Q: Tell us a little about who you are… A: Let’s see… I’m definitely not a scientist, I’m not in a band, I’m not an ultra-creative graphic designer, I’m not on Ellen, I haven’t been featured on YouTube, I rarely blow things up. My life is pretty boring compared to some of the people I work with.
I’m a mom, wife, dog walker, former high school English teacher, volunteer, taxi driver, sports fan (especially my kids’ sports), non-profit fund raiser, Duke grad, music lover, golfer, and avid reader. I have lived in Colorado most of my life and am passionate about education and the outdoors. I serve as a Trustee on a non-profit Board (the John Austin Cheley Foundation) that raises money to provide summer camp experiences for kids around the country.
We have reached Day #8 in our 12 Days of Wonder. Today’s spotlight science toy is Big Bag of Science.
Steve Spangler Science is celebrating the 12 Days of Wonder and highlighting our top 12 science toys and kits that are perfect to put under the tree. As blog editor, social media coordinator and mom of two budding scientists, I will share my review of each product. Steve Spangler Science also found 12 respected, popular mom bloggers to each test and review one of our 12 science gifts. I will include a link to their blogs and their honest reviews of each gift idea at the bottom of this post. Today, Jill from Single Mom on a Budget shares her review. The kit is also the Deal of the Day. So check our blog every day for the next few weeks to learn all about our 12 Days of Wonder.
What do you get when you combine water, cornstarch, an amplifier and a speaker? (Besides a mess.) You make cornstarch monsters.
Depending on the frequency played through the speaker and the vibrations it makes, the cornstarch will move and dance. Cornstarch is a non-Newtonian fluid which means it becomes a solid when it is under stress and a liquid when it flows. The trick is to find the right frequency that makes the best vibrations to move the cornstarch. You can actually see the sound.
This is a fun activity to take to a friend’s house and borrow their stereo equipment. For more on Cornstarch Monsters, read the experiment.
Q: Tell us a little about who you are… A: Who knew this would be such a hard question to answer. I guess I can start by saying I’m one of the longest lasting employees with the company and sister-in-law to Mr. Spangler. I started doing part time projects when I was 14 years old when Steve and Renee first started the company. I’d mail out fliers to elementary schools about Steve’s programs. I can honestly say I wasn’t great at it since I was a typical teenager and didn’t have the motivation I do now. For some lucky reason, Steve and Renee kept me on and hired me full time back in ’97. We’ve been inseparable ever since!
Q: What do you do at Steve Spangler Science? A: I handle accounts payable and receivable, as well as conference planning. If you’ve seen our booth at a conference, it’s because of yours truly. I book the travel, make sure the product arrives safely, print lots and lots of maps and do everything just shy of planning their bathroom breaks…although, sometimes I plan that too.
As I mentioned in a previous post, it’s always fun to stumble across Quirkles videos on YouTube. These fun children’s books support connecting science and literature, which is one of our passions around Steve Spangler Science. This week, Quirkles co-founder Terri Johnson, headed back to Ozarks First KOLR 10 news to show off some of the cool properties of Oobleck… the cornstarch and water quicksand. Terri had a great time getting messy with the KOLR 10 anchor and even made mention of the growing popularity of walking on “water” with the gooey Oobleck. If you are a fan of Spangler Science or the Ellen Degeneres show, you probably remember when I stormed the stage of the Ellen show with a cement truck, a few hundred gallons of water, 2,500 boxes of cornstarch and a very brave audience member, who walked across a giant pool of Oobleck! It’s great to see Terri in her Spangler Science tie dye lab coat playing with the “Zop”! The set of all 26 wild and wacky Quirkles books can be bought on our site at SteveSpanglerScience.com.
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Q: Tell us a little about who you are…
