids or pets adults leave behind for a quick trip into a store or house (and that can happen really fast).
So, what if we left the windows cracked a little more? We tried this experiment again with the windows down about two inches (five centimeters) and on a day when there was a little more of a breeze to help move the air around. Look at what we found – and the air temperature outside was in the middle to upper 70s F (near 25 C).
There was a difference between the car that had the windows cracked and the one with the windows up, but a temperature near 120 degrees F (49 C), even with the windows cracked open more, is still too hot.
🔎 June 22 - Weather Detectives! It’s not your car’s tires that protect you from lightning
We are going to dispel one of the many lightning myths today – some people think that it’s the rubber tires of your car that keep you safe from lightning.
If that is the case, can you ride a bike or motorcycle during a thunderstorm or even sit on top of your car without worrying about getting struck by lightning? You shouldn’t do any of that during a thunderstorm or rely on tires to keep you safe. So what protects you from lightning in a car? Let’s find out:
Remember that your car has to have a metal frame all around it – an open cab of a tractor, golf cart or any construction equipment will not protect you from lightning. A convertible car, even with the top up, is also not safe to be in!
(bgfoto/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
⚡ June 22 - Shocking Truth: Heat lightning doesn’t exist!
Have you ever been outside on a warm, summer evening and saw flashes of lightning in the distance? Were you told that it's heat lightning? Many of us were, but that was inaccurate information. Heat lightning doesn’t exist! Let’s find out more:
So, what some people call heat lightning is really just a far away thunderstorm – the thunderstorm that Krissy saw in the video above was more than 40 miles (64 km) away!
Lightning dwarfs city lights as a distant thunder storm passes by Dodge City, Kansas, on June 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
🔎 June 21 - Weather Detectives! What can ice skaters tell us about hurricanes?
The strongest winds on Earth are typically found in tornadoes, hurricanes or even at the top of high mountains. Can you imagine wind speeds of 215 mph? That’s how fast the winds were in extremely powerful Hurricane Patricia in 2015 – the highest in any hurricane in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific oceans! Don’t forget the speed limit on most highways is either 65 or 70 mph.
🥤 June 20 - Water break! Will you hear your dad’s name during hurricane season?
If your dad’s name is on this list, he may hear it on the AccuWeather Television Network this summer or early fall as a hurricane could be named after him!
Why are hurricanes given names? It all started back in World War II when the United States lost ships in the western Pacific Ocean due to hurricanes (though in that part of the world, they are called typhoons).
“So, coming out of the war, a large amount of research took place to understand these storms and make people more aware of them. As part of that project, [the military] started naming them,” AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski said.
Lightning erupts around powerful Hurricane Iota on Nov. 16, 2020. (NOAA)
🔬 June 17 - Invention Station: Ben Franklin’s famous kite experiment
A week ago was a famous date in the world of weather – Ben Franklin flew a kite during a thunderstorm on June 10, 1752 and showed everyone the connection between lightning and electricity.
Have you heard this story before? Were you told that Mr. Franklin discovered electricity and his kite was struck by lightning? Actually, both are false! Let’s gather around the campfire and listen to the full story on AccuWeather’s This Date in History Podcast:
Don’t forget that you should never try to imitate Mr. Franklin’s kite experiment – you could get struck by lightning! Instead, here’s a safer activity to start AccuWeather Summer Camp. Let’s learn how to make our own instant slushy drinks with AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jason Nicholls:
The key to making your instant slushy is that your beverage needs to be very cold but not frozen yet (about two hours). That will cause the liquid to become supercooled – what’s that? This is when water has superpowers and can stay in a liquid form even with temperatures below freezing (normally, it should turn to ice).
When you turn the bottle upside down, it gives the liquid the nudge it needs to start the freezing process.
🔥 June 15 - Campfire Tales: Race is on between light, dark shirts in the sun
Welcome to AccuWeather Summer Camp! For our first of many fun activities, let’s find out why you are always told to wear light-colored clothes on a sunny, hot day. You hear that, but your favorite T-shirt is a dark color and you really want to wear it. Let’s do a test to see why it is still best to save that shirt for another day.
That’s quite a difference in temperature as the black shirt absorbs much more sunlight than the white shirt! So as much as you want to wear your favorite dark-colored shirt, it’s best to save it for another day or even to change into it in the evening. If you don’t, theheat could make you really tired (or worse!) and then you won’t be able to do anything fun outside!
📽️ June 13 - Movie Time: Octopus ends up on a car’s windshield!
We wrap up AccuWeather School’s Movie Day with definitely something you don’t see everyday – two octopuses ended up on a car’s windshield! (Quick grammar lesson before we watch the video – yes, the plural of octopus is octopuses and not octopi.)
These octopuses were blown out of the water during Typhoon Lekima, which hit eastern China in August 2019. If you like watching videos of octopuses, check out this one of a baby octopus hatching from an egg!
Let’s go back to the first octopus video – what’s a typhoon? That’s what hurricanes are called in the western Pacific Ocean. Hurricanes are also called something else in the Indian Ocean – check out the video below to find out what:
We hoped you enjoyed Movie Day as much as we did. AccuWeather Summer Camp starts on Tuesday with new and exciting experiments and activities – join us to have fun this summer and learn more about the weather!
🛎 June 12 - Morning Bell: Movie Day at AccuWeather School!
AccuWeather School is just about done since AccuWeather Summer Camp starts on Tuesday! After you've finished any final projects or exams at school, what does your teacher do? Let you play games and watch movies, right? That’s what we are doing at AccuWeather School today with funny weather videos!
Who loves jumping into a pool or lake to cool off on a hot, summer day? Ringo, the Border Collie mix, couldn’t contain his excitement when his family pulled up next to a lake. Check out how fast he runs out of the car and dives in for a swim!
One thing to always remember on a hot day in the late spring or early summer, the water may be too cold for you to do a cannonball into a lake, river or ocean. Worse than making you shiver, you could get something really bad known as cold water shock.
🏕️ June 8 - Field Trip Day: Watch water bubble right up from the ground
Where does the water come from that fills streams, rivers and lakes? From rain, right? That is correct, but you get extra credit if you said that some water comes up from the ground through springs.
Some thermal springs are comfortable enough for people to take a dip in, like a swimming pool or a hot tub – one such spring in Greenland allows people to take a soak in the water as icebergs float by!
Caption: Happy Greenlanders and tourists enjoy the unique experience of dipping in the hot springs while enjoying drifting icebergs floating by on Uunartoq Island at the far southern tip of Greenland. These hot springs provide visitors with a perfect bath temperatures of about 100°F. (USGS)
(USGS)
⛹️♂️ June 4 - Recess: Saturn would float in a bathtub, if you found a really big bathtub!
(NASA)
Let’s go back to our last lesson about how much you would weigh on other planets. If you are 100 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 252.8 pounds on Jupiter but only 106.5 pounds on Saturn.
Saturn is the second-largest planet in our solar system and 764 times larger than Earth, so why wouldn’t you weigh much more there? It’s not just the size of Saturn (and the other planets) but also what it’s made of that goes into figuring out your new weight on our journey through the solar system.
“Saturn is made up of light gas while the Earth is made up of dense rock,” AccuWeather Digital Journalist and Meteorologist Brian Lada said. “That is why you would almost weigh the same on the large planet of Saturn compared to the smaller Earth.”
Brian also learned from NASA that Saturn is very light for its size and is even less dense than water. That means Saturn would float in a bathtub – if you could find one big enough for it and its rings!
➗ June 5 - Math class: How much would you weigh on other planets, the sun?
AccuWeather School is taking a "field trip" to outer space to learn how different life would be – so let’s find out how much we would weigh on each planet!
But, there’s more to this math problem – stay tuned to learn why you wouldn’t weigh so much more on Saturn even though it is massive compared to Earth’s size.
⛹️♂️ June 4 - Recess: Saturn would float in a bathtub, if you found a really big bathtub!
Let’s go back to our last lesson about how much you would weigh on other planets. If you are 100 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 252.8 pounds on Jupiter but only 106.5 pounds on Saturn.
Saturn is the second-largest planet in our solar system and 764 times larger than Earth, so why wouldn’t you weigh much more there? It’s not just the size of Saturn (and the other planets) but also what it’s made of that goes into figuring out your new weight on our journey through the solar system.
Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 observed Saturn on June 20, 2019, as the planet made its closest approach to Earth, at about 845 million miles away. Photo courtesy of NASA, ESA, A. Simon (GSFC), M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley) and the OPAL Team.
(NASA)
“Saturn is made up of light gas while the Earth is made up of dense rock,” AccuWeather Digital Journalist and Meteorologist Brian Lada said. “That is why you would almost weigh the same on the large planet of Saturn compared to the smaller Earth.
”Brian also learned from NASA that Saturn is very light for its size and is even less dense than water. That means Saturn would float in a bathtub – if you could find one big enough for it and its rings!
📝 June 3 - Pop quiz! What are tropical waves?
When you hear meteorologists say that a tropical wave may strengthen into a hurricane, they aren’t talking about the waves that you see at the beach:
If this dust or strong wind shear isn’t present and the water is warm enough, a tropical wave can organize into a tropical depression. If a tropical depression continues to grow and get stronger, it will become a tropical storm and then a hurricane. The stronger the storm, the more damaging the winds.
🍎 June 2 - Snack Time! Birthday candles can help explain hurricanes
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Bob Larson challenges you to try to light birthday candles in front of a fan, again with the help of an adult. Having trouble doing that?
“Similarly, if there is a lot of wind high in the atmosphere [that’s wind shear], it will not let the hurricane form,” Bob said.
Additional experiments and reporting by Jason Nicholls.