Chapter 6: Telling the Story
The Waiting Game Coloring Page
"Now we wait..."
The Squad sitting on a bench, looking at a clock.
About this page
After the excitement of pressing send comes the quietest page in the book, four friends on a bench, watching a clock. Waiting is genuinely hard, especially for young researchers, and this page honors that instead of skipping it. Somewhere out there, other scientists are reading the squad's work, which is exactly what peer review looks like from the outside, a long, hopeful pause. Children learn that patience is part of the process, and that big feelings like hope and nervousness can sit side by side, just like friends on a bench.
The research skill
The friends sit on a bench under a pendulum clock and a calendar, and most of the calendar's days are crossed off with an X. Waiting for reviewers is a real stage of research, and researchers handle it by tracking the time and planning while they wait. Crossing off days turns a long, shapeless wait into something you can see and count, a nice echo of Chapter 5, while patience is part of Chapter 6. At school, it looks like marking a class calendar toward a field trip or due date.
Try it at home
Make a waiting calendar for something coming up in a few days, such as a visit or a library trip. Draw a small grid with one box per day. Each evening, your child crosses off a box with an X, just like the calendar on the page. Ask each night, "How many boxes are left?" and let them count. When the day arrives, look back at the row of crossed-off boxes together and talk about how the wait felt at the start compared with the end.
Talk about it while you color
- What do you think each member of the squad is thinking about while they wait?
- What do you like to do when waiting feels really long?
- What time does the clock show, and what time do you hope the answer comes?