Glasgow Science Festival

The ‘Ecosystem Relationships with The Funguys’ group created activities on the theme of Terrestrial Ecosystems - Botanic Gardens. The group’s activities were designed to teach participants about mutualistic relationships and the communication between trees and fungi.

Activity 1:
In the first activity participants were invited to take part in a two-player shape game called Co-oper-shape-tion. Players had to cooperate to match a list of nutrients as quickly as they could, showing that winning is only possible by working together and sharing “nutrients”.

Activity 2:
The second activity was a craft activity where participants were invited to create their own mushroom and flower headbands showing the connectedness of the two.

Group Photo                                                                                                                                                                             

The Urban Tails group created two activities on the theme of Glasgow Wildlife. The group’s aim was to explore the lives of urban foxes, how they differ from their rural counterparts, and how they use their senses to navigate city life.

Activity 1:
The first activity involved creating a wearable fox mask from card. Participants could choose between a rural fox and an urban fox, learning about how their features differ in the process.

Activity 2:
The second activity was a scavenger hunt, exploring the heightened senses of foxes as they move around an urban environment. Participants had to identify different fox calls using their hearing, guess the fox’s food using their sense of smell, and use UV light to find the hidden fox cubs.

Group Photo

The Seasonal Blossoms group created activities on the theme of Gardening. The group focused on how changes in environment can affect the colour of flowers, particularly how soil pH impacts a flower’s colour.

Activity:
Participants got to craft their own pH paper flower, and watch it change colour when sprayed with a solution. The flowers were then displayed in a beautiful garden mural created by the Seasonal Blossoms team.

Group Photo                                                                                                                                                                                        

The Ripple Effect group were tasked with creating an activity on the theme of Freshwater Ecosystems - River Kelvin. This group’s aim was to explore the history of the river Kelvin and the return of salmon to the river.

Activity 1:
The group created a River Kelvin board game based on snakes and ladders, where players explored the various negative environmental changes to the river (the snakes) and positive changes (the ladders) over time. Resulting in the river being clean enough for Salmon thrive.

Activity 2:
For the second activity, participants got to craft their own ‘soaring salmon’ and see them leap wih the help of some straws.

Group Photo