Mad Science offers both School-Age and Preschool Workshops. The following list offers a short description of each workshop. For more information or to book a Mad Science Workshop, please call our office at 713-663-7623.
Sonic Sounds
Discover sound, sound waves and the way household items can be used can be used to create amazing movie effects. Change your voice using a digital voice machine with over 150 different variations, and hear your way into the world of acoustics!
Watts-Up
Learn about electricity, its properties and its role in natural phenomena. Make indoor lightning while conducting hair-raising experiments with our electro-static generator.
Optical Illusions
Build your own periscope while learning about optics, reflection and sight. Watch celebrity images change before your very eyes! Seeing is not always believing.
Harnessing Heat
Witness a mini rocket launch while learning the properties of heat. See an under water volcano erupt and make your own shrink-dinks!
Lights ... Color... Action!
Uncover the hidden components in ordinary light and build your own Newton's Color Wheel to prove it. Attend a spectacular chemical energy display
Mission: Nutrition
Learn about nutrition and fitness while focusing on a healthy diet and lifestyle.Stimulate enthusiasm for personal health and cultivate a healthy attitude toward nutrition and fitness. Take home a Mad Science Step-o-Meter, a real pedometer!
Tantalizing Taste
Experiment with our taste sensations while “mapping” out your tongue. Use Lifesaver testing to compare your sense of smell and taste. Taste your soda pop and take the “mad Science” taste challenge.
Magnetic Magic
Investigate the powers and daily uses of magnets. Test for electromagnetic fields and then use what you have learned to build your own electromagnet!
“Fun”- damental Forces
Gravity… Inertia… Centripetal force... Who could ever imagine that an introduction to physics could be so much fun? We’ll experience these awesome forces for ourselves and build some cool devices to watch them at work!
Wacky Waves
Create your own multidensity wave bottles while learning about water, waves and the environment. Simulate the effects of an ocean oil spill and develop creative techniques to clean it up!
Science of Magic
Magic? No… It’s science! You’ll learn the secrets behind famous magic that you can recreate for yourself! Mother Nature has some tricks of her own, and we’d like to show you what’s up her sleeve!
Stunt Planes & Gliders
The Wright Brothers would be proud as we follow in their footsteps and learn the fundamental principles of flight. Build a “football” glider, a “Delta Dart” and your very own loop-flying stunt plane. You’ll be a Top Gun after this class!
Super Structures
Discover the strengths of triangles, cylinders and arches. Learn how combinations of these shapes make for sturdy homes and skyscrapers! Use teamwork to build your own super structures as well as an earthquake-proof building!
Under Pressure
Join Bernoulli and Newton as we take this exciting look at the science behind aerodynamics and the properties of air... under pressure. Use a vortex generator to create air pockets with a punch and levitate ping-pong balls in defiance of gravity!
Che-Mystery
Eliminate the mystery in chemistry! Explore one of the most exciting and fundamental sciences as you grow a crazy crystal garden and make your own “chemical” soda pop!
“Current” Events
Take a tour on the electron freeway! Conductors, insulators, transistors, and other elements in the world of circuits and electricity introduce themselves to you via the tingle in your fingertips and the twinkle in your eye.
Bugs!
Students will explore the world's most abundant animals! How do insects defend themselves? What is their role in the ecosystem? These questions and more will be answered with fun, hands-on activities that introduce these fascinating creatures that are found everywhere! Students will take home a “Bug Buzzer” that imitates the sounds made by those busy, busy bugs.
Mad Science Machines
Peek into a class to watch elementary-age engineers hard at work with pulleys and levers. They will design, problem-solve and have a whole lot of fun! Students will even take home a cool Mad Science Machine that they built themselves!
Movie Effects
Grab your popcorn but don't sit back! We're going to learn first-hand how advances in science and technology make our favorite special effects possible! Children will take home our version of a classic movie-making machine! It's Einstein meets Spielberg in a class of 3… 2… 1… action!
Science of Toys
Have you ever wondered how toys are invented? See some of the science (yes, science) behind making toys. You will even take home your own scientific toy.
Earthworks
Take a voyage to the center of the Earth! We'll investigate the powerful process that shapes our planet and forms remarkable rocks, magnificent minerals, and glittering gems! Children will take home Ultraviolet Detectors which they build themselves!
Detective Science
Discover how science is used to solve real crimes! Watch as the classroom is transformed into a crime lab for this exciting exploration of the fundamentals of forensics. Children will even take home their very own Child Identification Kit. It's so much fun, it's criminal!
Kitchen Chemistry
Cooking is all about chemistry! Students will be introduced to the virtual laboratory we call a kitchen in a novel and practical application of science! Dinnertime will never be the same.
Walloping Weather
Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow will prevent us from enjoying our hands-on exploration of the science of meteorology! Discover how hurricanes, tornadoes and thunderstorms form and how powerful they can be! Equipped with the hand-made weather instrument students made themselves, you may have more reliable forecasts than the local news!
Energy Burst
Explore the energy of motion (potential versus kinetic energy) and how energy can be conserved. Build a rubber band-powered rattlesnake egg to help learn all about energy — and scare your friends.
Art Of Science
Get your left and right brains working together and discover the links between science and art. Mix and separate colors, uncover art forgeries and investigate friction. Discover that science is an important part of art and make your own distorted image to take home.
All About Animals
Feathers, fins, fur and more! Explore the animal kingdom and learn about the habitats, anatomy and life cycles of your favorite creatures. Make your own animal track to take home, experiment with camouflage and explore the amazing — and sometimes strange — sounds that animals make.
Life In The Sea
What is life like under the ocean's surface? What kinds of animals and plants are found in the sea? Examine and investigate starfish, sea urchins and shells. Learn about buoyancy and adaptation. Make your own Cartesian diver and find out what humans must do in order to explore the deep, dark depths of our planet's oceans.
Great Gravity
What goes up always comes down – thanks to gravity! Learn more about the force of gravity in this class. You will conduct hands-on experiments that will teach you about this awesome force and how to find an object’s center of gravity. You will even learn how to defy gravity!
Moving Motion
Learn all about the forces behind the movement of planes, trains and automobiles. You will perform a series of experiments to learn more about friction, inertia, and other forces that affect the way things move. Throughout the class, you will add to your very own take-home inertia kit so you can continue experimenting at home!
Radical Robots I & II
Build your very own robotic hand to take home in this two-class series that focuses on technology. Explore how robots can be used to make our lives easier. Experiment with robots that can do some extraordinary tasks: infrared robots, robotic arms and even soccer playing robots!
Slime Time
Ooze into a gooey hour of sliming around! Create slime using the Mad Science recipe, and then enter the Slime Olympics! Take home your own concoction of Mad Science Slime!
Chem in a Flash
Hop on board the chemistry express for a high-speed science experience! Perform instantaneous experiments in this fast-paced class on split-second reactions that go like mad! Pick up an Action Flask and have a blast !
The Glow Show
Discover amazing things that glow bright in the dark and come to light! Probe the properties of light and explore some unusual applications of glow-in-the-dark technology! Use your Blacklight Writer to make secret messages that only you can see!
Super Sticky Stuff
Stick it to the walls, and push the power of tape to the limits in this adhesive hour on things that cling! Build a bond with glue and get attached to Professor Beakerdude!
Dry Ice Capades
Manipulate matter in all of its three states! Melt metal in boiling water and freeze water with just a breath of dry ice! Use your Thermocolor Cup to test the temperature of liquid matter in your home!
Lab Works
Use your hands as a real Mad Scientist in this whirlwind class on how a lab works! Learn to manipulate laboratory equipment at your personal lab bench, and take home your very own Graduated Gear to continue your research!
Junior Reactors
Create a tiny world of atoms with your very own set of Atomic Coins! Learn to recognize chemical reactions and mix up a few reactive ingredients for some sensational results!
pH Phactor
Slide down the colorful pH scale and dip into the world of acids and bases! Explore the pH extremes with your Reaction Tube in what is sure-to-be a popping experience! Discover whether liquids found in your home are acids or bases using your personal pH Paper!
Planets & Moons
Explore the farthest reaches of our solar system and create a lunar eclipse in this “mad” planetary tour! Learn how the planets stack up. Build and take home Kepler’s Cube, a fun and educational 3-D solar system puzzle!
Space Phenomena
Probe the mysteries of meteors and bounce around satellite light in this phenomenal program on space events! See comets up close as one is formed before your eyes, and take home your very own Catch-a-Comet!
Living in Space
Experience the life of an astronaut as you suit up for space flight! Use teamwork to complete an important space mission, build a model space station and make your very own Cosmic Chronometer watch to measure the time here on Earth!
Space Technology
Discover technology designed for outer space! Steer a laser beam through a laser maze, find hidden mountains using the principles of radar technology and discover everyday objects originally designed for use in space! Take home a Lightning Launcher that will light up the sky!
Rocket Science
This is your chance to be a rocket scientist! Investigate the four forces of flight with the help of a Unique Flying Object! Explore the science involved in rocket construction as you build your own Skyblazer II Rocket that you can take home!
Space Travel
Learn what it takes to be a true globetrotter! Race a balloon rocket and design your own car engine as you learn about thrust. See the principles of propulsion at work in a real rocket launch, and build your very own Shuttle Copter to fly to the skies.
Atmosphere & Beyond
We’re on a mission to explore the atmosphere on Earth, and beyond! Travel to the end of the rainbow and make a sunset! Mix up various planetary atmospheres, one molecule at a time! Discover how stars would look in space and see what makes stars twinkle using your very own Shimmering Stars!
Sun & Stars
This stellar program is your ticket to the stars! Watch star dust burn, and journey through a soapy galaxy as you investigate the life cycle of stars! Use your Bead Dipper to create a 3-dimensional glow-in-the-dark constellation!
Be Tobacco Free
Learn about the dangers of smoking and make your own icky-sticky “tobacco slime” to take home and gross out your friends.
The Dirt on Garbage
Become an eco-scientist as you build a structure with biodegradable packing peanuts and explore a “slimy” alternative use for a plastic bag.
Invention-ation
“Oops!” … That’s an inventor’s favorite word. Learn how some of the world’s most famous inventions came to be and brainstorm to create your own.
Mineral Mania
Metamorphic, igneous, sedimentary … oh, my! Learn how to identify and classify different minerals and start your own rock collection on our mineral hunt.
Ecosystems
Everything on earth is dependent on something else! Find out how animals, plants, and our earth are connected. Make your own biosphere to take home.
Body Basics
Study the science of your insides! You’ll even get to wear them on the outside with your very own Mad Science Anatomy Apron!
Cell-ebrate!
Explore the characteristics of animal cells and make a model cell to take home!!
Photosynthesis
Discover how plants are really “little factories” and how they help us breathe. Make your own photosynthesizer to start a “little factory” at home!
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