Discovery Zone
Event details
Join us for some family fun as we spark children’s imaginations with a range of hands-on, interactive activities. Step back in time to discover the remains of ancient villages, decorate a brain hat and have fun with numbers. Or maybe find out some fascinating facts about British animals or try on VR goggles?
Come along and meet York researchers and find out how their cutting-edge work is improving the world we live in.
Activities include:
Animal Bones in Archaeology
Welcome to the amazing world of *zoo*archaeology. Learn about the anatomy of the animal skeleton and find out some fun facts about British animals, including their habitats and the history of their introduction to the British Isles. Can you put sheep bones into a skeleton like a 3D jigsaw puzzle? Are you able to identify which animal a skull belongs to? Come along and find out.
Fresh Air, Fresh Roots
Step into our hands-on 'miniature room' to explore the air around us. Try raising CO₂ with just your breath and a straw, track your score, and discover why air quality matters and how small actions at home can help.
Fun with Numbers
How good is your number sense? Does the language you speak influence your number skills? Why are fractions so hard? Come and try some hands-on activities with researchers from the Numerical Cognition Lab at the University of York’s Department of Psychology. Find out the answer to these questions and more!
How Scientists Use Light to Detect Disease
Our bodies hide clues about our health in snot, tears, sweat and blood. Find out how scientists from the Universities of York, Strathclyde, and Cambridge are working together to build new machines that use light to detect disease faster, cheaper and more effectively than ever before. Discover how we make biosensors from gold, make them tiny and use special cameras to take pictures with more colours than our eyes can see.
Life on the Lakeshore: Plants in prehistory
Step back in time to discover the remains of ancient villages dotted along the shores of the Alpine lakes. Over 5000 years ago, prehistoric people lived above water in small wooden houses, harvesting, collecting and cooking many different plants. In this hands-on activity, follow the steps of an archaeologist analysing ancient plants to explore how villagers used plants for food, shelter and more.
Medieval Mediterranean: Cuisines and cultures
Explore the intersection of food and culture in Iberia during the Medieval Period. Learn how we use ancient animal DNA, stable isotopes, food residues on pottery and ancient plant remains in archaeological studies. Medieval Spain was home to people from many different cultures – follow the clues to find out how these people were living, eating and trading together.
Psych!York
Look out for activities including VR goggles, optical illusions, brain-hat decoration and build-your-own-neuron kits. This is your chance to learn more about psychological research and discoveries being made at York.
Rats!
Can you become a rat researcher? The RATTUS project looks at how and when rats reached Europe and what that can tell us about how people moved around. Join us and learn how the RATTUS team use a range of different bioarchaeological techniques to analyse these archaeological rats. Have a go at identifying rats and use various archaeological methods - from ancient DNA to isotope analysis - to gather more information about them.
What Kind of Archaeologist Are You?
How good are you at matching archaeological items to the places they were found? Try out this and other interactive games showcasing different aspects of archaeology. Don’t forget to take home a sticker of your favourite kind of archaeology.
Image credit: Alex Holland, University of York
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