Lab Update

Sophia Finklea poses for the camera as she waits for her parents. (Photograph by 2 year old Silas Hines)

Ian Hines tries on the mad scientist glasses and shows off his muscles!

A few of the kids had to stay late last night because their moms or dads were in the board meeting. Here are some pictures of our adventures. (Above) Silas Hines tries on the scientist glasses. He had quite the night getting to go to Bible school with the big kids and almost getting dropped into the finale experiment!

Every night the kids wait in anticipation to see how our hair is going to look. Some of them love it and some of them are scared of us....

Last night at Power Lab we learned about how God gives us the power to be brave! Our theme verse was Psalm 23:4, "I will not be afraid for you are close beside me." Our lesson was all about Peter walking on water. We talked about how Peter was probably afraid when he stepped out of the boat to go see Jesus. He probably thought that he was going to sink but he kept his eyes on Jesus and he was able to walk on water! Just as soon as Peter took his eyes off of Jesus he began to sink down into the water. We talked about how we have to keep our eyes on Jesus at all times so that we can accomplish what He wants us to.
The kids got to do an awesome experiment during their Bible time. We filled a baby pool with a corn starch and water mixture. The mixture looks like liquid if you slowly put your hand inside it but when you punch it or touch it quickly you don't break the surface. The kids got to walk on water! They all got to take turns running in place in the baby pool and they got to feel what it would be like to stand on top of the water and not sink in. The trick was to keep your feet moving so that they didn't get swallowed up into the quicksand-like goo. We were all pretty amazed that it actually worked!

For crafts the kids got to make neon colored goo! The preschoolers had a hilarious time making their goo and squishing it around in their beakers. I observed their class for a while and all of the volunteers were cracking up because the kids were hysterically laughing. Their faces were bright red and they could barely breathe because they thought their goo sound effects were so funny.

At the finale we did a sink or float experiment. We took different objects and had the kids vote on whether or not they thought the item would sink. I learned that Diet Coke floats and regular Coke sinks. We also learned that basketballs float, bocce balls float, lemons, limes, and oranges with peels float while oranges without peels sink. It was fun to see the kids getting so involved and waiting in anticipation as we dropped each item in the tank. At the end we asked the kids if they thought people would sink or float. Professor DD (the crazy lab assistant) went out into the audience and grabbed Silas Hines. She held him over the bucket and asked the kids what would happen if she dropped him in. Most of them voted that he would sink. Then we talked abotu how miraculous it was that Peter walked on water! I asked the kids what they thought it would have been like to step out of a boat into the sea. It would have taken a lot of faith and trust. Through this story we see that Jesus gives us the power to be brave! (Aha!)