Staff from Imperial's Faculty of Engineering gathered with their young families earlier this month for a day of fun-filled scientific discovery.

As part of their first ever Bring Your Child to Work Day, the Faculty opened its doors on 5 August to children, grandchildren and young relatives of its staff for family-friendly educational activities and hands-on scientific demonstrations.

The day kicked off with demonstrations from the Science Museum, who treated the audience to a bubble show, indoor rocket launches, and ice-cream making with liquid nitrogen. A slime-making challenge followed, where children were invited to make their own slime out of water, PVA glue, Borax and food colouring. Other activities throughout the day included a magic show, face painting and balloon modelling.

Alastair Donaldson, from the Department of Computing, attended the day with her daughter. He said: “My four year old daughter Poppy had a wonderful time. She was really excited about seeing where I work, and she loved the demonstrations and activities laid on by the Science Museum.  She now thinks I spend my days making massive bubbles and exploding balloons, but I'm OK with that!  This sort of event makes me really happy that I work at Imperial.”

Imperial’s Provost Professor James Stirling said: “The College is committed to supporting and celebrating the family life of its community, and I was delighted to see so many members of staff in the Faculty of Engineering coming together to give their children an insight into what they do at work. It was an enjoyable occasion for all involved, and I hope we will see more and more of this type of event around College.”