Chasing Fireflies

Chased some fireflies around the backyard with the boys tonight. Josh (8y) asked "How do they glow?", naturally. We came inside and found a couple of short sweet videos on luciferin and luciferase, which are partly responsible for the firefly's bioluminescence.

Then we found this one with models of the enzyme's skeleton and everything. I watched it thinking "YAWN!" but Josh found it very interes...ting. He then asked, "So an enzyme is a protein?" Why yes, it is. It is a special kind of protein which acts as a catalyst in chemical reactions, meaning it speeds them up.

Science lesson- check. Amount of this information I knew before he asked these questions- absolutely zero.

You don't need to be a genius to facilitate your child's learning, you just need to be willing to learn alongside them.