This month we covered compasses. First we played with magnets labeled with north and south. Nothing new, we have done this before. This was a little more directed, I guess, but nothing new. There was no explanation of why magnets are magnets, which actually disappointed me a bit. Then we were given a cylinder with iron shavings in it and a magnet that you can put in the middle and take out again. It was cool, but we only got to play with it for a few seconds before they took it away so we could build our own compasses.
This was fun, and again, one of those things where I went "why didn't I think of that!" I was left, however, with the feeling of wanting more. Maybe I was distracted. My friend T was there with her three boys (one of whom is 6 months old--babies are distracting!), so maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but there seemed to be very little meat to this workshop. I just wanted more. I wanted more explanation of magnets. I wanted more time to play with the cylinder. I understand there is a time limit, maybe I was expecting to much. I don't think the kids felt anything missing, they enjoyed it. I just felt this was more of a play activity with little teaching.
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