POP-UP KITCHEN USES S’MORES, MORE TO TEACH SCIENCE
An experience that entices children to take interest in STEM with 3D-printed s’mores and candy “flavor explosions” is popping up in Downtown at the Gardens this weekend.
Sue’s Tech Kitchen opens today in a space below the Cobb Theatre, next to Hot Yoga Downtown, and continues through Sunday.
It’s especially popular among the 6- to 12-year-old set, general manager Steve Anderson said, although teens often enjoy seeing an edible application of a technology they’re learning about in their classes, and younger children like to take in all the sights and smells.
“We found that people of all ages find something to have fun with here,” Anderson said.
A 3D printer that produces the Sue’s Tech Kitchen logo in liquid chocolate on graham crackers for s’mores is among the experience’s most exciting attractions. In other settings, users can program the printer to make pizza or chocolate.
An activity involving deep-frozen cereal balls and liquid nitrogen teaches children about the differences between liquid nitrogen — which reaches a boiling point at minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit — and water (boiling point 212 degrees Fahrenheit).
A candy lab teaches children about chemistry concepts such as acid-based reactions or “flavor explosions” that taste differently depending on how the ingredients are mixed. That uncertainty creates some excitement and an opportunity to learn about acids and bases.
Kids can make candy bracelets that teach them about computer coding and also tinker with a candy-dropping drone.
Backdrops allow visitors to commemorate the experience on Instagram.
Randi Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media, founded Sue’s Tech Kitchen with tech experts, engineers and scientists to pique the interest of kids who otherwise wouldn’t have much interest or exposure to science, technology, engineering or math.
Zuckerberg, who has myriad accomplishments of her own, also is the sister of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Sue’s Tech Kitchen tickets are $8 per person; children younger than 2 years old are free. Participants can arrive any time during their reserved half-hour time slots and stay for as long as they want. While they wait their turn, Google Cardboard virtual reality goggles transport children to a stage for a song in the Broadway musical “Once On This Island.”
Palm Beach Gardens is the fifth of nine cities on Sue’s Tech Kitchen’s nationwide tour. Previous stops include Chattanooga, Tennessee; New York City; Jackson, Mississippi; and Cedar Park, Texas.