'Science' and 'Fun' in the same sentence?! Not when YOU went to school, huh? Not for MOST of us! But for SOME of us, we had those teachers that went all-out to show us that science was not only cool, but a blast!
They had gadgets, they had toys, they had things you could grab and DO things with, unlike the poor math and english teachers. What teachers but the science teachers would scrounge at your mother's garage sales for your old Tonkas
, GI Joes and construction sets? [you know who you are Mrs. Baker! ;-) ] 'Conservation of momentum' with the teacher's assistant rolling across the benchtop in your old Tonka and tossed a bag of sand...
yes he slowed down, but not before he fell off the end of the benchtop to his doom on the floor! In college, we called it 'the Magic Show', where that bowling ball hanging from the high ceiling swung away from the prof, only to stop juuuust short of whacking his head when it came swingin' back!
Missing Pieces won't go THAT far, but I will come into your class, library or party and show the kids a good time with hands on subjects like Dinosaurs, the Space Race and Dry Ice Fun! My Fun Science Events combine talking about the subject, bringing lots of references for all the students to look at, to stimulate them during setup and lots of hands on activities to demonstrate the science and wonder of the subjects. And sometimes they even get to take some of it home with them! And they all take home the learning and fun of it.
The Space Race!
10...9...8... Remember the Apollo program, Man on the Moon and all that? MOST KIDS DON'T! In fact, an awful lot of them don't know anything happened before the Shuttle! And some of
others are even convinced that none of the rest really happened, that it was all movie stuff and faked. Oy!
I do a talk and demonstration of what really went on in the Space Program during the '60s. A little Mercury, a dash of Gemini and a whole lot of Apollo!
First, I start off with dozens of books on rockets and space for the kids to look at. This gets them going and stirs the pot for lots of questions later.
Depending on the amount of time for the talk, I also have computer videos and animations of space shots from the NASA archives. If you have a large monitor or TV in the classroom, I can probably connect to it for an even better show. There will also be quite a few models and space items to touch and examine. The 'star' of the collection is a huge, custom-built Saturn V rocket that comes apart to describe the process of getting a man off the earth and into space!
Next, I'll take advantage of that earth globe that is in virtually every classroom. Turns out,
if you put this in one corner of a standard classroom and my globe of the moon in the other, the
distance between the two, gauges the distance to the moon pretty closely! We will stage our own launch and moon mission and landing, using the Saturn V model and its components to simulate all
the major parts of the mission, in the places they occur!
Lastly, everyone wants to know what it feels like to be an astronaut. We can't do the zero G stuff, (I'm working on it!) but I do have a full scale mockup of the Main Control Panel from the Apollo Command Module! By putting 3
chairs next to each other, on the floor facing up and suspending the Control Panel across 2 desks, over the chairs, we can create our OWN Apollo Command Module. 3 kids at a time can have a chance to see what it feels like to be an astronaut, while the others are manning their desks as Mission Control Specialists! If we have a board we can slide under the 3 chair backs, we can even simulate the jarring effects of blastoff!
This talk gives the kids a lot to think about, especially with President Bush's recent backing of a permanent return to the Moon and then on to Mars. The pre-conceived notions, along with the demo, make a for really lively discussion!
COST: $200 $150! per event, for up to 3 hours of fascinating science.
Dry Ice Fun
Ever wonder how the smoke for a stage concert was made or how they made the Addams Family's drinks spew smoke right from the glass? (not to mention the punch bowl!)
My talk about Dry Ice is a fun one,
showing how Dry Ice (frozen carbon dioxide) works and its many fun uses. From 'spiking' your drink, to a Witches caldron, to volcanos and popping the tops of milk bottles WAY across the room, Dry Ice is instuctional and fun.
I go through the do's and don'ts of respecting this useful compound, with all the right equipment and give a great show.
Its especially useful at Halloween and parties, covering whole tables and floors with a ghostly haze, with only the Dry Ice and some hot water. It even 'walks' down stairs, great for entering guests!
COST: $100 $75! per event, for up to 2 hours of smokey fun!
Dinosaur Bone Beds
What kid doesn't like dinosaurs? ESPECIALLY when they get to DIG for them! With the Dino Bone Bed Event, kids all get to dig for dinosaur bones, dinosaur figures, rocks, shells and even REAL fossil shark's teeth! (always the kid's favorite) See a slideshow of a typical Dino Bone Bed Dig!
Each Dino Bone Bed serves 4 kids, one on each side. Its the size of a 4-six-pack soda case (those 3" tall trays you see in the grocery store?) Unlike commercial kits, which typically are hard rock or composite that can take days to chip out with a hammer, Dino Bone Beds are made of plaster of paris that has been specially bubbled to allow the kids to easily dig through the strata, but very much like a real paleontologist!
Using a variety of small tools, the 4 kids will work
as a Dino Dig team to dig through their bone beds, carefully (yeah, right, they dive in like ravenous dogs, who am I kidding? ;-) removing all the artifacts they find for later study. After they determined they found everything, they then will use several types of brushes to scrub their artifacts clean in troughs of water, just as a real paleontologist would!
The Dino Bone Beds each are equally spread with enough bones, figures, rocks, teeth and such, to ensure that each child will get at least one of everything, except for the dinosaur bones within the Bed. (boy, the bartering afterwards for who wants teeth more than dinos more than rocks is
The dinosaur bones however, are put together by the kids as a team, to see what dinosaur was buried beneath their Bone Bed. Sometimes they even have to work with another team, if the skeleton was so big that half the skeleton was put in each of two Bone Beds!
Before the digging begins,
the kids will get to go through dozens of excellent dinosaur books to stimulate LOTS of questions. There will also be a large selection of dinosaur figures, both large and small for the kids to handle, along with a real museum-quality T-Rex tooth and claw!
Depending on how much time was alotted for the Event, the kids will also get to see computer generated videos and animation about dinosaurs.
These ALWAYS stimulate a LOT of discussion and speculation, from the resident dinosaur experts! (the kids! ;-)
Afterwards, cleanup is a snap. Whether indoors or out, large thin dropcloths are used beneath the entire enterprise, that roll right up afterwards. Many a custodian has breathed a sigh of relief after the principal dropped in on us during our dig and was agast at our pleasure! :-) I've never required more than everyone
in the class moving their desks around to make room in the middle of the class for us. And then back again.
Everyone has a blast they'll remember! I've had students who've seen me in their pre-school classes, come up to me as 5th graders, regaling their own experience from years ago.
COST: $300 $275! per event, for up to 24 kids (6 bone beds) and 3 hours of intense interaction! (extra bone beds for 4 students per, are $25 apiece)
Disney's 1940 Fantasia - Rite of Spring
(Evolution of the Earth, life & extinction of the Dinosaurs)
Disney's 1955: Man in Space
Disney's 1956: Man and the Moon
Disney's 1957: Mars and Beyond
A lot of the videos on this page can now be found in this great collection:
Disney's 1959: Eyes in Outer Space
Teachers, don't have access to YouTube in school? Take a
look at my educational videos and others on TeacherTube.com:
The Space Race!
little Mercury, a dash of Gemini and a whole lot of Apollo! 
from the Apollo Command Module! By putting 3
chairs next to each other, on the floor facing up and suspending the Control Panel across 2 desks, over the chairs, we can create our OWN Apollo Command Module. 3 kids at a time can have a chance to see what it feels like to be an astronaut, while the others are manning their desks as Mission Control Specialists! If we have a board we can slide under the 3 chair backs, we can even simulate the jarring effects of blastoff! 
(frozen carbon dioxide) works and its many fun uses. From 'spiking' your drink, to a Witches caldron, to volcanos and popping the tops of milk bottles WAY across the room, Dry Ice is instuctional and fun. 
Bone Bed Event, kids all get to dig for dinosaur bones, dinosaur figures, rocks, shells and even REAL fossil shark's teeth! (always the kid's favorite) See a slideshow of a typical Dino Bone Bed Dig!
kits, which typically are hard rock or composite that can take days to chip out with a hammer, Dino Bone Beds are made of plaster of paris that has been specially bubbled to allow the kids to easily dig through the strata, but very much like a real paleontologist!
the kids will get to go through dozens of excellent dinosaur books to stimulate LOTS of questions. There will also be a large selection of dinosaur figures, both large and small for the kids to handle, along with a real museum-quality T-Rex tooth and claw!
Depending on how much time was alotted for the Event, the kids will also get to see computer generated videos and animation about dinosaurs.
These ALWAYS stimulate a LOT of discussion and speculation, from the resident dinosaur experts! (the kids! ;-)