Chapter 4: The Adventure Kit
The Lab Coat Coloring Page
"Safety first! Suiting up for science."
Curious Bunny putting on a lab coat that is slightly too big.
About this page
Curious Bunny wriggles into a lab coat with sleeves that flop past the paws, and the too-big fit is the sweetest part of the drawing. Kids trying on grown-up roles always start a little swallowed by them. The lesson underneath the humor is that scientists prepare their bodies as well as their brains, and suiting up is how you tell yourself the careful work is starting. Safety habits like this make hands-on discovery possible, which is the whole promise of screen-free STEM play. Growing into the coat is the fun part, and this page says every scientist starts out a size too small.
The research skill
Curious Bunny wears two pieces of gear here: safety goggles and a lab coat. The skill behind them is thinking about risks before an experiment starts. Researchers ask what could splash, spill, break, or get hot, and then choose protection to match. Goggles guard eyes, while a coat guards clothes and skin. Chapter 4 treats safety as part of the plan rather than an afterthought. Children meet this again in school science labs, where students are expected to name the hazards and put on goggles before mixing anything.
Try it at home
Do a safety check before a simple fizz experiment: a spoonful of baking soda in a cup, plus a splash of vinegar (with an adult). Before starting, walk through three questions together: What could splash? What could spill? Where should we stand? Let your child pick the gear, such as swim goggles or sunglasses for eyes, an old shirt as a lab coat, and a tray under the cup. Then run the fizz and talk about whether the safety plan worked.
Talk about it while you color
- Why do you think scientists wear special coats when they experiment?
- What do you put on to get ready for something, like sports or painting?
- How do you think Curious Bunny feels wearing that big coat?