Science Fair Winners

Paige and Ashby entered the school science fair today.
Their question was: "Does adding triangle shapes to a structure make it more stable?"

I told the kids we had to do something simple because we didn't have time for anything spectacular.

We looked through some science books and Paige stopped at a picture of marshmallow construction. Well, that's simple enough - marshmallows and spaghetti noodles. We already had all the materials and it would be fun for the kids to build.

It was fun! The kids built lots of squares and cubes, snapped lots of noodles and ate lots of marshmallows. It was simple, but they got the concept. They also liked searching the web for pictures of cool buildings and bridges that incorporated the concept they had just witnessed.

The judging was today (Wed), we did the project Monday night for FHE and made the poster last night. We kept it pretty low-key. I had thought about skipping out on the science fair this year, but I think its important for them to have these extracurricular activities.

Past years I've gotten to help judge projects and stick around for motivational support. This year I had to drop the kids off early, help them set up, pick up Brian and the little kids, take Brian to work for an early meeting, rush back to the school, pick up Ashby (even though he wasn't quite done with the judging), and hurry to the church so I could unlock the door to start aerobics.

I wasn't sure how the science fair would turn out, but the kids came home from school this afternoon all excited. "We got a gold medal! We won!"

Well, what do you know? I guess simple is better.

Good job Paige and Ashby!