Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome to our festive science adventure!
This year The Week Junior Science+Nature has teamed up with Winchester Science Centre (and lots of other exciting brands) to offer young people a festive feast of science and nature-themed activities. Plus there are lots of fantastic prizes up for grabs every day.
The online event opens on 11 December 2021 and will last for 12 days (ending on 22 December 2021). Each day we release a fresh URL revealing a new activity. Keep an eye on our Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram accounts to see the links. Each competition lasts only a day, so you’ll need to get your entries in quickly.
Scroll down to see the activity and daily competition.
DAY 7 - Meet Molly Oldfield
Share this Q&A and video with your child.
The Week Junior Science+Nature caught up with Molly Oldfield, host of the award-winning children’s podcast Everything Under the Sun. Molly told us about her new book, and then answered some of her favourite Christmas-themed science questions.
What is Everything Under the Sun?
Everything Under the Sun began as an award-winning weekly podcast hosted by me – author and original QI elf. Every Friday, I talk to a host of experts, including authors Neil Gaiman and Lauren Child, and they help me tackle questions sent in by children from all over the world. The book Everything Under The Sun answers 366 of the questions sent into the podcast.
What was your favourite question answered by a famous person in the book?
Many wonderful experts from writers to astronauts, athletes to zookeepers and a tornado chaser were generous enough to share their incredible knowledge with children. I love the one about why bubbles pop when you touch them – I had no idea that bubbles have two layers and it’s when someone touches them that they pop!
Are there any questions that have stumped you?
I do find ones about the Big Bang and the cosmos tricky, but luckily there are plenty of experts around to help me.
What is the one question you would love the answer to?
Why do some adults lose their curiosity? We’re living on a planet floating in space, so let’s celebrate that. Children know there’s so much wonder all around us and that’s why I love the podcast. I hope it helps adults rediscover their sense of wonder too.
Check out Molly’s podcast at mollyoldfield.com/everythingunderthesun out every Friday.
Win copies of Everything Under the Sun
How much bamboo can a giant panda eat? Do aliens exist? What would we do if we didn’t have a prime minister? Why do hammerhead sharks have such strange-shaped heads? Your child can find answers to these questions and lots more in Everything Under the Sun: a curious question for every day of the year by Molly Oldfield. To be in with a chance of winning one of five copies of Molly’s book, send your name and address to competitions@science-nature.co.uk by 23.59 on 17 December 2021. Make sure you put EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN in the subject line.
Go to sciencenature.theweekjunior.co.uk/12Daysterms for terms and conditions.
The Week Junior Science+Nature is a monthly magazine that brings science, technology, engineering and maths topics to life for 8–15s.
Enjoy our best offer with 9 issues for £25.99, including a free Christmas activity pack.
The activity pack and a Christmas card are sent straight to you to give on the big day.
The gift subscription will start with the first issue of the new year - delivered plastic-free to your lucky recipient.
