On the Road Again

A short trip tomorrow to present at a library conference in central West Virginia. Much as I like having my roadie with me, he's elected to stay home this time because he has so many projects going on.

This is a presentation for the summer reading program for state libraries, on the national theme of Fizz! Boom! Read! I've had so much fun today playing with experiments! I have been messing about with various ideas here and there for the past few weeks, but today I focused on choosing what to use in my presentations. It wasn't an easy choice--there are so many cool, easy experiments using just the things we typically have in our homes.

You might wonder what a storyteller could be doing with a science program, but folktales contain all sorts of topics perfect for extension activities involving science. One of my favorite Appalachian tales, Sody Sallyratus, for example, is about baking soda, and who hasn't made a baking soda and vinegar volcano? Kipling's story about how the elephant got his long trunk goes well with a discussion of optical illusions, and so on. So many tales to choose from, so many ideas of what to do with them!

So the van is loaded and I am ready to head out with cabbage juice, vinegar, baking soda, dish detergent, puppets and all kinds of fun things. It should be a fine time, and quite messy.

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