On the way to pick M up from ballet (we were going straight on from there) we had an interesting physics conversation with K about aerodynamics, when A noticed a lorry that had the front part of the trailer that sticks up above the cab missing. After talking about air resistance and the effect of it on moving objects and how it increases with speed, K worked about that an important reason for using aerodynamic shapes on vehicles was because it means that they will need to use less fuel (and A added, in order to go the same speed).
Also on the way, when we had rather a long wait when we stopped for lunch, K got out her 50 Brain Game cards and had a go at various puzzles and riddles. One of them, about a 'magic number' led to some algebra. I can't remember the exact numbers but it was something like:
Think of a number and double it
Add 6
Take away 3
Add 11
Divide by two
Take away the number you first thought of.
What's the answer?
Now try it with a different number.
Apart from the mistake she made on her first attempt when K took away double the number she'd first thought of, all was well. I suggested trying it with 0 as the starting point and of course the answer was still 7 and K realised that it always would be. So I suggested doing it again, but with 'n' as the starting point, so we had (there was a space to write you answer after each step):
n (x2)
2n (+6)
2n+6 (-3)
2n+3 (+11)
2n+14 (/2)
n+7 (-n)
= 7
I think this helped K see clearly how the 'trick' works.
While we were there, M enjoyed having a go with the Mirror experiment kit that I mentioned previously. Mostly she was just having fun making her own patterns, but she did also have a go at one of the pattern cards that come with it (with added bits for good measure).
A also went digging about under the roof and came out with Monopoly, which the girls are keen to have a go at (once we've found and printed out the rules as they've gone missing and neither A nor I are familiar enough with them to be completely confident of getting them spot on with help) and a real brain puzzler.
For quite sometime we had a Mini Mastermind, borrowed from a friend, which the girls really liked although mostly they liked setting the code rather than trying to break it! The game that A found though was Grand Mastermind, which is similar but instead of choosing a code with 4 pegs from a choice of 6 colours, you set a code of 4 colours and 4 shapes from a choice of 5 of each. Both girls liked setting the codes and actually marking each attempt can be quite tricky (you give a black peg for a correct colour/shape pair in the correct place, white for a correct pair in the wrong place and blue for a correct single colour or shape in the correct place) particularly if you have a repeated colour or shape. K also had a couple of goes at breaking the code (we simplified slightly by saying no repeated colours or shapes) and was successful on both attempts. It's really does make you think, and is particularly difficult if you have not only repeated colours and/or shapes but identical pairs.
While we were there an occupational therapist came to talk about Little Grandad's needs and sadly we're having to have conversations about how not only do people's bodies get worn out and not work so well, but also that it can happen to people's brains, as he is suffering from Alzheimers. It's very sad to see but fortunately the disease is not so far advanced that he doesn't know us all, but it is very hard work for Nana, who is his sole carer.
In other news, we have the most enormous bone in our fridge, since A asked one of the stall holders at the farmers' market if they might have one we could look at for a human body project and they happily obliged and on Saturday, shortly before we left for our visit, came home with a cow's femur!!
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