The Marion Bookworm has teamed with the Science Center and other area

businesses to celebrate "Ivy and Bean Day,"  with two big shows for kids at the Illinois Centre Mall on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 6) and day-long science-based activities, games and give-aways.

 

With more than 1 million copies sold, the Ivy and Bean series by Annie

Barrows features two second-grade girls with supersize imaginations. The adventures of the irrepressible duo continue in the newly published book Ivy and Bean: What's the Big Idea, which thrusts the pint-size heroines into the middle of the second grade science fair.

 

 Ivy and Bean's science fair theme makes a perfect connection to the

Science Center's outreach programs which focus on hands-on science. The

Science Center will present two showings of "Air and Energy" at 1 p.m.

and 3 p.m. Saturday in the center court of Illinois Centre Mall.

 

"The Air and Energy show focuses on all forms of energy from fossil fuels to wind power and solar power," says Tabitha Ayres, director of the Science Center. "It's fun, it's flashy and it's hands-on with lots of participation."

 

Featured during the shows will be a series of contained explosions, a

large vortex cannon which shoots out giant smoke rings, and a hovercraft, in which youngsters can ride. In addition to the two shows, there will be science supplies for hands-on table-top exercises, Ayres said, including Alka-Seltzer cannons, volcanoes and slime.

 

"Explosions and slime - tried and true," Ayers said with a laugh. But the shows more importantly trace the history and importance of fuels from the origins of fossil fuels to the present and future potential of clean technology.

 

Marion Pepsi and the Learning Zone in Illinois Centre Mall have joined Ivy and Bean Day to donate prizes for the day-long event. Exhibits and

activities will be set up and available from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the

mall's center court. Volunteers and employees of the sponsors will be clad in white lab coats to help guide youngsters through the experiments.

 

Ivy and Bean: What's the Big Idea, is the seventh book in the series which is hugely popular with kids, parents, teachers and librarians. Author Barrows is also the author of the New York Times Best-Selling The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.

 

In Ivy and Bean: What's the Big Idea some kids are making man-eating

robots and some kids are holding their breath for a very, very long time. Some kids are doing interesting things with vacuum cleaners. The theme, obviously, is global warming. But what should Ivy and Bean do? Something involving explosions? Or ropes? Something with ice cubes? Or maybe ... maybe something different.  What will budding Southern Illinois scientists come up with on Saturday?