Bibi Blocksberg meets Rudolph the reindeer

The Kinder Academy is an important program offered by Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences to give children ages eight to twelve an insight into various scientific disciplines. The Chemistry Department of the Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences contributes to this effort every year with a pre-Christmas event. During the event, the audience is treated to interesting chemistry demonstrations that are woven into an exciting storyline and presented in a theatrical format.

This year, on December 21, 2018, children from the audience took on acting roles and eagerly participated in the experiments. Matthias Jeschke, a chemist with a master’s degree and the laboratory director for General and Inorganic Chemistry, swapped his everyday lab coat for a fairy-tale-like storyteller’s outfit and presented the audience with a few exciting “Christmas-time stories.”

The stories were very familiar to the guests and served as a summary of the children’s storytime sessions held since 2012. Included were the adventures of Hansel & Gretel, Benjamin Blümchen, Bibi Blocksberg, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, as well as Rudolph the reindeer with his red nose. As in every year, Santa Claus was there again, and at the end, every child was given a small gift.

The experiments for this somewhat different kind of reading session are tested, prepared, and conducted by students in the “Chemistry” degree programme. A big thank you goes out this year to the following for their preparation: Loreen Alshaabi, Florian Praße, Leon Müller, and Lukas Ortmüller. Special thanks also go to Loreen Alshaabi and Florian Praße for carrying out the event.

The Chemistry Department thanks all the children and their chaperones for their great interest in the event, Frank Schneider and Julius Pahl for the organization, and the Friends of Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences for their financial support, and is already looking forward to the next magical demonstration lecture for the Kinder Academy.