BASF Kids' Lab brings magic of chemistry to children in Thailand

• Fun, safe experiments help kids investigate ways to tackle global challenges
  
• Kids learn how to keep food safe and protect skin from UV light
  
• Free chemistry educational program led by BASF employee volunteers and university student volunteers

Bangkok, Thailand – August 11, 2016 – BASF, the world’s leading chemical company, is once again contributing to science education for kids in Thailand at the annual BASF Kids’ Lab program. This year’s sessions will be held at the Science Faculty of the King’s Mongkut Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) on August 16-17, 2016 during the university’s science week. Children aged 6-12 will learn about chemistry in a fun, interesting and tangible way through simple, interactive and hands-on experiments. Six sessions of the “Keep Cool” experiments on August 16, 2016 and six sessions of “Skin Loves Sun” experiments on August 17, 2016 will be led and facilitated by trained BASF volunteer staff and chemistry students from KMITL.

“BASF Kids’ Lab is designed to bring an interactive science learning experience to children through safe, hands-on experiments. Experiments like ‘Keep Cool’ spark children’s interest in topics like temperature and thermal conductivity, and the ‘Skin Loves Sun’ experiment can help children understand how ultraviolet light damages our skin. In this way they can learn about the role chemistry plays in finding solutions in daily life, said Mr. Petrus Ng, BASF Managing Director of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. 

BASF Kids’ Lab is a free, interactive chemistry educational program for school children from 6 to 12 years old. First launched at its headquarters in 1997 in Germany, the program has been rolled out to 14 countries in Asia Pacific since 2002. To date, more than 8,000 children from primary schools across Thailand have experienced hands-on experiments at BASF Kids’ Lab.

“Keep Cool” experiment
How can we keep food and drink chilled – and therefore safe – for a longer time? With a focus the global challenge of food loss and spoilage, in the “Keep Cool” experiment kids can learn how food refrigeration helps tackle this issue. They will investigate which materials keep warm things warm and cold things cold.

“Skin Loves Sun” experiment
In the “Skin Loves Sun” experiment, kids will learn about ultraviolet (UV) light and will have the opportunity make their own sunscreen by mixing various ingredients. They also will test the effectiveness of the final sunscreen product in filtering UV light by using a UV detector. This experiment helps kids visualize the effect of UV light and raises their awareness on the potential of UV damage to the skin.

About BASF in Thailand
BASF has been operating in Thailand for 50 years. With 652 employees in Thailand as of December 31, 2015, BASF offers products to customers in Thailand including crop protection, automotive catalysts, construction chemicals, coatings, care chemicals, nutrition and health ingredients, industrial chemicals, performance polymers, polyurethanes, and performance chemicals. BASF maintains a head office in Bangkok, along with three production sites around the country and a technical lab in Bangkok. BASF sales to customers in Thailand in 2015 were approximately €447 million. Further information on BASF in Thailand is available at basf.com/th

About BASF
At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The approximately 112,000 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 five segments: Chemicals, Performance Products, Functional Materials & Solutions, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. BASF generated sales of more than €70 billion in 2015. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information at www.basf.com.