a whole new reason to buy candy

In-between DI, Shakespeare rehearsals, PTA elections (say hello to the new Treasurer), planning somethingPalooza, work, diapers and laundry, we have been working on a science project. B is in the GT program at his school and every quarter they have a project to do. Last time it was the Holocaust and this one was science. Just in general....science. After going through, like, five thousand ideas, we settled in on atoms. B really wanted to do something with atoms. Why this kid just can't build a volcano, I'll never know.

So, we figured out how to build an atom. Then we had to figure out how to explain it to his class. We came up with this....


It's a board game. You draw a card that has an element and information from the Periodic Table on it and then follow the directions to find out how many protons, electrons and neutrons you need to create the atom for that element out of JujiFruits (protons and neutrons) and pipe cleaners (electrons). Amidst the instructions are interesting facts about atoms*.

It's fun, educational and will give you a sweet sugar-buzz.

That's what we've been up to.

We live on the edge.

*Did you know that if a cell was the size of a sports arena (say, oh, Coors Field or something) that an atom in that cell would be roughly the size of a pea inside it? Cool, huh?