National trust summer of discovery experiment trail at Woolsthorpe Manor
The childhood home of Isaac Newton, Woolsthorpe Manor, has launched a new experience for families this Summer, welcoming children to explore a love of science, with a new interactive activity trail for kids aged five to ten.
Visitors arriving during the school holidays will be treated to a trail of hands-on experiments, each inspired by Newton’s own discoveries at the property and beyond. The new experiments will include a prism-esque Optics Cabin, a test of gravity at the Tower Drop, an air powered Rocket Launch in the meadow, a Telescope, a raft of swinging Newton’s Cradles and an arty Pendulum experiment, all on top of the property’s existing Science Centre activities.
The property’s wider Summer of Discovery programme of events was launched by space icon, astronaut Tim Peake and will continue throughout the Summer. Woolsthorpe Manor will also play host to incredible space scientist and educator, Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, on Friday 23rd August, (more details to be announced).
Emma Michalak, Operations Manager at National Trust’s Woolsthorpe Manor commented: “Our properties are here for everyone to enjoy - including kids! This is an opportunity to get hands-on with experiments inspired by Newton’s story and what he did here as a child and young man. It’s hands-on, it’s interactive, it’s messy and we hope it’s the start of a lifelong love of science for the kids who visit. It can be easy to think of Newton as a grey haired old man but as a child here he was naughty, his mother despaired of him and he wasn’t top of the class. It was his curiosity to explain why the world and universe works the way it does that saw him make such huge breakthroughs.”
If you can’t visit you will still be able to take part in the Summer of Discovery from home. Inspired by the experiments on-site, families can create their own versions of the activities, including making a water prism, a DIY Newton’s Cradle, an at-home Pendulum and can even hold their own Plastic Bottle Rocket challenge over the holidays. Looking to get stuck in? You can find these Newton-inspired experiments at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/newtons-summer-of-discovery.
Newton famously had his ‘Year of Wonders’ at Woolsthorpe Manor. Forced to return to his childhood home from university during a pandemic in 1665, Newton used the time and space away from his everyday life to explore things he was relentlessly intrigued about. As a result, he made world-changing discoveries about calculus, optics, motion and gravity at the property. However, Newton’s drive to explain the world began much earlier, with post mills he etched onto the walls of the property still visible today and stories of him scaring the locals with his candle-lit lanterns floating across the sky…
Over the years, many visitors have been inspired and moved by their visit to the Manor. British Astronaut, Tim Peake, said “It blows my mind to stand in the spot where Newton’s journey began - his work and his ideas eventually led to me going into space! Being here is a special moment for me - I hope we’ll inspire future scientists, alchemists, astronauts and inventors this Summer!”
The Summer of Discovery experiments launched on property from the 20th July and will run for the whole of the school holidays. For more information, visit: www.nationaltrust.org.uk/newtons-summer-of-discovery.