Kids learn the power of electricity at ‘Space Days’ camp

NEW CONCORD, OH- The John and Annie Glenn Museum kicked off the first day of its annual “Space Days” camp today, with this year’s theme focusing on electricity, a vital part of space travel.

Young campers ages 9 and 10 spent the day learning how electric circuits and static electricity play a critical role in space missions, from powering systems to presenting potential dangers aboard spacecraft.

“Today we’re talking about two forms of electricity, this morning we’re talking about electric circuits and we’ve been wiring up electric circuits with batteries as our power source and LED Christmas lights to let us know that our circuit has been completed and is working, this afternoon we will be working with static electricity and we’re going to be talking about how dangerous that is inside an environment like the I.S.S. [International Space Station] or the Space Shuttle program or inside the capsule that John Glenn orbited the earth in,” said Museum Association of East Muskingum’s Educational Programs Coordinator Betsy Taylor.

The camp, which has been running for over 15 years, combines hands on science with local history. After a morning of experiments, the campers launched homemade water rockets at a nearby park, competing to see which could fly the highest.

“It’s a lot of work to get things together, We talked about how much the children get for the money that we spend, and so we like the idea of letting them know that you can do things less expensively,” said Taylor.

The camp will wrap up tomorrow with ages 11 and 12. Space Days will return to the John and Annie Glenn Museum next year. To find out more information on how you can get your children involved with this event visit the museums website.