I picked this up today in the pile of donations left for the white elephant stall at the school fayre; a fab electricity exploration kit. We've had great fun with the helicopter!
Tuesday 25th October 2011 – 'Science' (297/365)
Tuesday 30th August 2011 – 'Hello In There!' (242/365)
Exploring Science!
Today we met up with an old school friend of mine and her little girl who is two months older than The Boy. She had some Tesco Days Out vouchers which we used to gain free entrance into Techniquest, a science exploration centre in Cardiff Bay. I've been there many times over the years, either with nieces and nephews or taking a class there. This is the first time, I've taken The Boy on a dedicated trip just for him.
And he loved it!
Techniquest is a hands-on centre with dedicated exhibits exploring all aspects of Science. My personal favourites are the marble-run (massive display with different sized marbles and different routes), the water play, the shadow room, the walk-on piano (like in 'Big') and the headless table! If you are ever down in the south Wales area, then it is well worth a visit as your little ones could happily kill several hours there. Just take a spare change of clothes for the water-play area!
I think he's now the age where he wants to figure things out and fully explore them. He was therefore really able to enjoy the hands-on approach to the different aspects of Science that Techniquest promote. Mr. TheBoyandMe is going to be really chuffed that he enjoyed it there, as he has been desperate to go with him many times, but The Boy hasn't got it before now. We spent a really enjoyable couple of hours there, until our stomachs over-ruled our quench for play, and we headed off to Pizza Express.
Eruptions
The Boy loved the brilliant coloured milk experiment so much, and it went right, that I've had the confidence to have a go at the Volcanic Eruptions experiment. MultipleMummy and MummyMummyMum are doing a marvellous job coming up with a way of sparking the interest of infants, and me, in scientific discovery, and I am keen to continue this with The Boy.
One of the reasons that I'd been hanging back from this one is because I didn't have any vinegar. Well I did, but it's balsamic and I'm not using that for a science experiment. I stopped procrastinating and bought some. Then I didn't have any playdough. So I finally found a recipe, worked out what the hell Cream of Tartar is and made some. Next time I'm doing the stuff that doesn't need cooking. My copper-bottom saucepan was not happy with me.
And so we have a volcanic eruption that The Boy thought was amazing. It went a bit wrong at first; I had poured the food colouring on top of the baking powder and the vinegar couldn't get through, so I had to stir it. The male voice in the background is my dad, affectionately called 'Grandma'. Don't ask, it's easier. But no it's not for any bizarre reasons other than pronounciation.
Wednesday 1st June 2011 – 'Squish' (152/365)
Swirly Science
Science and me? Nooo! I scraped a C grade in my GCSE and have always found it a challenging subject to teach. I'm not so bad with biology, chemistry I can just about cope with, but physics has me quaking in my boots. I've even been known to swap teaching a science topic to avoid it (I taught the other teacher's art lessons, she did my science for the remainder of the term). I've managed to find that by reading up and staying one step ahead of the children in my class that I managed to con them into thinking that I knew what I was talking about. In a way, the avent of child-led learning means that I don't have to panic so much because I can't turn it around and say "I don't know, let's find out together!"
How will I help The Boy with his scientific enquiry? Eeek! We already know that there is not enough interest in Science in schools; the curiosity needs to be started young. However, I'm as compatible with Science as oil and water. So when MultipleMummy and MummyMummyMum came up with the idea of Science Sparks I rejoiced!
I've been admiring their weekly experiments and saving the e-mail notifications in a little folder, but have still been too scared to do them. Until Monday when I had a go at Week Four's idea of Colourful Milk. Here's the video of our attempt. First of all please excuse the snips in the footage; he kept saying his name! And secondly, I know I keep correcting him with the colours, I felt stressed out about the Science!
Now you should pop over to Multiple Mummy's Science Sparks page and check out a master at work and the other link-ups.
