Melbourne kids to have their ‘ion’ science at BASF Kids’ Lab

•  500 Melbourne primary students will become scientists for a day at Monash University’s Clayton campus from November 6 – 8
  
• Kids’ Lab program allows children to get hands-on with chemistry found in their daily life

Melbourne, Australia – October 30, 2019 – BASF, the world’s leading chemical company, will give hundreds of children the opportunity to become scientists for a day in its annual Kids’ Lab program.

Locally organised in partnership with Monash University’s Clayton campus, the program provides primary school children the opportunity to explore the wonders of chemistry in daily life.

Held over three days from November 6 – 8, the children, aged between 6 – 12 from primary schools across Melbourne, will carry out hands-on, safe and colourful experiments under the supervision of scientists from the University.

“It’s great to talk to kids about science but it’s even better to allow them to experience the magic of chemistry for themselves,” said David Hawkins, Chairman and Managing Director, BASF Australia and New Zealand. “To attract young people to pursue a career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) we need to show them how exciting science can be at a young age and expand the traditional view of what a scientist is.”

 At Kids’ Lab children will experiment with:

Paper Chromatography – The chromatographic separation of different felt-tip pen colours.

Superabsorber – The use of super absorber polymers to discover that some chemicals are able to hold several times their weight in water.

Insta Worms – Kids make instant worms and observe the relationship between heat and thermochromic dye, and how polymers are formed.

Magic blue reaction – This experiment introduces the concept of basic oxidation and reduction as a gain or loss of oxygen.

BASF has a laboratory and technical development center for its dispersions and resins business at Monash University’s Clayton campus.

About BASF in Australia and New Zealand

BASF serves key industries in the agriculture, coatings, construction, manufacturing and mining sectors, and posted sales of about €432 million in Australia and New Zealand in 2018. As of the end of 2018, the company had 552 employees and operated 12 production sites across agricultural solutions, performance products and functional materials and solutions. BASF has been active in Australia for more than 90 years, and for about 60 years in New Zealand. Further information is available on the Internet at www.basf.com/au.

About BASF

At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The approximately 122,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into six segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, Surface Technologies, Nutrition & Care and Agricultural Solutions. BASF generated sales of around €63 billion in 2018. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchange in Frankfurt (BAS) and as American Depositary Receipts (BASFY) in the U.S. Further information at www.basf.com.