Awesome Glowing

Fireflies are among nature’s most magical insects, lighting up summer nights with their bioluminescence. If you’ve ever wondered why and how lightning bugs glow, watch this video from TED-Ed that fills in the blanks—from their chemistry to their brilliant mating rituals. Lesson by Emily A. Geest, directed by Lou Morton, and narrated by Alexandra Panzer.

GlowBots answer the question “What if a Lite-Brite was shaped like a robot?” These customizable figures leave their design to your imagination. Each GlowBot comes with a perforated body with LED backlighting and 1200 glow pegs in four colors of your choice. Buy a three-pack and get all 24 colors.

Watch as these artists turn a blank wall into an imaginative and dreamlike painting of mushrooms and a snail that glows brilliantly under UV light. We love how they used fluorescent paint drips to create those colorful stripes.

Undone honors Mexico’s celebration of the dead with its glowing skull watch. The Calavera is decorated with fluorescent paint, which glows under UV light. Its smoked glass caseback features a guitar-playing skeleton and the famous phrase “Todos Somos Calaveras,” a reminder that we are all the same beneath the surface.

Glow sticks can add a splash of color and light to nighttime festivities. But they’re also filled with hazardous chemicals and only last a short time. Nite Ize’s version uses LEDs instead, and lasts for up to 8.5h per charge. It offers multiple colors to choose from, is IPX7-rated waterproof, and includes an S-biner clip for attachment.

This special edition of Hasbro’s classic 2-player board game has bright neon colors on its pegboards. The ships, hit and miss pegs are all made from semi-transparent plastic, and it all packs up into a colorful portable storage case for travel. Available May 2020.

Hold a floating, glowing microcosm in your hand. Simply fill the hand-blown, flat-bottomed glass orb with the included dinoflagellates and seawater to create a beautiful bioluminescent blue glow. The creatures thrive on sunlight and simple nutrients by day, and glow by night.