International Bath Day
Learn some fun facts during bath-time on #InternationalBathDay
14 June is International Bath Day, a day created to realise that bath-time is the perfect time to discover and learn.
With just a few bath toys or simple plastic cups, your children will immediately start testing the waves of their water laboratory, and, before you know it, they will become little scientists with fresh new bath-time discoveries!
Legend has it that the Greek mathematician, scientist and scholar, Archimedes, made a great discovery on this day. While taking a bath, he saw that an object’s volume could be accurately measured by being submerged in water. Unable to contain his excitement, he jumped out of the bathtub, and ran through the streets of Syracuse, Greece while shouting, “Eureka! Eureka!”
Since Archimedes’ exact date of birth is not known (only the year he was born in – 287 BC), 14 June was chosen to commemorate this discovery. Now, you may ask how this date was determined, and the answer is quite easy. The ancient Greek legend says that it was exactly one week before the start of summer when the discovery was made, and in those days, the calendar was astronomical. This means that the seasons were determined by the 23,5 degree tilt of the Earth’s rotational axis in relation to its orbit around the Sun. But, what does this mean? It means that (then and today), Summer began on 21 June. A week before that is 14 June – and that is how the date was set.
To celebrate today, begin by filling up a lovely bath for your children. Make bath-time fun and full of discovery by encouraging them to learn the basic properties of physics, such as empty versus full, floating, sinking, weight and cause and effect, all while having loads of fun!
Use #InternationalBathDay to post on social media.
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