science

Seedy ideas

Two conversations with Little A today: Little A: “What’s this?” Me: “That’s a maple tree seed. The little wing on it is there to help the wind blow it further, because you can’t have too many of the same kind of trees in one place… Can you think of a couple of other ways some […]

Caturday night

Come evening of the same day that she came up with tracking-chip-airplane-laser-volcano solution to the African imports store going out of business, I was tucking her into bed, and Rosalind, her favourite of my two cats, jumped up on the bed for a cuddle. “Awww… Rosie’s here to sleep with me!” she said as she […]

Little A, transit technician

On the way up to my place tonight, the bus we were on started experiencing some power problems, with the lights going off and on. Little A asked what was happening, and I said I didn’t know, but maybe a problem with the engine or the battery. The driver pulled over to try and deal […]

Puppies, potions and proper parenting

Three snippets of conversation with the kids earlier this evening: #1: Little A: “Muime, look at this!” (Shows me a drawing she did, of what looks like a pipe with a sprinkler-ish thing on the end dripping water into something that look vaguely like a test tube full of pebbles and flowers) Me: “Nice! Is […]

The fearless zombie hunters

So today Little A and Little D helped me clear a bunch of gardening stuff and assorted junk off the back patio, in exchange for a trip to Toys R Us later, where each of them would get to pick one (relatively inexpensive) toy. Both of them opted for Nerf guns (because apparently the 7 […]

The perfect gift

Sabotabby, to a shopkeeper in a toy store, before Little A’s birthday: “What would you recommend for a 7-year-old mad scientist who wants to take over the world?” I have the best friends, AND the best kid! (BTW, it turned out to be an air-powered rocket kit that fired foam rubber rockets with flashy LEDs […]

Science edited by kids, for kids

“Frontiers in Neuroscience for Young Minds is a scientific journal that includes young people (from 8 to 15) in the review of articles. This has the double benefit of bringing kids into the world of scientific research – many of them for the first time – and offering active scientists a platform for reaching out […]