It’s no secret that I am somewhat of a crafty diva. I also love to bake, thanks to growing up with my mother, who is an extraordinary baker. So, I was totally tickled when I came across two projects that incorporated science into crafts and baking. They’re both on the very fun and funny site Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. Both projects include step-by-step instructions complete with photos. This makes them easy for you to try at home or incorporate in educational activities.

First up are fractal cookies, which are based on the Sierpinski carpet. Fair warning - don’t click that link if you’re hungry!

Second, on the crafty side we have another version of the Sierpinksi fractal, this time executed in fimo . The end result is beautiful Sierpinksi triangle earrings although I bet you could also create a very cool necklace using several of the different iterations.

I think these projects on the Evil Mad Scientist site perfectly illustrate some of the suggestions from our January webcast. Sadly, the audio of the webcast was lost but you can still see our fabulous slides here. One of the topics we covered in the webcast was “Using Blogs to Encourage Girls Towards Science Careers” and one advantage of blogs is that they can “help us meet girls where they’re at.” If you’re working with girls who are interested in crafts or baking these projects could help spark their interest in science. The same principle applies to the Cosmetic Chemistry program I wrote about earlier. And yes, I know that I’ve given three traditionally “girly” examples here. What can I say…I like to cook and do crafts so that’s what caught my eye – it’s where I’m at! I’m on the look-out for other projects that can help with “meeting girls where they’re at” and hopefully we’ll feature more cool things here at FairerScience.