Science day

Wednesday morning.

For most people, Wednesday was simply the day in the middle of the week.

For Barry and Marmaduke, however, Wednesday had become Science Day.

And this Wednesday was going to be particularly exciting.

Barry was already dressed when Marmaduke arrived.

This was unusual.

Normally, Barry was still looking for a sock while Mrs Brand was trying to answer an email and Mr Brand was asking where his keys were.

Today, Barry was waiting at the front door.

“Mum!”

“Yes?”

“Are we going?”

“Yes.”

“Now?”

“Soon.”

“Now?”

“Barry, you have no shoes on.”

He looked down.

“Oh.”

Marmaduke came through the door.

“I’ve got mine.”

Barry stared at him.

“You’re ready?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Science.”

Barry nodded.

“Good answer.”

Alfie appeared behind them.

“You two really like science.”

“Yes,” said Marmaduke.

Barry nodded.

“It’s better than writing.”

Alfie smiled.

“That’s because you haven’t discovered how much fun writing can be.”

Barry looked horrified.

“I hope I never do.”

At school, Mrs Abraham greeted the Reception class with a mysterious smile.

“Good morning, scientists.”

The children shouted back.

“GOOD MORNING!”

Barry was already bouncing slightly.

Marmaduke leaned over.

“I wonder what we’re doing.”

“Something explodey,” whispered Barry.

Mrs Abraham looked over.

“No explosions today, Barry.”

Barry looked disappointed.

“How did you know?”

“Experience.”

The children were told to put on their aprons.

Then their eye protection.

Barry put his goggles on.

They were slightly too big.

He looked like a tiny scientist who had been given his dad’s swimming goggles by mistake.

Marmaduke looked at him.

“You look funny.”

“So do you.”

“Good.”

Mrs Abraham gathered the class around the large painting table.

On it were several objects.

Some pieces of wood.

Pipe cleaners.

Scissors.

Wooden blocks.

And several different types of glue.

Barry’s eyes widened.

“Are we making something?”

“Not today,” said Mrs Abraham.

“We’re going to investigate.”

Barry liked the sound of that.

“Investigate what?”

“Strength.”

Mrs Abraham held up two pieces of wood.

They looked identical.

“This wood is strong in one direction,” she explained.

She showed them the first piece.

“The grain runs along the length of the wood.”

She then held up the second.

“On this piece, the grain runs across the length.”

The children looked at them.

Barry frowned.

“What’s grain?”

Mrs Abraham explained that wood had natural fibres running through it, rather like long little strands.

“Today we’re going to see how the direction of those fibres affects strength.”

She handed the first piece to a child.

“Would you like to try snapping it?”

The child grabbed the wood.

They pulled.

Nothing.

They tried again.

Still nothing.

The child made an enormous effort.

The wood remained completely unimpressed.

The class giggled.

Barry shouted:

“It’s strong!”

“It certainly is,” said Mrs Abraham.

The child handed it back.

Mrs Abraham then gave the second piece to another child.

“This one is different.”

The child held it.

Bent it.

And—

SNAP!

The piece broke surprisingly easily.

The entire class erupted into laughter.

Barry’s mouth fell open.

“That one was rubbish!”

Mrs Abraham laughed.

“It wasn’t rubbish. The grain was running across the direction we were trying to break it, which made it much easier to snap.”

Marmaduke looked at the broken piece.

“So wood has a strong way and a weak way?”

“Exactly.”

Barry nodded.

“Like me.”

Mrs Abraham smiled.

“Which is your strong way?”

“Chocolate.”

The class laughed.

Mrs Abraham moved on.

Next came the pipe cleaners.

She handed one to Barry.

He bent it.

It wiggled.

He bent it again.

It curled.

He made a tiny loop.

“This is easy.”

“Yes,” said Mrs Abraham. “Pipe cleaners are very flexible.”

Marmaduke made his into a spiral.

Barry made his into what he claimed was a dinosaur.

It looked more like a piece of spaghetti having a difficult day.

Then Mrs Abraham produced a pair of scissors.

“Now, who thinks we can cut one?”

Barry’s hand shot up.

“ME!”

She gave him a pipe cleaner and helped him position it safely.

Barry squeezed the scissors.

Nothing.

He tried again.

Nothing.

He looked at the pipe cleaner.

The pipe cleaner looked back at him in Barry’s imagination.

“This is impossible.”

Marmaduke tried.

Nothing.

The scissors simply pushed the pipe cleaner around.

Mrs Abraham explained that although the pipe cleaner was easy to bend, its wire core was surprisingly resistant to being cut with ordinary classroom scissors.

Barry was fascinated.

“So it’s weak and strong?”

“That’s a good way of thinking about it.”

Barry looked pleased.

“I understand science.”

Mrs Abraham then brought out the wooden blocks.

There were several little blocks stuck together.

“Now we’re going to investigate glue.”

Barry immediately became interested.

“How strong is it?”

“We’re about to find out.”

Mrs Abraham showed them different blocks.

One pair had been joined with glue stick.

Another with ordinary craft glue.

Another with wood glue.

And finally, one pair had been joined using superglue.

The children were fascinated.

Mrs Abraham held up the glue-stick block.

“This one has been stuck together for our experiment.”

She gave it a gentle pull.

The blocks separated almost immediately.

The children laughed.

Barry looked shocked.

“That’s not glue!”

“It is glue,” said Mrs Abraham.

“It’s pretending.”

Marmaduke laughed.

Mrs Abraham then demonstrated the stronger adhesive.

The wood blocks barely moved.

She pulled again.

Nothing.

“Wow,” whispered Marmaduke.

Barry leaned closer.

“That’s really stuck.”

“It is.”

Mrs Abraham explained that different glues were designed for different jobs.

Some were intended for paper.

Some for wood.

Some for craft projects.

And some were extremely strong adhesives.

She demonstrated the superglue joint carefully.

The blocks remained firmly attached.

Barry stared.

“Can we stick everything together?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because glue isn’t a toy.”

Barry looked disappointed.

“What about Marmaduke?”

Marmaduke laughed.

“You can’t stick me to a table.”

Barry considered it.

“Probably not.”

Mrs Abraham moved around the table.

The children were now completely absorbed.

They bent pipe cleaners.

Examined wood grain.

Compared blocks.

Tested different materials.

They asked questions.

Lots of questions.

Some sensible.

Some less sensible.

One child asked whether superglue would stick a dinosaur to a wall.

Mrs Abraham said they weren’t going to find out.

Barry asked whether a glue stick could stick two biscuits together.

Mrs Abraham said no.

Barry looked disappointed.

“What if they’re chocolate biscuits?”

“Still no.”

Marmaduke whispered:

“She’s very strict.”

“She is.”

Mrs Abraham smiled.

“I can hear you.”

Barry grinned.

“Science ears.”

At the end of the session, Mrs Abraham gathered everyone together.

“What have we learned today?”

Hands shot up.

“Wood can be strong!”

“Wood can break!”

“Pipe cleaners bend!”

“Some things are hard to cut!”

“Glue can be strong!”

“Glue sticks aren’t very strong!”

Mrs Abraham nodded.

“Excellent.”

Barry raised his hand.

“Yes, Barry?”

“Everything has a strong way and a weak way.”

Mrs Abraham smiled.

“That is a very good observation.”

Barry looked pleased.

Then Marmaduke raised his hand.

“Yes?”

“What’s the strong way of a chocolate biscuit?”

Mrs Abraham laughed.

“I don’t think that’s science.”

Barry shook his head.

“It definitely is.”

After school, Barry burst through the front door.

“Mum!”

Mrs Brand looked up from her laptop.

“Hello.”

“We did science!”

“I heard.”

“It was AMAZING.”

Marmaduke came in behind him.

“We broke wood.”

Mrs Brand looked alarmed.

“Everything was safe,” Marmaduke quickly added.

“We had goggles,” said Barry.

“And aprons.”

“And we did experiments.”

Barry emptied his school bag onto the floor.

“We learned about wood.”

“Excellent.”

“And pipe cleaners.”

“Lovely.”

“And glue.”

Mrs Brand smiled.

“Was the glue interesting?”

Barry’s eyes widened.

“VERY.”

He looked around.

“Where’s the superglue?”

Mrs Brand immediately pointed towards the ceiling.

“Absolutely not.”

“I was only asking.”

“I know.”

Alfie appeared.

“What did you learn?”

Barry proudly explained everything.

The grain.

The wood.

The pipe cleaners.

The different glues.

Alfie listened carefully.

“That sounds brilliant.”

“It was.”

“What was your favourite?”

Barry thought.

“The glue.”

“Why?”

“Because one glue didn’t really glue and another glue glued everything.”

Alfie nodded.

“That’s actually quite a good lesson.”

Barry smiled.

Then he picked up a cardboard box.

“Marm.”

“What?”

“We need to do science.”

Marmaduke nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes.”

Mrs Brand looked over.

“What are you planning?”

Barry smiled.

“An experiment.”

“What sort?”

Barry held up a glue stick.

Marmaduke held up two pieces of cardboard.

Mrs Brand immediately stood up.

“Kitchen table.”

The boys stopped.

“On the table?”

“No.”

Barry looked confused.

“Then where?”

“Somewhere I can supervise you.”

Barry nodded.

“Science is difficult.”

Mrs Brand smiled.

“Science is fine. Four-year-old scientists are the difficult bit.”

Barry grinned.

Marmaduke nodded.

“That’s true.”

Barry looked at him.

“You’re supposed to say it’s not.”

“Oh.”

Marmaduke thought about it.

“It’s not.”

“Too late.”

Mrs Brand laughed.

And as the boys began their very carefully supervised cardboard experiment, Barry decided that Wednesdays were definitely the best school days.

Even if there were no explosions.

Even if you couldn’t glue biscuits together.

And even if some glues were, frankly, a bit disappointing.

Because science had taught Barry something important.

Wood had strong ways.

Pipe cleaners had strong ways.

Glue had strong ways.

And Barry?

Barry was beginning to discover that he had one too.

He was very good at getting Marmaduke involved.

Fortunately for the adults, Marmaduke was very good at saying yes.