Really, we do suggest to kids that they should step back and sit on the grass when we get ready for a demonstration. But sometimes they just can’t hold back.

Our entire program is built around a philosophy that science is playful, collaborative, and experiential. Most of what we do emphasizes this, with kids getting their hands into goo, creating their own paper rockets, looking through the lenses that they select on their own. So, it only makes sense that when we’re setting up a demonstration, they walk up to the table on the fringe and ask: “What are you doing?” “Is going to explode?!” “Can I help?”

And so, even as we ask them to take a step back to avoid the fountain of an exuberant physical change that erupts right before our eyes, we just have to smile as they rush the stage and try to get a literal taste of the science that’s spraying above.

(We have more photos available on our Flickr page and the 2015 Album, with more to come.)