Sciencepalooza

continued

Hands down, the highlight of the day is the egg drop. The purpose of this activity is to create a barrier of materials around a raw egg so that it survives being dropped off the third-floor balcony. Sammy just tapes bubble wrap around his egg, laughing because he knows it'll break. Gabriel and I create a little pouch of bubble wrap, fill it with packing peanuts, and nestle our egg in the center before taping more bubble wrap around it. An older boy, I'd say about ten, has constructed a parachute out of quart-size Ziploc baggies, straws, and twine. Another uses flat corrugated cardboard to break the fall of his padded egg.

The egg droppers crowd along the railing and take turns shouting "Look out below!" before watching their creations fall down, down, down onto a plastic drop cloth. On the lower level, a volunteer is nervously darting out to retrieve and assess the status of each now-earthbound egg. I wonder whom he angered to receive this assignment.

We drop our eggs and run down to learn their fate. A boy is telling the dancing assistant, "Sorry I used so much tape, mister," and a little blond girl with a kitty on her pink shirt, who has taped six balloons around her egg packet, laughs and squeals when she sees it survived intact.

Sammy proudly shows me his broken egg, while the attendant delicately unwraps Gabriel's egg packet, as if it's a bomb. "Not broken," he announces before skirting another shower of egg, packing material, and laughter.