Science Day

This past weekend, one of our local colleges hosted a Science Day for kids in grades K-6.   Olivia and I attended while Lindsey was at Nutcracker rehearsal.   There were lots of exhibits and hands on activities.   The 2 hours allotted for the even wasn’t nearly enough time to get to everything, but we still had a great time.

Our first stop was the volcano station.  We got to watch video clips of various real volcanoes erupting, touch and feel real volcanic rock and ash from the Mt. St. Helen’s eruption.  Of course  the best part was causing your own eruption.

Being the animal lover that she is, Olivia LOVED the animal skeletons and mounted animals.   Here are a few of her favorites.

The next exhibit paired kids up with college students to help determine which of two fish tanks had pollution in it.   Students had to identify the fish in each tank and whether they were pollution tolerant or intolerant in order to determine which tank was contaminated.This was a lot of fun, and probably one of the best interactive exhibits.

The next lab we visited  studied air waves and air pressure.  We learned that a balloon would increase in size when all the air from the chamber is sucked out.  This is because there is no pressure on the outside of the balloon, so the air on the inside continues to push outward.

We then learned about air and sound waves.   This bell was turned on, and was quite loud.  As the air was sucked out of the chamber the sound of the bell began to diminish unit it was no longer audible.

Lastly, this poor marshmallow (named Marcie) was subjected to the same test as the balloon.  The poor dear got all pulled out of shape until the air was reintroduced into the chamber, then it returned to normal size.

The last lab we visited dealt with static electricity.  This was lots of fun as we watched the presentation and listened to the poor guy get zapped left and right.

At the end, he gave each child and opportunity to either get zapped, or to make their hair go wild.   Olivia opted for wild hair.

This was a great afternoon of learning and fun.   It makes me want to do some experiments at home!