Parent/Child Workshop Agenda

Larger and Smaller (2.5 hours)
In the Hall of Doors, Alice finds a small door that leads to an incredible garden. Wishing she were smaller so that she could fit through the door, she finds a special drink that makes her shrink to a size of ten inches tall! When Alice realizes that she is too small, she decides to eat a special cake that makes her grow to nine feet tall. Throughout her adventures, Alice shrinks and grows many times. In fact, at one point she can see eye-to-eye with a caterpillar.

In the following activities, children and their parents will use measurement and mathematics to experience scale and proportion. Please note, an optional parental development session will require two facilitators.

Activity Time (Minutes)
Reaching the Key Activity 20
Introduction 10
Larger and Smaller Activity 30
Book Search 15
Shrinking and Growing Activity (children)
Who Is a scientist? (adults) 		20
Which Alice? Relay Race 10
Caterpillar Building 30
Caterpillar Relay 10
Conclusion 5

Reaching the Key Activity (As participants arrive, parent/child pairs)

This activity can be done on a drop-in basis until all the families arrive. Parent/child pairs build freestanding structures with one sheet of card stock, 10 paper clips and a pair of scissors. This structure will help "tiny" Alice reach the key on the "giant" table.

Use the activity entitled Reaching the Key from this site or on page 10 of the Family Science Night Activity Guide.

You will need the following materials for each pair:

  • 1 piece of cardstock, 8.5" x 11"
  • 10 paper clips
  • scissors
  • a key placed on top of a tall table

Introduction (Everyone in a circle)

After everyone has arrived, participants and facilitators introduce themselves to the rest of the group. Introduce the story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, thinking about all the times Alice grows and shrinks. Give the participants a brief overview of the activities for the day.

Larger and Smaller Activity

This activity encourages children to think about size, measurement, proportion and scale by measuring and comparing the length of different parts of their bodies. Using the various measurements, children will learn how to record and compare data, drawing conclusions about the group.

Use the activity entitled Larger and Smaller from this site or on on page 11 of the Family Science Night Activity Guide.

You will need the following materials:

  • adding machine tape
  • markers or pencils
  • tape measures
  • chart paper
  • Post-it ™ square and rectangular notepads

Book search (Sitting in circle, parent/child pairs)

Pass out many different versions of the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Ask participants to look through the books to find Alice in many different sizes. Encourage children to share the pictures they have discovered with the group. You might ask "What other object is as big as Alice in the picture you are sharing with the group?"

Shrinking and Growing Activity (Children or parent/child pairs)

This activity encourages children to think about issues of scale, proportion and size. After tracing a 5-inch tall character from the story onto plastic, children predict what might happen if the plastic is heated in an oven and then observe the results.

Use the activity entitled Shrinking and Growing from this site or on page 12 of the Family Science Night Activity Guide.

You will need the following materials:

  • #6 recyclable plastic (approx. 5 inches square)
  • pre-printed illustrations of Alice, the White Rabbit, and the Dormouse
  • permanent markers
  • scissors
  • rulers
  • calipers to measure the thickness of the plastic
  • toaster over
  • oven mitts
  • baking sheet
  • aluminum Foil
  • spatula

Optional Parent Activity: Who Is a scientist?

The following activity can be conducted simultaneously to provide a brief parental development session. If you opt to skip this session, conduct the activity above with both parents and children.

This activity helps parents to think about the stereotypes that are associated with "science" and "scientist." Drawings of scientists by parents can be a springboard for talking about careers in science and encouraging science for boys and girls of all backgrounds every day, in and around the home.

You will need:

  • markers or colored pencils
  • paper

Which Alice? Relay Race (Teams of four, mixed adults and kids)

This team race will challenge children and adults to utilize their newly gained skills with increasing and decreasing scale. As participants run to the pile of various sized Alices, they must use their critical thinking skills to choose the Alice that is "x" times larger than the small Alice they are holding.

Use the activity entitled Which Alice? Relay Race from this site or on Relay Race page of the Activity Guide.

You will need the following materials for each team:

  • 5 different sizes of Alice - Using the Alice template provided in the activity copy Alice at ½, 2, 3, and 4 times size.

Caterpillar Building (Parent/child pairs)

Using a tiny model, measuring tapes, recycled materials and a wonderful sense of imagination, participants create a giant-sized version, to scale, of a tiny caterpillar.

Use the activity entitled The Incredible Growing Caterpillar from this site or on page 4 of the Teacher Curriculum.

  • Create a small, 3-D version of the caterpillar picture shown in the instructions using pom-poms, pipe cleaners, and wiggly eyes. Show this as you introduce the activity. It can be very helpful as children begin to think about scale and proportion for them to compare the smaller version to the larger version.
  • After each pair has completed their giant caterpillar, share them with the group. Encourage the children and adults to share how they think they were using math and/or science.

You will need the following materials for this activity:

  • rulers and tape measures
  • paper clips
  • trash bags or grocery bags
  • string or tape
  • old newspapers
  • optional: paper plates, paper cups, balloons

Caterpillar Relay (Adults vs. kids)

This fun and easy team relay race will leave your participants full of energy and excited about the workshop. As they stand one behind the other with each person's hands on the hips or shoulders of the person in front of them, the human caterpillar tries to maneuver between various obstacles.

Use the activity entitled Caterpillar Relay on this website or on Relay Race page of the Activity Section.

You will need the following materials for each team:

  • 5 obstacles (i.e. cones, dots, "mushrooms")

Conclusion (Adults and kids in a circle)

Encourage participants to reflect on their time spent with you. Invite each person to share one thing they found out during the course of the workshop or to share their favorite part of the day.