We had a great treat today during our weekly science club. Ben and Shira's Dad is a pathologist. He made a special trip home during work hours to teach the children how to make cultures. I haven't seen Marc in a teaching role before -- he was great! He has kind of a booming voice and a very energetic, expansive presence, and the kids *really* enjoyed learning about agars and the little wire thing that he fired and then cooled in water, and he took time with each of them to show them how to properly make the culture. Although some did not follow protocol. :D



They made cultures of their mouths or the insides of their noses. That is, spit or snot. So, given that there were children named Shira and Chloe, and then there were children named Ben, Benny, and Joshua... I will leave you to guess which ones chose which type of germs to culture.



Did you guess yet? Yes, the boys all chose snot and the girls both used the sterile swab to get a chaste and delicate spit sample. It's funny how they don't suprise you, you know? Heh. The most hilarious part of the experience was watching the boys digging for "really wet ones" as Marc was egging them on -- those looks of serious concentration all around the table as their fingers went waaaay up, and everyone's excitement when Benny announced he felt a cold coming on. Good germs! Whee!

Definitely good for a Dad to come in on this one and encourage the booger behavior. That way we moms could stand off to the side and make clucking noises while we took pictures. Shez got better pictures -- I await her blog on it. Secretly amused. Next week we will check in on how the kids' germs enjoyed the sheep's blood agar and oxygen.

UPDATE: I see that Shez has *already blogged* about this very important experience that we shared today, and she has included a picture of Benny digging away, up to the second knuckle, and me standing behind looking stern and disapproving. AS I SHOULD BE. *wink*

Labels: science