An erupting volcano made of vinegar and baking soda was only one of the many science experiments that brought children and their families to Longcoy Elementary School for the Family Science Night on Thursday.

Children, siblings, parents and relatives filled the school’s gym and aisles where they experienced real-life applications in nutrition, physiology, chemistry, physics and earth sciences.

The event was a collaboration among the school’s teachers and Kent State Geauga campus science faculty, staff and students.

“He is very interested in science,” said Jason Knowless, who brought Garrett Martinez, 9, to the event. “He does some experiments at home.”

Garrett said he likes science, and he is always digging rocks at home. He said one of his favorite experiments of the night were the cut brains because they looked “freaky.”

Garrett was not the only one. The brains attracted many children and parents, who lined up in one of the school’s aisles to ask Mitch Myers, scientific supply technician at Kent State Geauga, about the brains and other organs Myers displayed.

Children also learned that much of their everyday activities can be linked to sciences.

Natalie Caine-Bish, associate professor of health, brought along her nutrition students who showed the children how much sugar they are consuming in a soft drink and how much fat they eat in a fast food meal.

Caine-Bish said seeing and measuring the sugar in a scale, for example, can give kids a better idea of what they are consuming.

“It was a huge success,” said Longcoy Elementary School principal Janice Swan about the Family Science Night. “All the hard work paid off.”

Swan said that after seeing how much fun children and parents had today, the school is going to plan for a science night next year.

“If you don’t have sciences, if you don’t have math, you are in struggle,” said Scott Swan, regional campus manager at Kent State Geauga.

He said many nutrition and nursing majors at Kent State don’t always think sciences are going to be an important part of their majors.

“I really think if kids see that science can be fun,” he said, “they are not going to have the barriers of thinking ‘I don’t know science.’”

Contact Mariana Silva at [email protected].