Seth at Patrick Engineering

Seth got to go to work with me on April 25th, Take Your Sons & Daughters to Work Day. We had a great day together. During our drive to work, Seth paid a lot of attention to the other cars and trucks on the highway and let me know whenever we passed someone or if he wanted me to catch up with a car.

Once at work, Seth met the other 5 people in our office and then we started on some projects we planned for Seth that were related to engineering.

The first was a 4-Wheeled Balloon Car. This involved making our own car that was powered by air from a balloon. It was made using a water bottle for the body, straws and bbq skewers for the axles, Life Savers for the wheels (held on with sponge pieces) and a balloon. Seth blew the balloon up then let the air escape, which propelled the car forward (although slowly).

Photo taken at home that evening

 The second project was a Gum Drop Dome. Seth made this with gum drops and toothpicks. First he made a base with 5 sides, then added toothpicks to form triangles up from the base. He made sure to  arrange the whole structure into triangles so that the dome was sturdy and strong.

Dome head

The finished gum drop dome

For lunch, my co-workers and we went to Rooster's. Seth liked the mini corn dogs, but didn't like waiting for the food :) When we arrived back at work, my co-worker Becky brought in a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for dessert!
After lunch we made another fun project - a Hoop Glider. This one was really simple, with just a straw and paper. It glided through the air with ease. One of the engineers in my office then made a paper airplane to race the glider. They both won several times.

Seth then took a "work break" to work on his homework from school. One of the problems involved making a graph of birth months of friends and family. He asked everyone in the office for their birth month and noted them on the graph.

Seth spent a lot of the afternoon reading 2 books to my co-workers and playing with the hoop glider, paper airplane and gum drop dome (he made it into a ball by adding more toothpicks and a gum drop). Everyone at Patrick Engineering was happy to have Seth in the office with us. He was a lot of fun and said when he grows up, he might want to work where Mommy works.

Seth with the finished projects