A Mad Science Party!

March 20, 2013 · By ·

K had his first Mad Science Party experience for his birthday this year. The last birthday party we had for K, with friends, was when he was four. Surrounded by excited 3-5 year olds running amok in the estate, having to break up fights along the way, and needing to calm an over-stimulated K who threw a tantrum halfway during the party, was not exactly my idea of a great time.

Not for me anyhow.

But I am sure the kids enjoyed the party, I suppose. After all time slaving over the computer to plan for party games, creating materials to print and laminate, sourcing for decent things to fill the goodie bags. What about the cake? I am now convinced that pretty fondant cakes look really fancy and pretty, but the taste? Bland and dry.

I told myself this year that K’s birthday will be really simple, just a cake and some goodie bags. So when Mad Science got in touch with me recently, I was thrilled to be able to have a party for K, all without any hassle on my end.

All I needed to get for the party was the cake.

MS 1The red and blue thing on the chocolate banana cake is a $9.90 plastic spiderman topper. Not fondant, the kid doesn’t care for it. Who eats fondant anyway?

 

So, the key highlight of the party has to be the arrival of the Mad Scientist from Mad Science and her travelling laboratory of beakers filled with colorful liquids and intriguing gadgets.

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Have you ever been in a room with 23 kids who are fascinated and engaged with the activities for a full 1 hour 15 minutes? Then read on to see what went on in K’s party that could have enthralled them from the start to finish.

K’s Air Blast Party from Mad Science included numerous interactive experiments, intriguing chemical reactions and hands-on activities  :-

  • The first experiment was with a boiled egg (Eggbert) and a glass beaker (his house); Eggbert the two inch Mad Science assistant can’t get into his house because he has overeaten! How did the Mad Scientist get Eggbert into his house? The science of air pressure is used to solve his predicament.

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MS 7comTadah!

  • The second experiment was with styrofoam. Peggy’s apartment is a mess (of styrofoam), how can we help her to clean up? The kids learnt about chemical reactions when Mad Scientist dramatically shrink the mess to help Peggy clean up

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MS 10Oh look! The mess has shrunk!

 

  • Create puffs of vortices with vortex generators! The Birthday boy gets to blow a candle the Mad Science way, using a vortex generator

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How about using a vortex generator for a cup on K’s head?

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I think it will be more fun to get that cup off the Mad Scientist’s head!

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  • Can an ordinary washing machine tube sing? With the science of air pressure, it can!

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  • Can any one challenge the Mad Scientist to blow a big airbag with just one breath?

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  • Can you make 1 ping pong ball, then 2 float? These boys managed to do it.

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  • The kids learnt how to catch their own shadow

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  • As an an add on to the Mad Science Air Blast party, the Wonders of Dry-Ice give all of K’s classmates a chance to taste the Big Burp (sublimated carbon dioxide smoke), play with dry ice foam and get a Mad Science shower.

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  • And finally, the kids made their own goodie to take home, icky gooey slime and learnt the science behind making it

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My review of the Mad Science Party?

Mad Science will be the highlight of any birthday party for kids between 4-12 years old. The story telling method used to teach science concepts was easy to understand, fun and engaging. K’s classmates at the party participated in at least 3 interactive activities, so they were not just spectators who watched the experiments.

And the result of the Mad Science Party?

There was clear excitement in the air after the party ended. I think the best time to have a Mad Science Party is in the late afternoon, when the kids have had their naps (which was what we did).

Do be prepared for a room full of thrilled and chatty kids who will be admiring their gooey slime and smiley teachers at the end of the session :)

As for K’s verdict of his Mad Science Birthday Party?

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“My party is AWESOME! Mummy I want have Mad Science again for my next birthday party!”

To top off a fantastic Party, Mad Scientist presented K with his own Mad Science Goodie Bag.

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What was in there?

There were 7 toys in the Mad Science goodie bag that will stick, spin and fly

– Helix Flyer

– Spin Disc (mini frisbee with its wrist launcher)

– Flip Top (watch this spin)

– Polymer Putter (splatter it and let it get back to it’s original shape)

– Soak and Grow (this grows 6x after soaking in water overnight)

– Mad Science Large Sticker Sheet

– Mad Science Tattoos compilation

Screen Shot 2013 03 20 at 3 24 50 AM

Sounds good? This very same Mad Science Goodie Bag worth $12 each is up for grabs, 50 sets to giveaway for readers at catch-fortywinks.com. All you need to do is to pop over to Mad Science Facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/madsciencesingapore and LIKE their page. The people at Mad Science will send you a private message through Facebook, if you are one of the winners of the goodie bag. Giveaway to close by 22 April 2013.

K had tremendous fun with the toys in the Mad Science Goodie Bag, I am sure your kids will too. So do pop over to the Mad Science Page now to participate in this giveaway!

For more information about having a Mad Science Birthday Party, visit their website on their party Information and FAQa.

 

Disclosure – K’s Mad Science Party was sponsored by Mad Science Singapore, but all opinions in this post are my own.

 

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Bad Art does not exist

August 28, 2012 · By ·

Is there such a thing as bad art?

Actually I think there is, just that I chose not to tell Kyle that his art or any art that he sees is lousy.

Why delude the child?

Simply because a child needs to know that the goal of creating art is the process of discovery, experimentation and fun.

Art1

I still believe in this, especially for my photography or the little handmade creations that I make sometimes.

It doesn’t matter that we draw or paint, or take photographs which are not very nice, what matters is the process.

I tell my son K that he can be an artist, every creation that he draws or paint is interesting /special /unique /different /colourful /dark /strange sometimes, but it is still art.

Art involves being curious, observing things, invention, passion and most of all it take courage. Courage to create. I tend to think that creativity is not something that few are born with, rather, it is an aspect of life that some nourish and others ignore.

K’s experience in his new art school HeART Studio, has been such an encouragement that I am going to continue to help him nourish his creativity by continuing his art enrichment lessons.

The process started out with this,

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Went on to this, all in one lesson…

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Proceeded to this in the second lesson,

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Indeed, Art is not about the product but the process, despite believing in this, I am still surprised and very pleased with what K created.

Even his symbolic art attempts are alot more detailed these days.

Photo 1This one has a color key

 

Photo copyWhile for this, he spent 1 hour drawing and coloring in the patterns and told me that he want to continue this artwork in a separate session.

Previously with his limited exposure to only open-ended approaches that I often do with him at home, I hear this too often, “I don’t know how to draw this, please show me…” I am not trained in art, so I find it a challenge to model the right techniques that he can learn.

Exposure to the right art techniques has given him the confidence to draw more often, challenged him to explore draw varied pictures, improved his observation skills and attention span tremendously. He is able to sit by himself, draw and color his own creations for more than one and a half hours at a time.

With the right techniques taught in art, if Mr. ‘I draw only stickmen’ can do this, there is definitely hope for this mom too!

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Structured Art Lesson – Squares and Circles in Abstract Art

May 6, 2012 · By ·

One of the foundational concepts of teaching a child art is to enhance their observational and interpretation skills of how art consists of shapes, lines and curves.

The art piece that we explored was Squares with Concentric Circles, from the artist Kandinsky. This piece was chosen to teach the illustration of squares and circles in art, as well as, the technique of blending with oil pastels.

Here’s how I incorporated the concept of open-ended process to a structured art experience in my home-learning art lessons:  I introduced to my son K in this lesson of abstract art.

Screen Shot 2014 07 21 at 2 46 39 PMSquares with Concentric Circles by Wassily Kandinsky, 1913

Here are the tips for this lesson plan :

1) Introduce the child to Kandinsky, if the child is below 7 years olds, just share simple facts about when he was born, his country, some of his works and when the artist died.

Here are some useful links : http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/kandinsky/ – Here is a good video with an animation of some of Kandinsky’s works.

2) Gather as many samples of Kandinsky creations, best shown through a computer screen. Ask your child, what he notices from Kandisky creations; shapes, colors, size of visuals, placement or anything else that they see.

3) Show the child a visual of one of Kandinsky’s most famous creation; Squares with Concentric Circles and encourage him/her to try their own creation of the art piece.

4) Divide the drawing paper into 8 equal squares and draw the line in pencil for the child. I do recommend that for kids below 7, the paper can be divided into 4 or 6 equal parts instead, as it can get rather tiring when it comes to having to color all 8 squares at one sitting. CopyrightmpsSA4

5) Encourage the child to draw circles in the squares with a pencil. The child can draw as many circles as he/she likes in the boxes.

6) Then color in with either paint, crayons, color pencil, and highlight that they can use any color that they prefer. I used oil pastels with K, as I took the opportunity to explore blending with oil pastels with this activity.

As a further extension of this activity for kids above 6 years old; search for a variety of classical music with different moods. Tell the child to pick the colors that suit the different moods and that they can translate the different moods through the colors or the brush strokes that they use on each of the circles in specific squares.

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Here is a video on blending with oil pastels, if you plan to also teach your child the techniques of simple blending.

7. Math integration – I went with a total of 8 separate squares of circles for K, but as I expected, it got rather tiring for him to complete the full artwork.

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Some Insights  :

I was careful to take note that this was not a situation where he lacked motivation and hurriedly put something on paper and then saying, “Done.” He took extra care and effort in drawing, blending the oil pastels and completed the 5 squares with circles in 45 minutes without stopping to take a break, then finally exclaiming that he was tired and wanted to stop.

Being an advocate of child-led methods through how children can learn art, I did not push him to finish it. I did not see that it was necessary for him to re-visit this art piece being an abstract work to start with, and asked if he planned to continue this.

He asked if the artwork could still be unfinished, as he wanted it to look different from the Kandinsky piece. I told him that there is no right or wrong way when it comes to presenting art especially when it comes to abstract pieces. I explained to him that sometimes art can be presented in an unfinished format, and it could be very well be his interpretation of this project.

Nevertheless, it was an excellent opportunity to seamlessly integrate math concepts into his unfinished art piece.

We counted the squares, number of circles in each square, the number of colors he used in each square and I further added on by using math cubes and demonstrated equations of 5 + 3 = 8 and 8 – 5 = 3, using his incomplete art work. CopyrightmpsSA1

The child will learn about how shapes are used in abstract art, interesting information about a Russian abstract artist, explored the techniques of the artist in his own open-ended way, blended colors by using oil pastels and explored concepts in Math with his artwork.

A structured art activity (explored with an open-ended outcome) can be beneficial for a home-learning art lesson, to help drive specific learning objectives during the process and give the child room to develop his creativity.

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