Rollercoaster Mum: A STEM Festival and some science to celebrate National Science and Engineering Week

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Sunday 23 March 2014

A STEM Festival and some science to celebrate National Science and Engineering Week

We had a great afternoon out last weekend at a local secondary's school's STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) Festival - the girls really enjoyed experimenting and joining in with all sorts of things from rainbows in test tubes to trying out Army minesweepers. Although I posted a collage photo for last weeks ' Year 2014 in Photos' I thought that being National Science and Engineering Week (albeit near the end) I should do a longer post about it too. I am all for encouraging kids to do more science.

Bohunt STEM Festival for National Science Engineering Week 2014
Poster for the fab local STEM Festival and it was freeee!!

Titan the 7 foot Robot, STEM Festival Bohunt
Titan the 7 foot Robot was very entertaining, even dancing Gangnam style.

making rainbows in a test tube, STEM Festival Bohunt
Making a rainbow in a test tube - if you want to know how it worked it was done with different coloured sugar solutions made at different concentrations.
Putting your hand through a bubble, STEM Festival, Bohunt
Science can be Magic! - this was how to put your hand through a bubble without bursting it (the answer is to cover your hand with the bubble solution. If you try it with a pencil, a dry one will break the bubble but one covered in the solution will not - it's all to do with surface tension)
Army minesweeper training - STEM Festival, Bohunt
Little Miss trying out the minesweepers with the Army - not sure if it was the equipment or the soldiers that made her want to give this one a go!!

Giant bugs and beasties, STEM Festival, Bohunt
You could hold and touch all sorts of not so mini beasties and admire some slightly odd ones like the Pacman Frog.

Changing the wheel on a go-kart, STEM festival, Bohunt
The girls were surprisingly fascinated by this exhibitor - especially the wheel changing which they were insistent on doing - think it was something to do with the tools!

There was loads of other stuff to do - almost too much, we just didn't find everything but all in all it was great afternoon out and hopefully they inspired lots more kids to give Science a go. I had the best of intentions to dust down the science kit that Bigger Miss got for Christmas but we only managed one short 'experiment' on Friday after school. 

The girls were very excited by the exploding 'volcano' even if it didn't exactly 'explode' - next time more baking soda maybe? The fair has definitely inspired me to try more simple science stuff with the girls. Meanwhile Little Miss totally coincidentally got given a 'Science Dictionary' as her reading book for the weekend - not exactly an ideal read for a 6yo and definitely a little odd from the literacy angle but she has actually been quite interested in it. 

Volcano - Explosive Experiments
Bigger Miss checking out her exploding Volcano - complete with safety goggles! It works with vinegar (acid) and Sodium Bicarbonate (otherwise known as baking soda) reacting together.
Gold Level Science reading book
Little Miss's school reading book for the weekend was bang on theme! 
I hope that at least some of you might be inspired to visit a Science event, do some simple science at home or generally just try to inspire our kids to do more science. 

7 comments:

  1. Wow - thank robot is amazing! It looks like you had so much to experience - bugs and bubbles and buggies. Looks like you had a fantastic day out :-)

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  2. What an amazing day out... Science is something so overlooked in our schools, but so important. I quite would have liked to meet that soldier too! ;D

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  3. That looks like a great day all round - love the fact that there's so much opportunity for hands on fun. I haven't seen any of these events advertised locally, but will have a look out, my kids would love something like this! #blogclub

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  4. Looks like you all had a great day out. I love how the children were able to discover new intrests. Certainly looks interesting :-) x #blogclub

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  5. This looks amazing (Except the spider) ;) I would love to take the kids to something like this! I really should do more science things with them at home - you'd think having a scientist for a Dad they would be right little science boffins but no! We must change that! x

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  6. This event sounds ace. And those creepy-crawlies are amazing....sounds as though the whole thing really inspired your girls.

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  7. What a fabulous event! I wish somewhere around here would do something like this. It looks fantastic!

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