By AMY LORENTZEN

Associated Press

This publicity product photo provided by Lori Bergmann shows a vintage glass chain Leopard Lanyard by Lori Bergmann (LoriBergmann.etsy.com), with handmade lampwork Leopard glass beads, that uses simple wire wrapping techniques, April 2013. (AP Photo/Lori Bergmann)

Making a pretty chain for Mom’s eyeglasses can be a simple, personal and practical Mother’s Day gift. Depending on your skill level, you could make anything from a basic beaded lanyard to something more elaborate and embellished.

Traditional chains connect to both arms of the glasses, while newer styles offer a center loop on which you hang the glasses by one of their temple pieces.

“Eyeglass chains are a great way to accentuate your personality while also providing a utilitarian use,” keeping glasses safe and handy, says Michelle Sacia, a craft specialist with Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores.

“Just like jewelry, eyeglass chains can be created to match your everyday style while showcasing your glasses,” she says.

Lori Bergmann, who creates glass beads and custom jewelry at her studio in Maple Valley, Wash., says supplies for making eyeglass chains are readily available online and at craft stores.  And depending on the style you choose, it can take only minutes to put together.

By MIKE STOBBE

AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Parents are reporting more skin and food allergies in their children, a big government survey found.

Experts aren’t sure what’s behind the increase. Could it be that children are growing up in households so clean that it leaves them more sensitive to things that can trigger allergies?  Or are mom and dad paying closer attention to rashes and reactions, and more likely to call it an allergy?

“We don’t really have the answer,” said Dr. Lara Akinbami of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the senior author of the new report released Thursday.

The CDC survey suggests that about 1 in 20 U.S. children have food allergies. That’s a 50 percent increase from the late 1990s. For eczema and other skin allergies, it’s 1 in 8 children, an increase of 69 percent. It found no increase, however, in hay fever or other respiratory allergies.

Already familiar with the trend in food allergies are school nurses, who have grown busier with allergy-related duties, like banishing peanuts at school parties or stocking emergency allergy medicine.

Sally Schoessler started as school nurse in 1992 in New York state, and didn’t encounter a child with a food allergy for a few years. But by the time she left school nursing in 2005, “there were children in the majority of classrooms” with the disorder, said Schoessler, who now works at the National Association of School Nurses in Silver Spring, Md.

This undated publicity photo provided by C-Preme shows a Raskullz Classic Zebra Mohawk helmet. Head protection for kids has gotten very creative in recent years. Raskullz helmets for youngsters feature characters and animals with Mohawks, horns, cat ears and fins, blending imaginative play with safety (www.raskullz.com). (AP Photo/C-Preme, Chela Williams)

By KIM COOK
Associated Press

Kids who balk at the idea of wearing head protection for outdoor activities might find it harder these days to argue that helmets aren’t cool.

From dry-erase helmets to ones shaped like animals and bugs to others in bright colors, many of today’s helmets are designed to make kids want to wear them long after the bike is parked or the snowboard stowed.

“We’ll lay out 10 different character helmets at a skate park and let 20 kids try them on and play with them. We’re able to see immediately which designs resonate with them,” says Brad Blankinship, a spokesman at Los Angeles-based C-Preme, which makes helmets and other skate and bike gear.

Some of what’s new:
C-Preme’s helmet line Raskullz has a wide range of styles shaped or painted like dinos, sharks, ladybugs and pussycats complete with appendages like fins, antennae and ears. There are lightning bolts, zebra stripes and a Mohawk trim. A new toddler Miniz version of the lineup was added this spring, and in May the Raskullz line adds additional 3-D animal attachments like raccoon tails and feathers. www.raskullz.com

Contemporary Ballet of PA (COBALT) will present an original dance program featuring the music of Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi, and Saint-Saens at the Winter Center for Visual & Performing Arts on the campus of Millersville University, Saturday May 18 at 7:30 pm and Sunday May 19 at2:30 pm.

The latest works from Artistic Director Shari Vegso-Wilson and choreographer Kristin Pontz, both of Lancaster, are presented in a program of classical and modern dance titled “Viridiana.”

The program will include “Prism,” a new work by Vegso-Wilson that evokes the changing
patterns of daylight crossing a room and is danced on-pointe to the passionate first movement of Beethoven’s Piano Trio in B Flat, known as “The Archduke.” It will feature 11 dancers, four of whom are graduating company seniors. Bach’s lively Brandenburg Concerto No 3 in G, Saint-Saens’ playful “Carnival of the Animals,” and Vivaldi’s glorious “The Four Seasons” round out the program of music and dance choreography.

By Kathy Matheson, Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kids who clamber around a novel playground at the Philadelphia Zoo might suddenly find themselves at eye level with a monkey. Or even with a stair-climbing goat.

Aiden Shepherd, 1, interacts with goats at the petting area in the KidZooU section of the Philadelphia Zoo, in Philadelphia. The nation’s first zoo opened its new $32 million exhibit for children featuring a travel and exploration system that offers animals more room to roam. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) — ( Matt Rourke Photo)

It’s one of many features at the new $32 million KidZooU that’s designed to help youngsters develop compassion for animals and look at ordinary creatures in different ways.

The space opened this month and replaces a children’s zoo that had not been significantly updated since its creation in 1957. Also, the old exhibit — which closed late last year — did not have an indoor area, making it difficult to enjoy in bad weather.

“It was really due for a complete reinvention,” said Andrew Baker, the zoo’s chief operating officer.

Nearly two years in the making, KidZooU features many rare breeds of ducks, sheep, fowl and ponies among its outdoor denizens. An indoor education center includes tropical fish, butterflies, rats and an ant farm, as well as hands-on exhibits about habitat conservation and classroom space.