On Saturday we went to one of our favourite London haunts – The Science Museum in South Kensington, London. Any regulars here will know that for us no trip to the Museum is complete without a visit to the third floor’s LauchPad and I can tell you that as the kids get that little bit older it just keeps on getting better and seems to hold more interest.

This particular visit, however, involved going along to a ‘Let Children Dream’ party hosted by Haier, the world’s largest major appliance manufacturer. Haier, who sponsor the Science Museum, produce some beautiful appliances (I say beautiful because there are some gorgeous, berry red coloured fridges and as we know berry colours are very ‘this season’) but also some pretty high-tech ones too. Think giant, US-style refrigerators with digital displays, water and ice dispensers and nifty spill proof shelves and state the art washing machines. Talking of washing machines they also manufacture the UK’s first machine with anti-bacterial treatment in the gasket and dispenser draw. What this means is that even at low temperatures (something the majority of us now set our machines to) the machine can kill off 99% of bacteria that cause vomiting bugs.

Whilst chatting with Team Haier I was delighted to discover just how enthusiastic they are about encouraging a future generation of inventors. Not only do they have a ‘Create It’ drawing wall in LaunchPad but they also sponsor some Undergraduates. All of this enthusiasm and passion for our future technological geniuses tied in very nicely with the fun yet educational experiments that they had set up, with the help of the Science Museum staff, to entertain and marvel both children and parents alike. Here’s a little taster of two of the home experiments we took part in and which you can also easily replicate at home.

Cornflour Slime

For this experiment you need:
Cornflour
Water
Plastic Tray
Teaspoon

Method:
Put 4 tablespoons of cornflour in a bowl
Slowly add the water, small amounts at a time, until the cornflour resembles a very thick, viscous liquid.
Now play with it! Stir it and see if it’s a liquid or a solid…
Roll the cornflour into a ball in you hand and see what happens when you stop.

The Science bit…
Cornflour does not dissolve in water – instead it creates a suspension called a non-Newtonian fluid. It can be both liquid and solid, depending on whether the particles are being moved by force or not.

Our reaction..
The kids absolutely loved this experiment. If you hold the cornflour in a ball it is solid but as soon as you stop squashing it it becomes liquid and drips off your hand. I reckon it must be used for special effects in films. I also admit to having inadvertently recreating this experiment a few weeks back when trying to thicken a casserole. Whoops!

Milk Magic

You will need:
Whole milk
Flat plastic tray
Food colouring (red, yellow, blue and green)
Washing-up liquid
Cotton buds
pipette

Method:
Pour milk into the tray
Use a pipette to put little drops of food colouring into the milk, creating little circles
Dip the tip of a cotton bud into washing-up liquid and then in the centre of the milk. Swirl about slowly and watch the colours move.

The Science bit…
Adding washing up liquid to milk lowers the surface tension so that the food colouring can flow through the milk. The washing-up liquid also spreads out the fats and protein in the milk causing it to swirl.

Our reaction
Plenty of open mouths with this one and lots of pattern creating. Parents were trying to get their heads around ‘surface tension’ and whether we’d end up covered in food colouring (which we didn’t!)

Want more ideas? Download the Science Museum’s great Kitchen Science booklet which has these and tons more ideas for great experiments to do at home. It also explains all the science behind the experiments so you don’t have to go ‘Urrmmm, not sure – ask Daddy when he gets home!’