This weekend we had an exciting time at Mix It Up with Mad Science! We painted with jello, played a guess that smells game, and learned about our taste buds on a giant tongue! This Mix It Up helped us explore our senses through fun and interactive learning!
Recently I visited Bee Downtown, which is a company started by Leigh-Kathryn Bonner, which sells rooftop hives to companies in downtown Durham and Raleigh. Bee Downtown sells rooftop hives to companies who support bees and want to become more involved. Leigh-Kathryn had always been interested in beekeeping because the majority of her family was beekeepers. She started Bee Downtown as a small business, which grew and grew. Bee Downtown had five hives on their own rooftop, and a dozen other hives around downtown Durham and Raleigh. Bee downtown helps to promote beekeeping in urban areas where not much pollination is occurring. The bees are strategically placed downtown so that they have easy access to water. Another great thing about rooftop hives is that they help to pollinate windowsill plants that would not get pollinated otherwise because there is no nearby hives. After Leigh-Kathryn showed be around Bee Downtown, she took me to a grassy area across the street. In the small field was almost 50 christmas trees, each one representing a company or nonprofit in Durham. The trees were judges to see which was the best, and the winner got a prize of $5,000. Bee Downtown’s tree has flowers, bees and hives all over it. At the bottom of the tree was sihs showing everything that we would not have without bees. I was very surprised by some of these signs so I decided to do some more research on what bees pollinate. I learned that without bees, there would be no apples, cherries, almonds, blueberries, cotton, cantaloupe, potatoes, celery, cashews, and many more everyday foods.
While I was away, Kidzu made a lot of progress on the upcoming bee exhibit. They made plans for the indoor bee exhibit and the outdoor pollinator garden. The outdoor learning garden should begin being built in late May, and should be finished by late June. The indoor play hives has already been built, and other parts of the exhibit (such as costumes) will be in Kidzu as soon as they are ready. I was lucky enough to help with all steps of building the play hive. I began by cuttng out the templates which were used to find where each layer of blocks should be placed to make it look like a bee hive. I then helped to sand and wipe down the cedar blocks which make up the hive. Then next thing I did was drilling and countersinking the wood blocks. I think I enjoyed this part the most because I did it the most so I got into a rhythm and was more sure of what I was doing. Finally, I helped to set the cedar blocks on top of the existing layers. Although the exhibit is not complete yet, I encourage you to come to Kidzu and check it out because it is really fun and has a lot of interesting information.
Our first student scientist, Fran, has recently finished her final presentation on Bees. We are excited to see her around throughout the summer as the Bee exhibit opens up. If you want to become a student scientist too you can contact us at makeryblog@gmail.com or by coming into Kidzu and speaking with any of the Makery fellows. We are excited to hear your ideas!
We are so proud of Fran for all of the hardwork she has shown throughout her research project. She recently presented her final presentation to her peers and the results were amazing. Fran has been an amazing student scientist to work with and we enjoyed having her new and exciting ideas during the building of the Bee Exhibit. We hope you come out and celebrate her work as well as our new Bee Exhibit when it opens this summer! We will be reposting her blog posts from throughout the past four months in order to celebrate her amazing accomplishments. Go Fran!
Kidzu is excited to announce Book Buzz! Kidzu’s featured Book of the Month in our Book Nook. These monthly reads include extension activities that will inspire your little ones to bring the book to life in our Makery exhibit! As a part of the Susan Ross Education Fund, we’re able to have new books each month! This month enjoy Red Sings from Treetops and Green! We also have extension activities to do while you’re at Kidzu! They’re here just for the month of May!
You can find updates for Book Buzz on the left side of the homepage!
This is Ethan and his amazing R2-D2 replica that he created in the Makery. We love seeing kids recreate things they have seen in movies. Especially movies they saw at Silverspot theater in University Mall!
Come into Kidzu and learn all about frogs! We are celebrating the importance of these amazing creatures for the next few weeks. Don’t miss out on the exciting and educational exhibits we have created. In the Makery we have been learning about the Frog life cycles. Want to learn more? Come stop by!
There is a challenging and new scavenger hunt on the blog. Read the poem below and follow the instructions to try and find the hiding frogs. If you can find them send in a picture to makeryblog@gmail.com and you will get featured on Kidzu’s blog!
These frogs are tiny,
where could they be?
They’re hiding on the blog,
and difficult to see!
Both of these frogs are very small.
Can you help us at Kidzu and try to find them all?
There is a new scavenger hunt on the blog. Read the poem below and follow the instructions to try and find the hiding frogs. If you can find them send in a picture to makeryblog@gmail.com and you will get featured on Kidzu’s blog!
There are frogs on the blog.
Where could they be?
We have counted the frogs and there are two that we see.
The frogs are green with big red eyes.
They’re hiding on the blog like tiny green spies.
Click through the tabs to find the hiding creatures.
Keep an eye out for their bright colored features.