If I had no kids, I would need an excuse to visit such exciting things. Luckily, I don't.
We packed up our K3 and a friend and drove to Würzburg.
Math at the university
First stop was the university, the math department. There was a taster lecture, a child-friendly introduction to topology, and of course K3 and the friend sat in the front row. Even if it doesn't look like it: about 30 people were there, they just all sat in the back rows.
What a nice change from what I heard as a child: math is not for girls. Who remembers that?
After the lecture there were workshops and a small rally with brain teasers and a big puzzle. Kids often don't need much: a big projector that lets you cast shadow figures on the wall keeps them busy for quite a while.
Everything about Wümax is on the university's website. By the way, there are also the MathExplorers, an offer for kids from grade 5: once a month they get a letter with information about an area of mathematics and a matching brain teaser, and they can send in their solution and get it corrected.
Radio, soldering, direction finding
Afterwards we went to the amateur radio club in Würzburg.
There the kids could try out radio themselves and chat with the Mouse, the Elephant and the Duck.
They could solder something, which I have never done myself. After about half an hour they had soldered a kit into a small glowing butterfly with color-changing LEDs.
And they beat me at radio direction finding. In truth, though, I preferred talking to the club member, who told me technical details about electric and magnetic radio waves.
The day was wonderfully exciting and incredibly exhausting.
#mitderMaus