I’ll never forget the first summer I was on the swim team, and we were swimming two hours a day, every day, in a highly chlorinated pool. My father (an avid swimmer) had warned me that I probably should get a special swimmer’s shampoo, but being a highly opinionated pre-teenager, I completely ignored him. I ignored him day in, and day out, until, about one week after I started, I noticed that my brown hair now looked sort of, um, green. It got progressively greener for about

If you are looking for some new ideas, how about these? 1. MIT Museum (https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/). Yes, I was a postdoctoral research fellow at MIT from 2008-2010, and yes, I did have a child during that time, but I am embarrassed to admit that we have never actually been to this museum. We are planning to be there soon, though! Some of the main exhibits include robots (PSA: The Party Elements is doing a Veteran’s Day vacation day program on robotics in Sharon, MA, stay tun

Hi fellow scientists and scientist-parents! It’s been a little cold recently, so hope everyone is figuring out how to keep kids entertained without our standard pool-beach-lake-pool-beach-lake circuit that we tend to do in our family. You know what I was told before I moved to the Boston area? That there were only two seasons in Boston: winter and July….so, um, yeah. I guess we’re almost done with the July season. Anyway, looking for more things to do with your kids (or yours

Looking for fun science-related activities to keep you and your children entertained this weekend? Check out last week’s blog, or some of the ones shown below: 1. Friday night observatory in Charlestown Rhode Island - No need to go all the way to Boston (https://www.mos.org/public-events/astronomy-after-hours) to look at the sky. You can see the same sky here in Rhode Island, every Friday night in the summer, free of charge. Fun science fact: did you know that the first teles

Well we are smack in the middle of the summer here in New England, and it’s been hazy, hot and humid for many days in a row. I don’t know about your family, but for me and my kids it is basically our cue to spend lots and lots of hours at the outdoor pool (at our local YMCA in Stoughton, MA; see HERE). You know what that means, right? Lots of sun exposure time, which means lots of sunscreen if I want to keep my children protected from the sun’s harmful rays. As a PhD-level ch

Still looking for fun things to do with your kids this summer? Check out parts 1 and 2 of our series (HERE and HERE), or today’s new activities, shown below: 1. Play with Oobleck. What is Oobleck, you might ask? Well it is a simple mixture of corn starch and water, and is actually an example of what is called a non-Newtonian fluid (see HERE), which basically means a fluid that doesn’t follow the usual properties of what we would expect from a fluid. Other examples of non-Newt

Almost the weekend again…still the summer…car is so full of sand that you wonder how there could be anything left on the beach…. …. house is full of approximately 100 towels that are hanging from every available surface to dry…Anyone else feeling this way or is it just my family, my car, and my house? If you are feeling like you need to get out of the house this weekend, here are some fun science-friendly events to check out in our local area: 1. Boston Museum of Science:Did

Continuing in our installment of fun science activities to do with your kids this summer…. 1. Make your own play-dough. This is surprisingly easy to do and very cheap, which certainly helps when you are trying to entertain your kids on a budget. The key here is to use as much salt as the recipe calls for (don’t be tempted to skimp!) and to mix it really with your hands. Feel free to add all kinds of food coloring to the play-dough too. Your kids might try to eat it, if they a

It’s hot outside, again. You’ve been to the pool, and the beach, and the splash pad, and you’ve turned on your sprinklers more days that you can count. It’s still hot and the kids are still home from school and they still need things to do. How about trying some science projects? These fun science activities can be done using supplies that you most likely have at home or can get from the supermarket on your next grocery run: 1. Make your own slime or floam. Slime is great. It