Happy Birthday Fun Science Cheshire!

Today is the 1 year anniversary of the launch of Fun Science Cheshire. To celebrate, we’ve caught up with branch owner Molecular Marty and asked him a few questions about his first year as a Fun Scientist.

What were you doing before you became a Fun Scientist?

Before running Fun Science Cheshire, I was a teacher for 15 years with 8 of those years as Head of Science in a local school in Northwich, Cheshire. For me working with children especially using my science background (a degree in chemistry) was and is always important and when the opportunity arose to make a change in how I do this, I knew Fun Science was the direction I wanted to go – inspiring children through fun activities and hopefully keeping science relevant to them but also COOL!

What is your favourite thing about being a Fun Scientist?

Too many things are my favourite but one has to be the excitement and faces of the children doing the many experiments. I also love it when parents get involved; you can see them also being inspired and enjoying the educational entertainment as well as creating those special memories with their child(ren).

Do you have a favourite science experiment or a science experiment that is most popular with the children in your groups?

All the experiments are FAB but I particularly like the mentos and diet pop and my all time favourite ‘fire bubbles’ – which gives me an excuse to get out my portable Bunsen burner. We get a really important message across that ‘Flames are not games’ and light the Bunsen, set alight some iron filings followed by magnesium before finishing with fire lit in my hands…the children love this and often a parent will do it (sometimes with a little coaxing) and the child is really proud of their parent for being so brave!

What is the funniest/most interesting/nicest thing that a child has said to you in one of your sessions?

This is personal to me but I was invited in to my children’s school to do an assembly. The children were loving the fun aspect of the assembly and there was a real buzz in the hall. Then I heard the distinctive voice of my eldest as he said very proudly to his mates, “That’s my DAD!” – great moment and that assembly was so successful that I had to run 2 after school clubs to cope with the demand for the Fun Science service.

Do you have a favourite service to run (e.g. parties, workshops etc.) and why?

Birthday parties are just the best to do. The fact that a child has said “can I have a science party” is brilliant but then for the parent to ask Fun Science Cheshire along to deliver the party is a privilege. From the initial contact, discussing a date and time, package preferences and any extras, the excitement begins for the family (and that rubs off on me too!). Touching base beforehand and finalising details such as parking at the venue and list of names for certificates means the build up is on it’s way. I enjoy putting the kit together and the drive is always good as you know the work ahead involves making slime, mini volcanoes, mentos and diet pop plus much. It’s not really ‘work’ it is pure ‘fun’. Meeting the birthday child and parents during set up is exciting and I get the lay of the venue. As the children arrive; engaging the excitable audience is great fun and as Molecular Marty I get to take the children on a journey that will see them have amazing fun doing loads of hands-on experiments and learning a little along the way. By the end of the party the feedback is really positive with comments of “this was the best party ever” not uncommon to hear. The birthday child and parents are happy and I get to leave feeling a job well done 🙂

What are you hoping to achieve in the next year?

Over the next year I hope to grow the Fun Science Cheshire team so we can deliver more parties, more after school clubs and our other service to children and parents in our territory. Most importantly I hope to continue spreading the message that science is FUN!

If you are interested in booking a party, workshop or after school club in the Cheshire area then you can email cheshire@fun-science.org.uk.

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