| I took my family to Winterfest this past weekend in | | | | creations in both bending and compression. These |
| our little community north of Toronto, Canada. Science | | | | educational toys were demonstrating engineering |
| North, a science museum had an interactive workshop, | | | | principles that university students study, and these kids |
| we had to go. | | | | were aged 5 to 12. |
| It was a good thing no one told the kids these were | | | | Next up was Magic Mud. This non Newtonian fluid |
| educational toys, it may have quieted the shouting, | | | | swirled like a liquid in the bowl, but turned to solid rubber |
| laughter and astonishment. The amazing science kits | | | | when you punched it. What really proved the value of |
| ranged from building bridges to exploding candy. The | | | | this educational toy is when one boy said it was just |
| kids had to push aside the parents to get their turn | | | | like quick sand. |
| playing with some awesome science toys. | | | | The kids had the opportunity to make huge bubbles, |
| What I notice when kids play with science toys is the | | | | launch air rockets and learn about rocks and mining. |
| enthusiasm, the team work, the competitiveness that | | | | The biggest bang of the science toys was when the |
| exudes. These aren't just educational toys, these are | | | | instructor heated up potassium chlorate then through in |
| life lessons. And the level of parent participation and | | | | a candy as we watched the fireworks. Who knew |
| encouragement was heart warming. | | | | you could make educational toys with a Pez dispenser |
| Kids used K'Nex to build bridges and towers, then used | | | | to show how your body's metabolism works. |
| steel weights to test the strength of their engineering | | | | |