Half Term at Hands On
Wednesday 6 February 2008
During holidays, it can be a headache for parents to find activities for their children which will keep them entertained on the day and which they will rave about for weeks. To help with that process, Hands On Science Gallery has a new exhibition called ‘Puzzlemania’ starting on Saturday 16 February and a family show ‘Chilly Science’ at Science Oxford on Thursday 21 February where liquid nitrogen takes centre stage.
‘Puzzlemania’ will run on Saturdays from 16 February to 15 March as well as Monday to Friday during the February half term holidays.
Children will find science puzzles, word puzzles and number puzzles, and will even be able to make their own puzzle! There will be puzzles for all levels of skill and age: from picture puzzles for the very young, to three dimensional special awareness puzzles and written mathematical puzzles for the visitors in search of a definite challenge.
Natasha Verniquet, Science Projects Officer, says: “To me, science is about a way of thinking. Puzzles challenge our minds to go beyond what we know to figure out how something fits together, just like scientists do every day in the course of their research.”
On Thursday 21 February only, three sessions of ‘Chilly Science’ (10.30am, 12noon or 2pm) will be performed by Science Oxford’s own science communicators and is guaranteed to provide family entertainment. Liquid nitrogen is so cold that it boils at minus one hundred and ninety six degrees, which is over twice as cold as the coldest day in Antarctica. When everyday objects get really cold, strange things begin to happen: a blown up balloon appears to ‘shrink’, a raw egg looks ‘cooked’, flowers will shatter and an onion will smash like glass. The audience will even be able to taste an ice-cream made with liquid nitrogen!
Natasha Verniquet, Science Project Officer, says: “Things exist mostly as a gas, a liquid or a solid. We can use liquid nitrogen to explore these states of matter and look at the properties of molecules under different situations.”
For more information about family activities at Hands On Science Gallery and Science Oxford, visit www.scienceoxford.com. For bookings, call 01865 728953 or e-mail events@oxtrust.org.uk
‘Puzzlemania’ will run on Saturdays from 16 February to 15 March as well as Monday to Friday during the February half term holidays.
Children will find science puzzles, word puzzles and number puzzles, and will even be able to make their own puzzle! There will be puzzles for all levels of skill and age: from picture puzzles for the very young, to three dimensional special awareness puzzles and written mathematical puzzles for the visitors in search of a definite challenge.
Natasha Verniquet, Science Projects Officer, says: “To me, science is about a way of thinking. Puzzles challenge our minds to go beyond what we know to figure out how something fits together, just like scientists do every day in the course of their research.”
On Thursday 21 February only, three sessions of ‘Chilly Science’ (10.30am, 12noon or 2pm) will be performed by Science Oxford’s own science communicators and is guaranteed to provide family entertainment. Liquid nitrogen is so cold that it boils at minus one hundred and ninety six degrees, which is over twice as cold as the coldest day in Antarctica. When everyday objects get really cold, strange things begin to happen: a blown up balloon appears to ‘shrink’, a raw egg looks ‘cooked’, flowers will shatter and an onion will smash like glass. The audience will even be able to taste an ice-cream made with liquid nitrogen!
Natasha Verniquet, Science Project Officer, says: “Things exist mostly as a gas, a liquid or a solid. We can use liquid nitrogen to explore these states of matter and look at the properties of molecules under different situations.”
For more information about family activities at Hands On Science Gallery and Science Oxford, visit www.scienceoxford.com. For bookings, call 01865 728953 or e-mail events@oxtrust.org.uk
