Two young kids smile and wear winter jackets.

Maika and Olivier

Courtesy of EXPLORER KIDS

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On Top of the World!

These third-graders went on an epic field trip to the North Pole.

The North Pole is not an easy place to visit. For starters, it’s surrounded by the frozen Arctic Ocean. There’s no land to walk on, only floating sheets of ice! And the weather there is super cold. Even in the springtime, temperatures can plunge far below zero.

These extreme conditions didn’t stop Maika (MAY-kah) and Olivier (uh-LIV-ee-ay) Kraus. When they were 7 years old, the twins traveled from their home in New York to the North Pole. They were part of the youngest scientific team ever to study the North Pole. Today, they’re sharing the secrets they uncovered with kids all over the world.

Arctic Adventure

A few years ago, the twins learned about the North Pole through a club called the Young Explorers. When the club planned a journey to the pole, Maika and Olivier jumped at the chance to go. In April 2018, they made the trip with their parents, two other kids from the club, and some experienced explorers.

The team began by exploring parts of Norway inside the Arctic Circle. That’s an imaginary circle that surrounds the North Pole. Then they traveled by plane to Barneo Ice Camp, which is on an ice floe, or floating slab of ice. They camped there overnight before taking a helicopter the rest of the way to the North Pole.

A Flag With History

Courtesy of EXPLORERS CLUB

The Young Explorers are part of a bigger group called the Explorers Club. For more than 100 years, members of this club have carried the club’s flags on great adventures. The flags have been brought to both poles, deep into the ocean—even to the moon. The kids took one of the club flags on their trip. It had been to the top of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain.

Icy Science

The chilly 10-day adventure wasn’t just for fun, though. As they traveled, the kids did experiments and activities to learn about the Arctic region. For example, they studied biodiversity by keeping a log of the different living things they saw.

“We spotted wild berries, reindeer, arctic foxes, even a polar bear,” Olivier says.

The kids also investigated how clean the Arctic is. At every stop, they scooped up snow. They melted it and ran it through a filter. Then they used a microscope to look at the materials left in the filter.

“We found teeny pieces of plastic and gooey stuff in all of the snow,” Maika says. “They show that garbage and pollution are getting everywhere in the oceans, even to the North Pole.”

Spreading the Word

Since their trip, the kids have been sharing what they learned. They have visited schools and worked with scientists to publish the results of their experiments. They say they’ll always remember their journey to the top of the world.

“Maybe what we learned can help make the world a better place,” Maika tells Scholastic News.

Welcome to Barneo Ice Camp!

This small camp is on an ice floe near the North Pole. The ice is always slowly moving! The twins stopped here on their trip.

©Galya Morrell/ColdArtist

Jim McMahon/Mapman ®

1. Why is the North Pole a difficult place to visit?

2. How did the kids investigate how clean the Arctic is? What did they find?

3. What details from the article does "Welcome to Barneo Ice Camp!" help explain?

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