Pacific Science Center sparks 'Curiosity at Home' for families

SEATTLE -- The doors to the Pacific Science Center may be closed, but its educators are still sparking “Curiosity at Home.”

The “Curiosity at Home” tab on PacSci’s website has fun educational worksheets covering various STEM topics for different age groups.

Then there are the live science shows on PacSci’s Facebook page, like a live feeding at the Tide Pool and a lesson on combustion.

Viewers can also tune in 24/7 to the naked mole rat colony, one of PacSci’s live exhibits.

Identical twins Lydia and Hadley Carscaddon, 11 years old, are trying out some of the science experiments at home.

“If you hit it, it turns to a solid like. There’s not a thing on my fingers,” said Lydia after she made oobleck, “but then you can almost like sink your fingers into it. It dissolves around your fingers and it kind of turns into a liquid.”

“Tie that string to a pencil,” said Hadley of her sugar-water project. “There should be crystals forming around the string, and I have heard from my mom that it’s like rock candy so I want to eat it.”

The science center started the free resources for parents and educators navigating the new homeschooling world.

“Our work is now more important than ever. Science and informed public are humanities best chance at Covid-19, climate change and other threats,” said Eleanor Bradley, Chief Marketing Officer.

Amy Hooey is a parent working from home with two young boys Callum, 7, and Alexander, 4.

“I was so excited that he was so curious. We started watching some of the live science shows. There was one on combustion and one on the super cold and my 7-year-old watched them over and over. There were explosions and liquid nitrogen involved,” said Hooey.

Since launching “Curiosity at Home,” the Pacific Science Center has reached more than 30,000 families across the country and even internationally.

The science programs are all free and available on PacSci’s website.

“Butterflies emerging from chrysalis’s in our Butterfly House. We have tinker tank activities you can do yourself at home,” said Bradley. “We’re trying to bring the science center to families in their home.”

Donations are currently the science center’s only source of revenue. If you’d like to show your support head over to this link.