Science Festival for Young People

Edinburgh International Science Festival continues to show how science can be both fun and relevant to virtually every part of our lives - and young people are no exception with the Festival's excellent programme of events for children and teenagers. 

There's far much too much happening to do it all justice, but here's just a taste of what little scientists can get up to!

Younger children and families

For all those budding palaeontologists, robotics engineers and molecular biologists, a great place to start is at the City Art Centre, where 5 floors of fun and hands-on activity are sure to inspire young minds. 

Whether it's mixing up some particularly slimy goo, connecting circuits to power a motor or even touching a real heart, there's so much going on that it's easy to spend an entire day there and still wish for more time. 

There's plenty for kids elsewhere too of course and The Experimentarium, a new space for the Science Festival at Summerhall, offers the chance to find out how rivers work, learn about vets, pets and data sets, and check out the intriguingly-named Large Honeybee Collider. 

The National Museum of Scotland is another major venue for the Festival, and the Play On exhibition in the museum's Grand Gallery offers some brilliant technological fun for children and grown ups with four immersive zones themed Picture This, Game Theory, Make Some Noise and Toy Box. 

Another new Science Festival venue this year is Edinburgh Zoo, and it's here that you'll find Beyond the Panda, a fun way to learn about China's language, culture and geography as well as those iconic black and white animals. The Zoo also hosts a chance to learn about using GPS to track animals, and performances of Dr Stirlingshire's Discovery, just one of a number of theatre events as part of this year's Festival. 

Older children and teenagers

Looking into the future is a major part of the line-up for more grown-up science fans, with explorations of game design, robotics, music creation and even planning for an outbreak of zombies. 

In that somewhat scary scenario, teens will be glad to have learned from an expert Theoretical Zombiologist, who will take them through planning for an uncontrollable plague of the living dead. 

Altered people are also the theme of Making the New Human, a chance to look at what come when augmented strength and wired up brains are the norm. 

And programming features strongly, with the Digital Maker Workshop looking at using technology to design and create models using a 3D printer, while young people also get a chance to use Xbox controllers to create their very own video game. 

Plus there's the opportunity to learn how to create and remix music, using just about anything that can conduct electricity - including fruit, household objects and even people!

Edinburgh International Science Festival runs until Sunday 16 April 2017. Find out more about the Festival, including links to programme and ticketing details.

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