The Curiosity Lab

01/09/2026

It's the start of a new academic year which means it's time to reintroduce myself here after lots of new followers and before our new classes start later this week.

So hello, I'm Toni, an ex- secondary science teacher, mum of two and the face behind The Curiosity Lab 👋 I have lived in Durham City for 10 years now although I grew up in Lincolnshire. I have a slight dinosaur obsession 🦖, my favourite colour is purple 💜 and love trying to match the dress I'm wearing to the topic I'm teaching (thanks Popsy Clothing!)👗

🧪I ran my first class back as Little Sparks Science in October 2023 and today I run a mix of home ed classes, one-off workshops and parties, as well as being the author of my very own children's book, Bella's Bubble Lab 🫧. I absolutely love coming up with new sessions and testing out different experiments and activities, although I always put off the washing up after a particularly messy session 🙈. My aim is to make all our activities accessible for children to try again at home too and carry on the learning and the fun beyond our sessions.

I can also say now that I am officially home educating our two children as of today! This means they'll be popping up a lot more at our classes and I'll be sharing ideas of some of the activities we get up to as well. After 2 and a half years teaching the most wonderful home ed families, I've been won over by a way of learning that fits in much better with our family.

So that's me! I can't wait to see you in one of our classes very soon ♥️

30/08/2026

Here's just a few flower potions from today's birthday party 🦋 Rowan wanted a butterfly-themed party so we made flying butterflies, magic growing caterpillars and of course, bubbly flower potions!

Would you like your own bespoke science birthday party to fit around your chosen theme? Message to find out what we can do! 🎈

29/08/2026

We're back! 👋

We've just spent a wonderful, relaxing week on the shores of Loch Lomond with beautiful walks, boat trips, visiting the sea life centre, meeting highland cows and lots of paddling in the loch too.

Now it's back to work with a birthday party tomorrow and our new academic year of classes starting next week. Who will be joining us? 🧪

22/08/2026

We love blackberry season! 🍇 There's so many around the field near us so it's an annual tradition to go blackberry picking- it's definitely been earlier this year though.

The kids enjoyed spotting the different stages of how the blackberries grow from flower to ripe berry, Evie took her nature journal to sketch what she saw, then back home for blackberry crumble 🤩

What do you make with your blackberries?

18/08/2026

Today was our last holiday session at Merryoaks Community Hall and we had a minibeast theme today! 🐞🐜

We managed to find lots of different minibeasts in the garden before looking at how to identify insects and making our own, as well as some flying butterflies to take home 🦋 it was lovely to see so much creativity from all the children, thank you everyone for joining us 😊

14/08/2026

A lovely day today with a group doing their Discovery CREST Award with Durham Home Ed Community Hub.

Our theme was Sustainable Solutions and children were tasked with working together as a team to come up with their own sustainable business idea before presenting to the rest of the group. I was so impressed with their creativity and enthusiasm as they came up with three completely unique and well thought out ideas.

We had:
💧New water storage solutions to collect water in winter that can be used during droughts in summer
🔋Solar powered battery charger, both portable and built in
☀️Solar panels in car parks to maximise electricity production whose model is the only one I managed to get a photo of

Fantastic job guys, I definitely feel like we have some future entrepreneurs on our hands!

13/08/2026

Wow, where to even start about last night?!

We had so many more people come along to our eclipse event than we were ever expecting, apparently people were queuing right up the street 😱 The last number heard got put the number of attendees at over 1000 so thank you to each and every one of you who came along and for your patience when we ran out of glasses. However, it was amazing to see the community spirit as people were chatting and sharing glasses with each other and I hope everyone got a chance to see ♥️ I loved chatting with so many familiar faces, running the family activities and answering questions about what was going on.

A massive thank you to Go Stargazing who supplied our glasses which meant so many of you could see such an incredible event 🌙

Thank you to Will and all the volunteers at Merryoaks Community Hall who organised the logistics and managed food, I was pleased there was still a bit of cake left when I was tidying up 😂

Also a last thank you to my husband who manned the telescope and made sure people had a chance to take a closer look safely.

Yes the clouds came exactly 2 minutes before the peak so we didn't see it, but it was incredible to see the sky start to get that much darker and see so many people interested in this amazing science phenomenon! ☀️🌙

If you did get any photos, I'd love to see them! Thank you to the people who have already sent me some to share with you all ♥️

11/08/2026

Our solar eclipse event at Merryoaks Community Hall has a mention in the BBC News! 🌙

BBC News - When to see partial solar eclipse in the North East and Cumbria - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce97mg287z7o

Who's excited to come along tomorrow? 😎

Events are held across north-east England and Cumbria for Wednesday's partial solar eclipse.

10/08/2026

There's just 48 hours until our free solar eclipse family event at Merryoaks Community Hall and I cannot wait! We've had lots of interest so far so here's a few FAQs if you're planning to attend.

☀️Do I need to book a ticket?
There is no need to book a ticket as this is a drop-in event, just turn up anytime between 6-8pm on the day. The eclipse peaks just after 7pm.

☀️Is there a cost?
This is a free event but donations to the hall are always welcome to allow them to continue to put on events like this.

☀️Do I need to bring my own solar glasses?
If you have any, bring them along but if not, we have 400 pairs available on the day so hopefully plenty for everyone who wants to see. We just ask once you leave, you pop them back on the way out to give everyone a chance to view the eclipse safely.

☀️What if it's cloudy?
The weather forecast is looking promising so far so hopefully there will be at least some gaps over the evening. Just in case, we will also be live streaming from around the world where there will be a total eclipse. All the crafts and activities will be going on whatever the weather.

☀️Is it just for families with children?
No, anyone who would like to see the eclipse safely is welcome to come whether that is with little kids, big kids, friends or by yourself.

☀️Is there parking available?
Parking is available on site at the hall with overflow parking nearby. If you end up parking on the road, please be considerate of neighbours.

☀️Will there be refreshments?
Yes, Merryoaks Community Hall is providing a range of food including hot dogs, vegan hot dogs, cake, tea, coffees and ice lollies all for £1 per item.

Any other questions? Comment below👇

09/08/2026

Quite a lot of people I've spoken to know my opinions on this so sorry if you're one of the people who have already heard me rant about this, but I've decided to share them publicly.

AI is an incredible tool, there is no denying that. I will freely admit I use AI for some of the behind-the-scenes admin tasks and the boring parts of owning a business. However, you will never find any AI generated content on this page, whether it be posters, posts or the resources I make.

Other than the fact that all AI posters have the same look that sets my eye twitching, there is a massive environmental and ethical impact of AI usage and data mining from other creative works that I do not support.

Instead, all the posters, graphics and resources I make and you see are made by me in Canva or on my laptop with spending far too long trying to get things lined up 😂

I know I'm not the most artistic or creative person, but I still give it a go because I don't want my page to become just another copy of every other business that uses AI generated content. My business is just me, slightly rubbish graphics and all! ♥️