I was invited to give a talk on science last Sunday and today to a group of 6-7 year olds attending Grade 1 and Grade 2 at Jamaluddin School. My talk, titled "The Joys of Science", aimed at getting the students interested in science and spurring them to get hands-on with discovering, making and exploring the world. I have lots and lots of fond memories of doing just that when I was a kid and it was so much fun!

The format of my talk was quite simple. I started out with two very simple experiments the kids could do at home - making a simple motor and exploring acids and bases by making an indicator - that I hoped would entice them enough to actually do it. I ended the talks with little tour of the Universe, Earth and the night sky - an attempt at fostering observation. For my second talk, I added little show-and-tell with a selection from some fossils I had purchased recently since Maldives does not have such items anywhere publicly accessible to anyone. It turned out to be a good decision because they all scrambled to see the 140 million year old Spinosaurus tooth and the 440 million year old fossil trilobite I took. Hopefully, they learnt something from all that...

I'd like to thank Jamaluddin School for inviting me to address the kids. It was my first time addressing such young students and it was a big learning experience for me, to say the least!