Family Math and Science Day

So impressed by this activity in my son's school. It was a Family Math and Science Day. Sort of like an alternative class day, but for the parent and child and based solely on math and science fun activities.

Three days before, we got the sign up form, and there were something like 30 stations to choose from. Participants could choose up to four. Sadly, I don't have a copy anymore of the paper describing the stations, but I swear to you, they sounded like so much fun! The fantastic thing is that the descriptions also specify the ages for which the activity is appropriate. I think the activities were only for the pre-school to grade school kids, but it seemed the high school kids helped facilitate the sessions. So, everyone was involved.

Anyway, my son immediately chose the Painting with Magnets session, which was exactly that--creating a painting using magnets. He also picked What Do Dinosaurs Do in the Dark?, where they had to listen to a story then pick out shapes from a basket and assemble them to form a dinosaur; an Air project thing, where they looked at how air propels objects with balloons, pinwheels, and toy cars with sails; and the Ruler Scavenger Hunt, where my hubby and my son had to compete with another parent-child team to measure several objects using a ruler. Finally, once the parent-child team finished their four stations, they got to go to the Bubble Room where kids had fun with bubbles. And, boy, did my son love that.

I couldn't go because I had a teacher training gig, so it was just hubby and sonny-boy. Though I really wished I could be there. Still, here are a few of the pics that hubby took; you can see how much sonny enjoyed the entire thing.

Showing off his shape-dinosaur.

Painting with magnets

My son's pterodactyl, from the Painting with Magnets session.

Getting the bubbles ready

A few trial bubbles

Aaand here's the whopper!

And I say again, I am impressed by this activity. It's awesome on so many levels--kids get to choose the sessions they like, they deal with math and science concepts in an uber-fun way, parents get to see what their kids do in school, they get to see how teachers teach and deal with the students, and the parents and kids spend time together in a fun and educational venue. Plus, it gives parents ideas for what they can do with their kids at home.

Because the other amazing thing? The whole activity cost much less than a Starbucks Venti, for both the parent and child. The materials used were just ordinary materials. Fantastic.

And, naturally, I wish we had something like this when we were kids in school.