Cambridge Festival 2023

I discovered the event Cambridge Festival a few weeks ago from Facebook adverts. I had a detail look at the programmes and activities available and they look very interesting, and they are the sort of things that I would like J to learn about. Plus, with our background in Science I said to Mr. B that we should go together.

The event did not disappoint me. The place was packed with hands on activities for kids (and adults) to play and learn.

We took our time and visited almost all stalls.

Here are some of the highlights.

J was extracting DNA from a strawberry. He had to mesh up a strawberry, add detergent and salt to break the cell, then add 100% alcohol to get the DNA out. The white chunk was the DNA.

J built a water molecule with play dough and paper straw. He then advanced to build a paracetamol!

This was his favourite. He played 4 times. It’s called “Mutate and Race”. Changing different body part abilities to see if you can win the race.

Trying to draw the star but only looking at the mirror.

Picking Boris’ nose.

J had a few chances looking through a microscope today! The first time on intestinal cells. The second time on alive fire flies. The third time on some different coloured sparkly mixture that he added by himself using a dropper, then covered with a coverslip.

Building a torch with some engineers.

And:

• Making a pair of lungs
• Building a double helix DNA
• Making Origami lab coat

We also learn about:

• tagging birds and what their poo can tell us
• nuclear energy and how nuclear waste is disposed
• the different intestinal cells found in our human body
• how camera help us to find cancer
• many more…

We arrived at 10am which was their opening time, and stayed until 3pm. We had a wonderful time learning so many things. Almost all the stalls were indoor so not affected by weather. Toilets were nice and clean.