You wouldn't expect to find shooting cannons and exploding marshmallow men at the library, but that's exactly what captivated kids at the Gibsons and District Public Library July 25.
Thanks to some funding from the Gibsons and District Library Foundation, Amazing Weird Science World on the Road came to town to celebrate the summer reading program's weird science week theme.
A total of 65 kids between the ages of five and 12 came for the free show that delivered fun, stimulating experiments that got everyone excited about science.
"The event was amazing," said Heather Evans-Cullen, the children's librarian in Gibsons.
In the morning Evans-Cullen and her summer reading assistant went through some science books with the kids and made some slime. Then in the afternoon Science World staff took over.
"Kristin Lee, the Science World presenter, did all this incredible stuff. She taught the kids about gravity and she had an electro ball where the kids passed electrons through their hands in a big circle. She did some combustible stuff where she taught the kids about how when you suck all the air out of something it can't combust and she made flames go off the deck of the library and set off a cannon," Evans-Cullen said. "We had to tell the patrons to turn down their hearing aids and be prepared for loud noise."
No one seemed to mind the ruckus, however, and the children were captivated by the experiments.
"Their favourite thing was they take this marshmallow man and they suck all the air out of it and then they infuse it with air in this glass container and the marshmallow man just gets so puffed up he almost explodes out of the container. The kids loved that," Evans-Cullen noted.
The event drew a lot of children into the library, which is exactly what Evans-Cullen wanted to see.
"We're trying to make the library a really fun, embracing place for kids where they feel like they can come and do really interesting things and we thought that bringing Science World on the Road would be a great way to do that," Evans-Cullen said.
The summer reading program wraps up on Aug. 15 with a big party and Evans-Cullen hopes more children will sign up to take part next year.
"Keep us in mind for next summer," she said.
There are also fun kids' events scheduled throughout the year, as well as programs like Bouncing Babies and Books and Storytime Fun starting up again in the fall. To find out what's going on at the Gibsons library check out their website at http://gibsons.bclibrary.ca or call 604-886-2130.
