The Curiosity Lab

01/06/2026

☀️ Save the date 🌕

We're very excited to be back at Merryoaks Community Hall again this year to celebrate the solar eclipse in August. This one will be 90% coverage in Durham so will be an impressive sight!

More details coming soon 👀

ADVANCE NOTICE: Merryoaks Community Hall will be hosting another Solar Eclipse Event on 12 August 2026. Last time was a huge success, so we’re delighted to bring it back.

01/06/2026

🦕Today is Dinosaur Day! 🦖

Here's a question for you that you don't get asked enough as an adult: What is your favourite dinosaur? Here is mine!

The triceratops was one of the last dinosaurs to evolve in the late Cretaceous period and is instantly recognised by its three horns that have a bony core coated in keratin, the same material as your fingernails are made of! Their horns changed shape as they grew, starting straight then curving as they got older.

Share what your favourite dinosaur is below 👇

30/05/2026

Check out these amazing comb jellies we found the other day at the beach! These ones are Melon Comb Jellies and Alex did a fantastic job carefully catching them so we could take a closer look 🤩

Despite their name, they are not actually jellyfish and don't sting. These ones don't have tentacles and instead move through the water using tiny hairs on the stripes of their body, this is what gives them that amazing shimmering appearance as they move which I tried to video. They are predators with a large mouth that opens as they swim and will even eat other comb jellies!

Keep an eye out next time you visit the coast, you never know what you'll find 🪼

29/05/2026

💡It's time for a Fun Fact Friday!💡

Did you know... A sloth can hold its breath underwater for longer than a dolphin? Dolphins can hold their breath for up to 10-15 minutes while diving for food, whereas the sloth can hold its breath for an incredible 40 minutes at a time!

Sloths achieve this amazing length by slowing their heart rate to less than a third of its normal rate. Amazing! 🦥

Tag someone below who will enjoy this fact too 🐬🦥

26/05/2026

🎉Happy 5th Birthday to my little marine biologist🎈

What better way to celebrate than with a trip to the aquarium, including getting to see the sharks getting fed and to throw the food in for the Amazon River giants! 🦈 Plus we got to see the turtle and octopus too which are other favourites 🐢🐙

25/05/2026

It looks like it's going to be another hot one today ☀️ so here's a quick activity to try at home. It's a classic 😎

Just pop a toy outside in a sunny spot, draw around its shadow with chalk and wait. This picture was taken after just 5 minutes, Alex was amazed how quickly the shadow moved!

🤔What's going on?
The shadow is formed when the light from the sun is blocked by the toy and cannot reach the ground. As the Earth rotates, the sun appears to move across the sky so the light travels from a different position, causing the shadow to move.

❔Why not revisit at different times of day and redraw the shadow each time? When is the shadow longest? When is it shortest? You can use this to make your own sundial 🕰️

Post your photos below if you give this a go today!

23/05/2026

Look where I was yesterday! 🤩

You can now buy your very own copy of Bella's Bubble Lab at Field & Fodder 🎉 I'm honoured to be amongst such amazing company ❤️

22/05/2026

It's only been a short one but what a packed half term it's been! Here's a little snapshot of what we've been up to the last few weeks 📷

💧Making dams in KS3 physics
🧪Lots of fizzy fun at a birthday party
🦴Looking closer at the structure of a bone in KS3 biology
💡 Making play dough circuits in our older primary science group
🌋 Discovering what ingredients make the best volcano in our middle primary group
🌈 Finding out the hidden colours on felt top pens in our after-school group
🥛Making casein plastic from milk in KS3 Chemistry
🎨Making gravity paintings in our youngest primary science group
🪲 Finding different insects in Nature Explorers
🫟Making slime to investigate polymers in KS3 Chemistry

Thank you to everyone who's joined us over this term, I wouldn't be able to call this my job if it wasn't for you guys ❤️❤️

09/05/2026

What a fantastic day we had with Durham Home Ed Community Hub yesterday for our primary science day!

💡Our older groups were exploring electricity, testing different conductors and insulators, finding out what happens when you change the number of batteries and bulbs in a circuit and making play dough circuits

🧪Our younger group made their own blackberry indicator to find out what happens when it mixes with different acids and alkalis before using this to decide what makes the best volcano

A brilliant day full of curiosity, trying things out and 'what happens when...?' questions, all while having fun ❤️

08/05/2026

Happy 100th Birthday to the national treasure that is Sir David Attenborough 🎂 You are a true inspiration and have bought the wonders of the natural world to so many people. Thank you for everything that you do ❤️