Discovering Science Centre Workshops

I only remembered that the Science Centre Singapore (SCS) conducts interesting workshops for children during the June holidays when we were invited to attend the Let’s Explore – The ‘Invisible Force’ workshop. For more attractions at the SCS, please check out my previous post. Previously my kids weren’t old enough to attend the workshops so it totally slipped my mind; but now that little girl is in Primary 2, we can start keeping a lookout!

Let’s Explore Workshop

In the Let’s Explore workshop, participants were each given an Air Kit (worth $49.90) to explore during the workshop and at home with parents. (Course fees: SGD80, does not include admission charges to Science Centre)

The participants were enthusiastic in volunteering their observations and answers to the questions in the workbook in the Air Kit. Apparently some of the participants had attended the earlier session – The Magical Magnet Workshop – and were definitely very warmed up to the trainer already. Besides the trainer, there were two other assistants who helped to check on the participants’ progress and ability to follow the pace of the workshop. I was supposed to stay for a short while for the workshop then leave to join my hubby and boy at KidsSTOP, but the workshop proved to be so interesting I ended up staying for the entire two hours with my girl. (Note: This is actually a drop-off workshop but I was invited to stay around to have a feel of the workshop)

Simpler and safe experiments were conducted by the participants at their desks, while the experiments which required more elaborate set-up and the use of fire were conducted by the trainer.

This is the first time that my girl’s so immersed in Science and I think it was really good exposure. In fact, she demonstrated clear understanding of the concepts that were covered during the workshop and I think that is a clear measurement of the success of any workshop. I was initially unsure if she would be able to follow as she was the youngest, but she proved to be much better at it than I thought! 😀 We will definitely be on the lookout for more of such workshops in the next school holidays. Be sure to check out the Events tab of the Science Centre Singapore too for workshops in the later part of the year!

Bitten by the workshop bug, I found another workshop in the Events tab that piqued our interest and immediately signed up for it – Bacteria. Fungi. Fermentation (B.F.F.) Workshop – a bread-making workshop for families (SGD40/ family pair; SGD20 for additional participant. Course fees do not include admission to the Science Centre).

Bacteria. Fungi. Fermentation Workshop

Attending the B.F.F. workshop with my BFF just felt right and creating beautiful memories and going through new experiences with each other are high on my list of priorities. As this workshop’s target age group is for 8-12 years old, little boy couldn’t participate and hung around SCS with my hubby instead for the three hours. When all the participants had arrived, we saw that there were families with younger children and I started to regret not having tried to sign up little boy too. 😛 He probably wouldn’t appreciate the Science bit but he would have thoroughly enjoyed the process.

Excited to start class!

We started with the trainer, Mr Patrick, showing us how the yeast cells look like:

After some technical glitches, he went with the traditional method of teaching – using the whiteboard instead of Powerpoint. I learnt something new that day – that sourdough starter is made using only bread flour and water – there’s “wild yeast” in flour! It was also the first time I saw how yeast cells move and look like!

Then it was time to collect our dry ingredients:

Mix it all up!

Demonstrating how to knead the dough

Showing us what to look out for when the dough is done

Time to collect the wet ingredients

Pour in most of the milk

And more fun awaits

Getting dirty is part of the process 😀

When the dough was ready for the first round of proofing, the participants were asked to check how many fingers they could put between the bowl and the dough before the bowl was wrapped and labelled. My girl asked the trainer to draw anything Star Wars on the cling wrap. Can you tell that it’s someone holding a light saber? 😛

Time to start the first round of proofing

While waiting for the yeast to do its work, Mr Patrick continued to tell us more about yeast, fermentation and the sourdough starter we used in making our dough.

He also showed the participants yeast cells and encouraged them to take turns to look through the microscope on their own.

You could definitely bake bread at home with your kids as a family bonding activity too – but I think having someone with expertise knowledge on the subject matter explaining the science bit to us was definitely useful, and not something a non-Science-inclined parent like me can replicate. 🙂

When the dough was done, participants were asked again to check how many fingers they could insert between the bowl and the dough.

Before we set off to shape the bread, Mr Patrick demonstrated some ways which we could shape and mold our bread and after that we got very busy!

Some of our little creations – it was pretty therapeutic to ‘play’ with the bread dough

Applying the egg wash

Everyone was curious how their bread would turn out!

It wasn’t too long before our bread was done!

We were very pleased with our bread and ate part of what we made for lunch and kept the rest for breakfast the next day! 😀

There will be another family bonding workshop at the end of the year in time for Christmas – log cake making. Remember to check out the Events Tab for more exciting workshops in the future! I’m glad I got to attend one last workshop before the end of the June holidays!

Have you attended any other interesting workshops at the SCS before? 

Disclosure: I was invited to check out these workshops as part of the Science Centre Ambassador programme. No monetary compensation was received.

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