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Mae Turner, 2, of Highland Park licks her plate Monday during the
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MessFest brings sloppy but scientific fun to the Carnegie Science Center

Nate Guidry/Post-Gazette

MessFest brings sloppy but scientific fun to the Carnegie Science Center

Rule No. 1: Don’t dress up.

Rule No. 2: Follow the plastic-covered carpet.

For the last 11 years, MessFest has been a staple of the Carnegie Science Center, bringing in 3,500 to 4,200 visitors each federally recognized New Year’s Day holiday.

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Getting messy is just part of the learning process for children, according to Maila Jill Rible, marketing communications manager at the science center.

“You’re making a mess, but there really is science behind it,” Ms. Rible said. “We hope these kids go home and wonder about the experiments and continue to take an interest in STEM.”

On the first-floor Science Stage, children climbed to the top of the auditorium to launch an egg down a zip line at a target, hoping their egg’s protective apparatus wouldn’t fall apart.

“It’s like real engineering — you only get a certain number of imaginary dollars and supplies,” said Jocelyn Farrell, an educator at the science center.

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Monica Grunden, 5, and her sister, Leah Grunden, 4, said they built carriers for the eggs that withstood the drop.

“We used two plastic bowls with newspaper and tape,” Monica said. Her mother added that packing peanuts helped soften the egg’s landing.

Not everyone was as lucky as the Grunden sisters, though. Egg yolks littered the stage where carriers failed to protect the eggs in the drop.

From there, a plastic-covered ramp leads to the third floor, where starchy footprints surround plastic baby pools filled with what appears to be pancake batter.

A swarm of children surround each pool of the slippery substance called Oobleck, letting it fall between their small fingers and patting it flat with their palms.

Oobleck is a what is known as a non-Newtonian liquid — it acts like a liquid when poured but behaves like a solid when pressure is applied. If the pools of Oobleck were deep enough, children could even walk on the slippery ooze.

The name comes from the 1949 Dr. Seuss book, “Bartholomew and the Oobleck,” about a king who is bored with rain, sun, fog and snow, so he orders his magicians to come up with something more exciting to fall from the sky. The result is green globs call Oobleck.

At the science center, “Oobleck is essentially corn starch and water,” Ms. Rible said. “It’s kind of like quicksand.”

Kristen Hrinda, a teacher from Erie, said her daughter Abigail, 6, had been playing in the Oobleck for almost 20 minutes.

In addition to that MessFest classic, an annual “Pi-Eating Race” takes place in the fourth-floor Works Theater.

Every two hours, a science center worker in a purple T-shirt warned parents to tie up their children’s long hair.

“You’re just using your mouth and your face to eat the pie … the goal here is to get messy,” he announced over the microphone before asking children to select either vanilla or chocolate pudding “pi.”

At least 40 children surround two long tables at the center of the room, beneath overhead cameras that project onto large screens around the space.

Children compete with their hands held behind their backs, using only their faces to hold their plastic plates in place while slugging down commercial-grade pudding.

Younger children and toddlers sometimes grabbed their plates with their hands in haste but still emerged with a trail of slimy, sticky pudding dripping down their faces.

“Science can be really fun, but it can be really messy,” Ms. Rible said.

Courtney Linder: clinder@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1707. Twitter: @LinderPG.

First Published: January 3, 2017, 5:11 a.m.

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Mae Turner, 2, of Highland Park licks her plate Monday during the "pi-eating contest" during MessFest 2017 at the Carnegie Science Center.  ( Nate Guidry/Post-Gazette)
Kayla Waugaman blows bubbles into a cup during MessFest 2017 at the Carnegie Science Center.  ( Nate Guidry/Post-Gazette)
Anastasia Davis, 10, left, of Ohio Township and her sister Liliana, 9, play with Oobleck, a gooey substance that feels solid when picked up, but then slips through the fingers like a liquid.  ( Nate Guidry/Post-Gazette)
Declan O'Connell, 3, of Franklin Park participates in MessFest 2017 at the Carnegie Science Center.  ( Nate Guidry/Post-Gazette)
Nate Guidry/Post-Gazette
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