Home School Hour - Brains

March was a special month for our home school program!

We had a visit from a good friend of mine, Dr. Trish Schiml, to learn all about BRAINS.

Dr. Trish is a Neuroscience/Psychology instructor at a nearby college. We talked last year, (I used to babysit her kids when they were little) and she offered to help out at one of my home school hours. 

She brought three of her college students along to help out, and we were very lucky to have them (thanks, guys!). 

Our special guests set up three stations for the children to visit. 

The first station had brain hats that the children could make. They were pretty similar to this one, but ours weren't colored. The hats could be cut out and assembled, so that when the children wore them, they indicated locations for different parts of the brain. 

Our students seemed to enjoy making them, but the best part was seeing these bright green hats moving around the library after our program was over.

The next station included a play-doh brain activity. 

 Students were led through the process of making a brain model out of play-doh. They were instructed piece by piece, directed in how to shape each part, and how to assemble them together. They learned the names and roles of each piece while they made them. 

When I was a kid, I loved these kinds of hands-on learning activities. It always helped me remember things better (plus, this was a nice activity for the younger kids to participate in).

Our third station was led by Dr. Trish herself. She brought in a few real brain samples from the college!

She brought in a mouse brain, a rat brain, several sheep brains, a few horse brains, and even a human brain (not pictured). She was able to point out the parts our students learned about in their other station, and to answer any questions the children had. The kids were also allowed to (gently) handle the brains (as long as they wore gloves!). 

Our program ended up having 65 home school guests in attendance. It was really nice to be able to stay on the sidelines and participate with the kids this time. I was able to learn a lot myself! Plus... we got to make my own brain hats too. 

HUGE thanks to Dr. Trish and Wright State University for making this program possible!