It’s the December Quiz. Oh no it isn’t! Oh yes it is! Oh no it isn’t! etc etc Yes it’s panto time! Get festive with ten questions about some of our favourite pantos. With a science twist naturally. Where’s my gluteus maximus? It’s BEHIND you! Get them all right and you’ll go into the draw for 1 of 3 £50 theatre tokens, which should help a lot if you go see your own local panto.

Enter here

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Yes we know we did this one last year – but wasn’t it FUN! So what do you do if it’s not a white Christmas?  Grow your own snowman of course!

You will need

• An adult to help with this
• Cardboard tube from kitchen roll or toilet roll
• Felt tip pen
• Scissors
• Salt
• Teaspoon
• Cup
• Shallow dish or saucer

What to do

1. Draw a snowman outline on one side of the cardboard tube.  (If using a kitchen roll tube cut it in half first so that it’s shorter – after all, who makes a tall thin snowman?)
2. Cut around the outline of the top of the snowman making sure that you leave a thin circle of cardboard at the base of the tube. i.e. leave the base intact so that the snowman is supported but from the front you should see a snowman shape. (Be careful when using scissors)
3. Pour 100ml of warm water into a cup.  (A tablespoon is about 15ml)
4. Add a teaspoonful of salt and stir till dissolved.
5. Continue adding salt in this way until no more will dissolve and you have some salt left at the bottom of the cup. This is known as a saturated solution.
6. Pour the solution into a shallow dish or saucer and stand the snowman in it.
7. The solution should slowly start to rise up the cardboard. Now leave the whole set-up in a safe place for a few days.

What’s going on?

The salt is dissolved in the water to form a saturated solution.  As this solution starts to travel up the cardboard snowman the water evaporates leaving behind salt crystals. In time your snowman will look as if he is glistening! Behold Frosty the Snowman! As more salt solution travels through the cardboard it allows the small salt crystals to grow even bigger.  You may have seen this effect in grow-crystal-tree kits. You could try this experiment with sugar instead of salt.

Now you are such an expert on crystal growing, try making a snowflake.  Twist three pipe cleaners together to make a six-armed star.  You need to tie cotton around one of the arms then suspend it in a jar full of a saturated solution of salt or sugar.  Make sure that your star is fully immersed in the solution but not touching the bottom of the jar. Try adding food colouring to the solution if you’d like a coloured star.  How pretty!

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Remember Issue 57 when we were giving away a cuddly head louse from Giant Microbes?  Stop scratching, everyone! The lucky winner is Helen Clark (10) of Huddersfield. Well done Helen!

And in Issue 58 we were giving away two tickets to see the Polar Express 3D at the IMAX in London.  The winner is Rowan Smith (9) from Banbury, well done Rowan!

So remember – keep entering ‘cos next time it could be you!

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Here’s some jokes to make you groan.  You might find better ones in your Christmas cracker – but we doubt it!

What beats his chest and swings from Christmas cake to Christmas cake?
Tarzipan!

What's beautiful, grey and wears glass slippers?
Cinderellephant!

What did they sing at the snowman's Christmas party?
Freeze a jolly fellow.

Have you got any better ones? Or did you get any good ones in your crackers? Send them in to us at Hay-wire.Clubhouse@nesta.org.uk and put ‘JOKES’ in the subject line.

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