Report from Kids & Chemistry organizer Bob Botto:

We had a wonderful time with the kids at the Children's Museum of Houston on Saturday, October 26th. Volunteers from University of Houston, Texas Southern University and Rice University arrived at 9 am to help me set up. I counted at least 25 so when it was time to welcome the kids at 10 am we were ready! Catherine Faler brought a small banner and a quilt. We had 5 tables set up: Color Changes with Juices, Radish Writing, Candy Experiments, Play Doh (because kids!) and a Theme table for Marvelous Metals. Each table was staffed with at least 4 volunteers. Extra volunteers who came to our event were used by the Children's Museum to staff the Slime Stations. Emily MacWilliams was my contact and facilitated everything.

The Theme table featured the properties of metals which make up 80 percent of the Periodic Table. Properties such as thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, ferromagnetism, malleability and ductility were featured with objects the kids and parents could touch and feel.

The hands on experiments were as fun as ever and we added candy experiments this year. At noon we fed all the volunteers pizza and drinks. We had 58 volunteers signed up and they were distributed between morning and afternoon shifts. 

At 11 am Houston City Councilwoman Karla Cisneros came by to present a proclamation from the Mayor's office declaring National Chemistry Week in Houston. The proclamation was read by Karla Cisneros and received by me and Crystal Young, ACS-GHS Chair-Elect.

Visitors continued to come and enjoy the exhibits until 3 pm when we shut it down. I would estimate in the range of 300-400 kids and adults visited the displays.