Fun and games with science

Mike James/The Independent

Ashland May 05, 2008 11:38 pm

— His brush loaded with glow in the dark paint, 5-year-old Tyler Rose daubed busily on a piece of cardboard.
Then, assisted by a teacher to place it under an upended cardboard box, he peered through with a big grin to see his phosphorescent creation.
Looking on with an equally big smile on his face was his stepfather, Eddie Rearden, who had taken a day off work to accompany Tyler to the Ashland Head Start for a fun day of science discovery.
“We need to spend some time together,” Rearden said. It also was a way for him as a parent to familiarize himself with the Head Start program, he said.
Rearden and Tyler were among scores of parent and child combos strolling from tent to tent at the Head Start grounds beside Poage Elementary School on Friday, sampling hands-on activities in various scientific disciplines.
The science day was put on courtesy of an Area Education Grant, said Head Start teacher Christy Hall. “We want to get kids and parents excited about science,” she said.
And for both children and parents, there’s not much that’s more exciting than making slime, mixing colors, playing with magnets and messing around with wet clay.
Unless it’s meeting a real mad scientist. Guy Reynolds, whose wife is one of the Head Start assistants, donned a white lab coat and frizzy wig to demonstrate scientific concepts, including the ever-popular Mentos and Coke eruption.
“Getting kids into science is important ... If you can make it fun now, then when they get older they’ll still think it’s fun,” said Reynolds.
Assessments show area preschoolers need more exposure to science, said family and community involvement coordinator Bernice Henry. Head Start saw the event as a way to add science and get parents involved at the same time.
“Everyone enjoys science when they realize how much fun it is,” she said.
MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2652.