In pictures: Imperial nursery holds first science week

Imperial's youngest students celebrated the joy of science last week, with Science Week and a Festival preview at the Early Years Education Centre.

The children carried out science-themed activities like making volcanoes, engineering using marshmallows and spaghetti, and impersonating a colony of ants.

The Centre is for children who have parents and carers who work and study at Imperial College London, and some parents also came in during the week to give hands-on science demonstrations.

Dr Susie Maidment from the Department of Earth Science & Engineering talked to the children about dinosaur bones and Kristelle Bougot-Robin helped them to get to grips with light refraction with the aid of a Lego spectrometer. Dr Roberto Trotta from the Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication explained how craters are made on the moon’s surface with the aid of some flour, and Dr Rowan Hooper, Managing Editor of New Scientist, had the children buzzing round the room pretending to be bees, for a demonstration about nectar and honey.

On Thursday, some of the children had a taster of the Imperial Festival, creating jelly worms using sodium alginate and calcium chloride and making lava lamps using oil, water and a fizzy antacid tablet.

They were guided by staff from Imperial’s Outreach team, which was set up to raise aspirations, change perceptions and stimulate an interest in science, engineering and medicine.

The photographs below show the young scientists in action. 

Annalisa Alexander, Head of Outreach (centre), tells the children about the experiments that they’ll be carrying out.

Eva-Maria, aged 3, sets to work making  a jelly worm with help from Shreya Konnur from Outreach


Lily, aged 3, admires the jelly worm she has created

Sofia, aged 3, picks up her slimy creature


The children decorate butterflies that can be moved around a flower using a paperclip and a magnet


The children add colour to 'lava lamps' and watch as they fizz into action


Three year old Rachele is impressed by the bubbles she has created in her lava lamp



Annalisa from Outreach and Molly, aged 3, laugh about the bubbles coming from another lava lamp


The Centre displays posters showing why the children’s parents and carers love science


Albert Einstein waits in the lobby to answer children's questions about the general theory of relativity