Twelve-year-old Dave Potts trained his eye on a honeybee wing through the microscope at Imagination Station on Sunday.
“That’s cool,” he said before moving over to let his 8-year-old brother, Gavin, check out what was under the lens.
A closeup of a bee’s knee, a dragonfly wing, and horse hair also were discovered. Viewing Microscopic Mites, closeups of the creepy crawlies we see on an everyday basis, is just one activity both kids and adults can experience at the fun center’s Wicked Gross Science event through closing on Halloween.
Future scientists interested in the gooey, the gory, the slimy, or just the cool, can create Boo Bubbles that develop in a cloud of fog from hot water, dry ice and soap, make Gross-a-tropes from thaumatropes with creepy themes, or watch edible worms form from sodium alginate and fruit juice, in a bath of calcium lactate.
“Is it food? I want to do this one. If it’s food, I’m in,” said Sydney Woodruff, 11, of Sandusky, who was at Imagination Station with her mother, grandmother and other family members. She eyed up the worm station before joining in, downing some orange and green worms she created by mixing polymers before moving on to the next event.
Amanda Miller, coordinator of the center’s tinkering space, said the week leading up to Halloween is one of the most popular at Imagination Station, and the added Wicked Gross Science lab allows people to learn while having some fun.
“We still have our favorite boo bubbles, but with the gross-a-tropes and the edible worms and the microscopic mites, we are trying to up that gross factor a little bit to play off the Halloween theme a little bit more,” she said. “Having the gross factor will entice the kids even more, because who doesn’t love gross stuff?”
Miller said the center’s main objective — besides having fun — is to educate visitors on the mystery of why some things happen the way they do.
“It’s not magic, but it’s science,” she said.
Wicked Gross Science is open in the lower section of Imagination Station from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday. Imagination Station is closed Mondays.
Imagination Station is off Summit Street in downtown Toledo, next to the Renaissance Hotel. For more information, go to imaginationstationtoledo.org.
First Published October 27, 2019, 7:46 p.m.
