Workshops

Holiday workshops: Cosmetic chemistry (Year 5 and 6)

Students get hands-on making their own bath bombs and lip balm, all whilst learning the fundamentals of pH, chemical reactions and states of matter.

Image credit: Tim Mitchell

Students get hands-on making their own bath bombs and lip balm.

In the morning, students will investigate neutralisation and the pH scale, and how that knowledge can be used to make the best bath bombs. In the afternoon, they will gain an understanding of states of matter by making their own lip balm.

This workshop takes place in the Urenco Young Scientist Centre’s teaching laboratory, offering students a unique opportunity to experience working in a real lab environment. For safety reasons, all participants must wear closed-toe shoes, and anyone with long hair is required to tie it back.

Warning: this workshop contains some strong smells.

For children who have just completed Years 5 or 6 this term - please book based on your child’s current/most recent school year, not their new year group from September. This typically corresponds to children aged around 9–11 years old. We reserve the right to refund or deny entry to those who are not in the correct year group.

This workshop will include a 30 minute supervised lunch break. Students should bring their own lunch and a drink. 

Refunds can only be issued for tickets cancelled at least two weeks (14 calendar days) in advance of the event date. Please note that this supersedes our normal event terms and conditions. Please also note that Eventbrite adds a small booking fee to the amount paid for each ticket option.

About our workshops

Holiday workshops at the Royal Institution give students a hands-on experience of STEM topics (science, technology, engineering, maths) beyond what they learn at school. Working in groups or pairs, students will get hands-on to complete activities, challenges or projects which help them look deeper at the subject they are exploring. These workshops don’t follow the school curriculum but instead show students the many real world uses of STEM topics, expanding their horizons beyond the classroom to see the amazing possibilities science can give you. Sessions are led by experts from across industry and academia who will share with the students their excitement and knowledge of their areas of expertise.

For any queries regarding this workshop please email events@ri.ac.uk.

Event terms and conditions