Science Fair '10

Last year Natalie and Sarah did science projects for the Science Fair and I was up so ridiculously late the night before because I didn't realize how long it would take to glue all the stuff onto the boards. This year, since the kids aren't required to do it until 4th grade, I just helped Sarah do one. Natalie can have a turn next year if she wants. She really didn't care this go round thank goodness.

Sarah chose to learn about fingerprints. She fingerprinted grandma and grandpa, our family and the neighbors. I think that was her favorite part. Then she looked closely at them through a microscope and magnifying glass. But the best way to look at them turned out to be when I got pictures of them with my macro lens and then we printed them. It was fun to compare them that way. Sarah hypothesized that even though siblings have very similar genes, their fingerprints are still different enough to identify at the crime of a scene. We made it into a game where the people looking at her board had to try and figure out which fingerprint taken at the scene of a crime (a cookie jar) matched which of the girls. I think it turned out fun.

I got teased a bit about how neat and nice her board looked - I guess I should not be so anal about matting everything and lining everything up. It's just something I really want to look nice. Sarah really did help put it together - I taught her the art of matting and lining things up - but I do have to admit that I finished it up after she went to bed. Mostly doing the gluing. Hopefully no one takes fingerprints off the board and accuses me of doing the whole thing!

At the science fair night, OMSI always comes and has fun exhibits and science experiments. It's hard to see against the white sign behind it, but this guy and the karate girl were making "elephant toothpaste". (o: The thick foamy stuff came shooting out of a jar - pretty darn cool even for a 30 something year old. (O;

Angela and Natalie looking at the science experiment.
I was so busy gabbing at the event, that I never got a picture of Sarah standing with her board!