Be the daddy of all scientific discoveries
LISA SALMON catches up with stay-at-home dad Sergei Urban, to discover how to wow kids with some eye-popping experiments
STAY-AT-HOME dad Sergei Urban doesn’t have a problem entertaining his kids. Despite having no background in science or arts and crafts, the former economist enjoys creative play so much with his sons Max, aged four, and Alex, six, that he’s made a career of sharing them with other parents through TheDadLab.
With more than three million fans across TheDadLab’s social media channels, Sergei has quickly become an online sensation because of the way he uses everyday household items like ketchup, string, balloons and paperclips to wow kids with the amazing forces of natural science – from pouring water sideways to standing on eggs without them breaking.
He says: “I created TheDadLab to share creative projects that we do at home with as many parents as possible, to inspire them to spend more quality time with their kids and to develop a thirst for knowledge and understanding in those curious little minds.”
And now the playful dad has widened his audience by detailing his easy experiments in TheDadLab book (Blink Publishing, £14.99), which aims to help parents introduce simple science to their children at an early age.
The new book features 40 projects, with a simple description, and information for parents to help explain to their child how and why the project works.
Sergei says none of the activities require any special equipment or skills.
Here are three of his favourite experiments to try out.