Technorama

Just east of Zurich near the town of Winterthur is Switzerland’s only Science Center Technorama. Frida and I went with some friends today to check it out. We went late which was a shame because we only had an hour to look around and this place has enough in it to make a full day of science fun. In the basement there at toy trains which all the kids really liked a lot. On the ground floor there were cool mechanics exhibits. Although Frida is far to young to understand the scientific concepts these exhibits demonstrate, she still thinks watching things move is cool. A lot of the exhibits have levers and buttons to push and pull which is really fun for preschoolers. On the second floor there are optics exhibits and wood machines (and much more but that is as far as we got). The wood machines are especially interesting for young children. They are made by Pierre Andres. Well Frida and I will definitely return to explore more.

Winter wonders

So while surfing the Sci News for Kids site I came across this website SnowCrystals.com . Although it isn’t snowing yet, I thought it would be perfect for my first post. There are 3 activities on this that I thought maybe suitable for Frida and/or the Science Club.
The first one is Snowflake Watching. This simply involves viewing snowflakes with a magnifying glass. There is even a printable PDF reference guide to the different type of crystals. This might be problematic for the club if no snow is falling but I will definitely do this with Frida.
The next one is Snowflake Fossils. This would be something I would prepare ahead of time and probably more suited for the 5-7 year olds, although Frida does enjoy trying to look through a microscope. Basically you collect snowflakes on microscope slides and then place cold super glue on top carefully sandwiching it with a cover slip. The problem with this is that you need a microscope to view the slides ( a good reason to buy one I think or maybe get an old one donated).
The last activity is Ice Spikes. Ice Spikes are spikes that form on ice cubes. Apparently, it rarely happens with regular tap water but distilled water will produce Ice spikes. The physics may be understandable to older kids. Again I may be over estimating what the kids will understand.
It would be plenty just to center the activities around the thought “Water can take several forms”. Then play with snow, ice, water and maybe steam. Do the above activities and maybe throw in making paper snowflakes.
I will post once I’ve done the activities and report how it went over.

Introduction

I have been throwing the idea for a Science club around for a while now. To help myself along I’ve decided to start this blog. I actually want to do two Science clubs. One club for 3-4 year olds and one for 5-7 year olds. The first club is to share my interest in Science with my daughter who is nearing the 3-4 age range. It is also a way to teach myself what kids that age respond to as far as experiments go. The second club is also for me to learn what it is that excites and interests kids in that age range and also I think it may be more satisfying for me experiment wise.
I’m guessing the initial posting to this blog will be quite unorganized and sporadic…sorry. Right now this blog is more for me then you…but hopefully this will change.

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