WHY wasn’t school this fun?

The only drawback of the sell-out Kent Festival of Science was there was just too much to see.

The two-day festival, held at Simon Langton Boys’ School in Canterbury, aimed to get children excited about science.

It was sponsored by Pfizer and has been running annually for more than 10 years.

Each generation needs doctors, engineers, conservationists and the like, and the festival hopes to provide the spark to turn children on to the wonders and rewards a life in science can bring.

And talking of wonders, here’s some of what my two young children and I got to do, see and learn:

Solve the Crime – there’s a dead body and a possible murder to investigate. Truthfully, after taking fingerprints, casts of tyre tracks, examining blood splatters and roughing up witnesses (only joking), we were none the wiser – CSI Canterbury will have to wait.

The Creepy Crawly Man – where we stroked tarantulas, snakes and tortoises.

Floating and Sinking – does a staple float? No, but it will if you use a tissue to help lie it on the meniscus (a skin-like curve on the surface of the water).

The Big G – gravity, a weighty subject that brings you down, but after watching a glass full of lemonade spin without spilling and after learning how to use the force to win a pound off your friends (stand them with their back and feet against a wall and bet them they can’t bend down and pick the coin up without falling), we were hugely entertained and a little more knowledgeable about the Big G.

And here’s what a throng of children battling excitement-exhaustion told me I had missed as they streamed out at the end of the day:

A Magic Circle magician with tricks based on science; fascinating falconry with the birdman of Eagle Heights; and exploding pipes and cucumbers… not for parents of a nervous disposition.