Experimenting science at Science Buskers Festival 2016

We had a really interesting weekend at Vivo City because they were having the Science Buskers Festival organised by Science Centre Singapore and A*Star. It was our very first time attending the festival and it fascinated the smarties so much that we went for it on both Saturday and Sunday!

The festival took up the whole of Vivo City’s atrium (well…almost!). They divided the different sections of the atrium according to different categories namely primary, secondary and tertiary/open. Public audiences were able to take part in this festival by obtaining 5 voting tickets at their main booths and vote for your 5 best science booths.

One of the booths we visited was about how they made dry ice bubble and explaining why it didn’t burst when they gently bounced it.

Next, we moved to a booth where they explained and demonstrated on super absorbent polymer: the content that you can find in a diaper. That’s the substance that absorb the wetness of the diaper that our little ones are wearing.

There were booths that, you can tell, spent loads of effort on making the props to exhibit their purpose. Check out the hand that these students made using cardboard and clay…

and using recycled bottles and containers to show how fluid flows within our body and coming out as urine…

If you have noticed, the audiences also got to try their hands at most of the booths. Some of them even dressed you up to make you feel more connected…

while some will give you a little treat if you take part in their activities.

Have you noticed that the students not only just set up the booth and demonstrated their experiments but also dressed up in different characters and attire to make it more enticing for people to visit them? To be honest, I’m pretty impressed with the efforts that these students put in. Of course, thanks to their parents and teachers who supported and guided them.

Oh, there was a live science performance by US-based The Franklin Institute as they reveal the forces of flight at the center of the atrium! Their performance was exceptionally engaging and entertaining! Smarties stay seated throughout the show without any fuss.

Overall, the event was fun and engaging for both young and old. We got to learn a lot from the students too. It also gave us ideas on what to do at home as well and smarties couldn’t wait to get started on their own science journey.

Frankly speaking, running the booths for 2 days wasn’t easy. Kudos to all the students who took part in it and demonstrated so well to us. A very good example for smarties to learn from them too! We will definitely be back if they organise the festival for next year. Till then, have a scientifically fabulous day!