Day Thirty Eight of LOCKDOWN!

We began our next project on microbiology today (it's Mummy's field of expertise so she was particularly keen on doing this one!). We started by introducing microorganisms and setting up a craft activity.

Dipping some cotton buds in various colours of paint ready for making some mini microbes

Zachary enjoyed mixing the colours to form new ones

Jory worked on his puzzles

We watched an introductory video on microorganisms

We did a 'scavenger hunt' for bacteria, viruses and protists; they had to find and draw the missing one for each group

Zachary draws a picture of HIV

Jory liked the look of the page of viruses and coloured them all in (although I think he thought they were fireworks!)

Jory's finished work

'I want to go on YouTube!'

Tahlia enjoyed colouring the cocci in pretty colours

Daddy came down for his lunch and Ptolemy initiated a game of Thor's hammer (he loves superheroes)

They all attacked their evil enemy, Thanos

At lunchtime, we talked about the importance of microorganisms in food production. Then for our lunch we had foods which were made using microorganisms. These included: homemade bread (and rolls), baked Camembert, cheddar cheese, chorizo sausage, pickled vegetables and beer (mainly for Daddy). They all tucked into this hearty lunch (with the exception of Jory who just ate the cheese).

A microbial feast (although the baked ones probably didn't make it)

Daddy looks forward to his warm bread, Camembert and chorizo topped with a pickled gherkin

Ptolemy's favourite was the chorizo sausage

Zachary particularly loved the melted Camembert; he hadn't tried it before

Tahlia particularly enjoyed the fresh bread

For our pudding we enjoyed some live yogurt; we learnt that it contains millions of live bacteria which are very good for keeping your gut healthy

The yogurt was delicious

Jory went with tradition and chose his usual yogurts

The next activity was a bread culture experiment. Using tongs, we put slices of bread into different sealed bags and labelled them, according to how we had touched them. We will leave them for several weeks to see what growth we get over that time.

Everyone wrote their own name - we'll see who has the dirtiest hands - my bet is on Zachary!

Zachary labels the bags, ensuring there is a control bag with untouched bread to make it a fair test

Jory touches his bread before putting it into the bag

Bags all labelled, including 'dirty', 'hand sanitiser', 'soap' and 'licked'

Jory is just about to have a meltdown because someone knocked his tower down

We then played a game in which one person played the part of a human host; the other played various types of infecting bacteria (by colour). The aim was for the host to eradicate the bacteria, or for the bacteria to reach a critical number. We learnt that numbers of bacteria double each time as they divide and can increase very quickly. We used 'antibiotic' cards to wipe out a species, but the bacterial side could avoid a complete wipe-out by playing a 'resistance' card. Zachary loved this game - he wanted to play it over and over.

Zachary checks out his card to command his white blood cells to destroy some bacteria

Tahlia shows Zachary the card she has drawn

Unfortunately, Tahlia's immune system wasn't quick enough to fight the bacteria and she didn't make it

Next, we talked about how our hands are covered in microbes and did a craft to show this

Jory draws around his hands ready for adding the microbes

Sticking some microbe pom poms onto his hands picture

Zachary arranges his microbes

No microbe would be complete without googly eyes!

Our finished microbe-covered hands

We did two Mystery Science mini lessons; one on what hand sanitiser does and one on how germs get into your body

Tahlia enjoyed playing with the little people in her camper van

Painting by numbers for Ptolemy

Tower building with some interesting shaped pieces