Science Fun Outside of the Classroom

I have always enjoyed science outside of the class mostly because of influences from my dad and my grandmother. My grandmother lived on a small farm in Connecticut and there were always animals around. My aunt who didn't live to far from her worked for a wildlife reserve so whenever she had too many animals to take care of she would send them over to my grandmother's house. I used to love helping her take care of all the different animals she would have there. The most memorable of these animals for me were two baby chickadees and two baby flying squirrels. I remember feeling so proud that my grandmother would trust me to feed the chickadees all by myself.

As I got older my dad became more of an influence when it came to science outside of the classroom. He has always been interested in science, in particular chemicals and the way things work. During long car rides he would explain how our eyes see, or how a lava lamp works. If I ever had a question as to why something was the way it was my dad would know or help me look it up. In fourth grade for a science project he helped me build my own lava lamp. We researched the chemicals needed and how to put everything together. My dad still has our lava lamp and it still works (only for short periods of time though). I remember this being really fun because we were able to make something ourselves that I previously had thought you could only buy already assembled in a store.