KU News Release

Frying pickles and flying marshmallows: KU museum says it’s OK to play with food

Using a lit candle, a plastic container and cornstarch, Dawn Kirchner, museum educator, creates a fireball and a loud popping sound. The experiment shows what happens during grain elevator fires, said Kirchner. View Photo Gallery

LAWRENCE — If you’ve ever wanted to create a lava lamp from salad dressing or make rice cereal dance, you might want to visit the Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas during spring break.

The museum will host “Playing With Your Food” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day March 19-24. The interactive exhibit uses everyday food items to explain scientific principles.

“I wanted to try a new way to engage the community in science,” said Teresa MacDonald, director of education at the museum. “I wanted a topic that was fun. Food is so accessible, and we can look at it in a totally new way.”

The event will take place in the museum’s panorama gallery space. There is no set schedule; visitors can wander from station to station and take as long as they want to play with the displays. Admission is free and open to the public.

Museum staff will be on hand to help with demonstrations. Some of the flashier activities include creating a fireball from cornstarch, making a pickle glow from electricity and launching a marshmallow missile. There will be more than a dozen activity stations, which include instructions and explanations on the scientific principles involved.

There will also be a gallery trail that leads to prizes of crazy straws, food-shaped erasers and scientific fortune cookies.

This is the fourth year the museum has hosted a spring break program. MacDonald said past programs have drawn up to 3,000 people to the museum.

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