{"id":157,"date":"2010-07-08T14:47:11","date_gmt":"2010-07-08T14:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/?p=157"},"modified":"2011-06-05T13:33:37","modified_gmt":"2011-06-05T13:33:37","slug":"sciencebirthdayparty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/sciencebirthdayparty\/","title":{"rendered":"A “ScienTerrific” Birthday Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

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[Note* This article was originally published on my former photo blog Tuesday, February 2, 2010. \u00a0Two weeks ago we had the great pleasure of visiting this fantastic birthday venue once again – this time for our twins’ 6-year old birthday. \u00a0It was just as “ScienTerrific” this time around as the first time so I wanted to make sure all the readers of this new blog knew about this great option for an educational birthday party. \u00a0 So, I moved the article over here! \u00a0Thanks Curiosity Zone for a great birthday experience!]<\/em><\/p>\n

[2\/2\/2010] Last weekend we attended a birthday party for playgroup friends of ours and I wanted to share some pictures and thoughts on this unique and educational birthday party setting.<\/p>\n

We’ve been to parties all over – from farm museums to homes to bounce-houses (lots…and lots… of bounce houses…lol…). \u00a0And don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the bounce houses! \u00a0We even had our daughters’ fourth birthday party at a fantastic local bounce house. \u00a0It’s great exercise for kids and parents alike. \u00a0But as a former science teacher I was really thrilled with what we experienced at this birthday party and I think it’s so unique that I wanted to share my reflections on the day.<\/p>\n

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It was at an educational toy store\/camp\/class\/party venue called Curiosity Zone in Ashburn, Virginia. \u00a0Our friends signed up for their “Slime Time” Birthday Party for their five-year-olds. \u00a0Here’s the class description according to their website (accessed February 2, 2010):<\/p>\n

“Kids mix up their own formulas for slime, play “floam” and bouncy balls! \u00a0Kids take home their concoctions plus a helium balloon and C-Zone science kit (beaker, test tube, pipette and directions)”<\/em><\/p>\n

And that’s exactly what they did! \u00a0It starts off with all the kids putting on adorable little science lab coats. \u00a0The teacher worked them through three different science experiments. \u00a0The first involved making their own bouncy ball using just water, colored glue and borax. \u00a0The teacher was engaging and the kids were enthralled. \u00a0They got to choose their own color for their bouncy ball (which was done in a really organized and fun way – having special hand signals for each color – my kids chose blue so both waited patiently with their hands on top of their heads until the blue glue came past their seat).<\/p>\n

Of course, it didn’t take long with a room full of 4 and 5 year olds for parents to get involved. \u00a0Some of the kids were more than happy to stick their hands in all the gooey mess while others (mine included) wanted mom and dad’s help with the gross stuff! \u00a0Fun for kids and parents too!<\/p>\n

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A parent shares in the "ew-blech" fun!<\/p><\/div>\n

After making the bouncy balls the room was split into two groups. \u00a0One group made “flubber blubber,” – a kind of slime – while the other played with something called “ew-blech.” \u00a0My apologies if that’s not spelled correctly… but it sounds like exactly what you would say when you touch it, “EWWWWW! \u00a0BLECH!!!” \u00a0It was a strange green substance that my husband said felt rubbery when you picked it up but them immediately melted into slime in your hands. \u00a0Both groups then switched so that each child got to experience each station. \u00a0And, of course, there was plenty of hand-washing going on in between!<\/p>\n

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After all the slimy fun was over we headed to the party room for cake and ice cream – but probably one of the things I was most impressed with was the learning didn’t stop when the eating started. \u00a0They thought of creative ways to introduce scientific skills even during snack time. \u00a0When the kids sat down, each seat was set with a straw, spoon, cup, beaker of water and a tray of test tubes.<\/p>\n

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Using their scientific tools the kids were asked to pour their water from their beaker into their powder and mix it with their straw (making their lemonade). \u00a0Then they were asked to choose a colored test tube to add to their drink and watch what happened as the colors mixed with the yellow lemonade.<\/p>\n

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It was such a simple idea… but honestly – this science-teacher turned mom hadn’t thought of it before! \u00a0I think it’s so easy to take these everyday activities for granted – but kids are learning the basic skills of science, even when they help make lemonade. \u00a0They were learning the vocabulary and basic tools of science (beakers and test tubes and all), having the fun of mixing it themselves, and learning about color mixing too. \u00a0They could have just handed out juice boxes, but seriously… What would have been the fun in that?? \u00a0So simple – yet so great!<\/p>\n

After the singing, and cake, ice cream and socializing, there was a cool “shadow wall” demonstration with glow-in-the-dark paint and then each child left with a balloon, their bouncy ball and a sample baggie of flubber blubber (along with strict instructions NOT to put it on mom and dad’s good furniture!), as well as their own beaker, test tube and pipette.<\/p>\n

But more than that, they left with an excitement for science. \u00a0My five-year-old girls talked all the way home about the party and asked immediately if I would look on the computer for more experiments for them to do. \u00a0We even purchased a beginner science kit a few days later at a local bookstore and probably this afternoon we’ll start growing our first batch of rainbow crystals.<\/p>\n

After we got home that night, my husband told me that one of our daughters came running up to him during the party and said, “Daddy!! \u00a0I FINALLY KNOW what I want to BE when I grow up! \u00a0A SCIENTIST!!” \u00a0It’s so neat to see them so excited and engaged in learning. \u00a0Of course, this was the same child that refused to touch the ooey-gooey rubber ball and made awful faces during ew-blech time… so we shall see… \u00a0But, she did beg and beg on Monday morning to take her flubber blubber to school to show her teacher.<\/p>\n

What a great experience we had. \u00a0And this is one party that I will remember for years to come!<\/p>\n

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[Note* This article was originally published on my former photo blog Tuesday, February 2, 2010. \u00a0Two weeks ago we had the great pleasure of visiting this fantastic birthday venue once again – this time for our twins’ 6-year old birthday. \u00a0It was just as “ScienTerrific” this time around as the first time so I wanted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,46,45,251],"tags":[252,58],"class_list":["post-157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-location","category-loudoun-county","category-northern-va","category-nova-photo-moms","tag-photo-mom","tag-science-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1020,"href":"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions\/1020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/catinaanderson.com\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}