Math & Science Day

Just as I was typing the title of this post I had the thought, "how come we only spent one day doing math and science all summer?" But then I remembered that, although we didn't do much science, Cat had "math time" during Eliza's nap, whenever we were home for Eliza's nap, which was most days.  Most days over the summer, when Eliza took her nap, Jack had quiet time with books in his room and I expected Cat to do at least 20 minutes of reading, 10 minutes of writing, and 10 minutes of math.  The writing and math took various forms depending on her mood, my mood, and whether things needed to get done (such as writing a letter to a pen pal).  I just wanted to be sure she spent some time most days maintaining or improving the skills she developed last year.  We certainly could have done more, but I felt like it was a good manageable amount for our family to handle.  So what was I talking about again?

Oh yeah.  Math and Science Day.  Toward the end of the summer we still had several things we wanted to do but hadn't accomplished yet.  We wanted to spend a day at Deer Creek (another "beach" in Heber Valley), the kids wanted to go back to the water park, I wanted to do some rubber duck races in a stream, and I knew there were lots of places we could go with cousins in the Salt Lake area.  But when we talked about all of the things we wanted to do and the limited amount of time we had before school started and we moved back to Orem, Cat was adamant that we make time to go to the Eyring Science Center at BYU.  Perhaps she's even more of a daddy's girl than I thought?

Before anyone not familiar with BYU gets all excited that there's a free children's museum on the BYU campus, let me explain.  It's not a museum.  It's simply the lobby of one of the science buildings, and they have lots of displays (some hands-on, some not) of several different disciplines of science.  The displays cover physics, meteorology, geology, archaeology, and more.  I can't tell by the set-up whether it was intended to be used by children, and it was mostly too mature for Jack to appreciate, but Cat and her same-age friend, Ben, loved all of the "experiments."  (For more information, including pranks such as the theft of the pendulum ball, read this article.)

We invited some friends to come with us for our BYU experience.  Megan and her kids hung out with us the whole time.  And Maricarmen and her crew joined us for a picnic after we walked through the science center.

Cat and Ben testing out the "Big Ears"

Did everyone else already know that James E. Talmage was a geologist?
It was new to me...

It was great to see this map of volcano eruptions from 2011.
Earlier in the summer Cat was suddenly paranoid about being caught in a volcanic eruption.
She asked me to promise that we would never live near a volcano - a promise I avoided making, as tactfully as possible.  Anyway, it was good for her to see that there were no eruptions anywhere near us in 2011.

The Sewer Pipe Synthesizer
...made me think of Blue Man Group...

Dinosaur Bones!

The Wave-a-Tron
Megan is using the computer control center, choosing which waves the
machine simulates and demonstrating how waves interact.
Honestly, this one was a little beyond me, but it was pretty to watch. 

Giant Geode!

Vortex Cannon
When you hit the drum, it shoots air at the person standing below.  Really cool.  The top picture is
hard to see because of the window, but Megan is holding Jack so he can "shoot" someone.

The Magnetic Sand Box

Fossils (above) and
A Lesson in Density (below)

Cat was impressed by the Foucault pendulum.

Group Shot, minus Eliza, with the little ones impersonating dinosaurs.
Ben, Cat, Jack, Jared, Katie

When we were finished exploring at the Eyring Science Center we walked to the south side of campus and had a picnic by the duck pond, where we met up with Maricarmen and her children Michael, Samuel, and Rebecca.

I just like this picture of Eliza...

The kids watched the ducks,

fed the ducks, 

and Eliza tried to chase the ducks.
They didn't like that.

Then the math and science excitement continued at home...

We played a few rounds of "Shut the Box," a Yahtzee-ish math game Mema gave Cat for her birthday.
It was fun to play with Jack as my partner, because he had just begun recognizing numbers so he was excited to flip the numbers I told him to flip.

And we did a simple but fun science experiment: put some vinegar in a bottle, and some baking soda in a balloon.  Secure the edge of the balloon around the top of the bottle without spilling the baking soda.  Then when you have a good seal, empty the baking soda into the vinegar and watch the balloon inflate.  (Side note: I love Jack's face in the bottom left picture...)

Thanks for insisting on these great activities before school started, Cat.  What a fun day!