Bomb-making!

Only bath bombs though, don't worry!

Back at Wakehurst today after a long summer break. I don't normally do Saturdays but as I kept September free to finish my course and can only do a few sessions this month, I said I'd help today.

I'm glad I did - it was great fun! A group of 'Gifted and Talented' Year 5 & 6 kids from various schools were looking at how we use plants for medicine, in cooking or for cosmetics and skin care in a session called 'Lotions and Potions'. I suppose you could almost call it a very basic biochemistry lesson.

They each had to find out about a different plant, such as lavender, and then share what they'd learned with the rest. We then made hand lotion and these bath bombs then they were thrilled when they got to make sort of mini-volcanoes. Thanks to an Alka Seltzer and a bit of water, they made the lids of small plastic bottles fly off with a BIG bang, just for a bit of fun, which obviously went down well!

After lunch we went round the garden (which was hot!) so they could see many of these plants in situ then back to the lab for an investigation of various different types of hand lotions and creams. We all had a terrific time - and certainly smelled nice by the end!