Kleve/Kamp-Lintfort, 12 November 2014: Diving without getting wet and sledge racing without snow – the book *Das Haus der kleinen Forscher* explains how it all works. Through experiments and detailed explanations, it brings science and technology to life for children, making it exciting and easy to understand.
‘Hecker’s Witch’s Kitchen’, as the event is called, is an interactive show for people aged eight to 99 – in other words, for children and adults alike. The audience are invited to get actively involved – whether it’s building a battery with their tongues, making ‘Food Acoustic Design’ audible, listening with a bat’s ears, sawing through paper, breaking spaghetti, balancing a broom on their hands, making a heartbeat audible, shrinking yoghurt pots or producing real artificial snow.
The author
Joachim Hecker, born in 1964, is a qualified electrical engineer and has been the author of the radio series “Hecker’s Witch’s Kitchen – Experiments for Children” on WDR radio for more than 13 years. He is the author of the bestsellers “Der Kinder Brockhaus. Experiments – On the Trail of the Natural Sciences’, ‘The Little Scientists’ House – Exciting Experiments to Do Yourself’ (translated into six languages) and, as an audiobook, ‘Just Ask … the Mouse! Exciting Experiments to Try Out, Explore and Marvel At’. (www.joachim-hecker.de)
Experiments from ‘Hecker’s Witch’s Kitchen’
Can you set fire to a 50-euro note without it burning? Do sparklers burn in space? How can we generate electricity with our bodies? Do yoghurt pots have a memory? How does a human electrical circuit work? Can you make music with a jet of water? Why does our voice sound so strange on the answering machine? What happens in our heads when we eat something crispy? Can you blow up a knotted balloon? What’s the story behind the ‘Egg of Columbus’? Why don’t spaghetti break into two pieces? How do nappies work? How can you make real artificial snow in the blink of an eye? What is ultrasound? And: how can you make moths fall off a key ring?
The Children’s University
Through the Children’s University, Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences offers children aged between 8 and 12 the opportunity to develop a passion for the world of science through lectures (45 minutes) specially designed for them. Just like proper students, they are given student ID cards. They sit in lecture theatres and can ask real professors all sorts of questions. The big difference from a proper degree course is that there are no exams to sit.
Get involved!
Children keen to take part in the Children’s University can attend either all the lectures or just a few. The current course catalogue for the Children’s University can be viewed here. No registration is required for the lectures. Admission is free. Events start at 5.15 pm each day.
