The morning kicked of with a fun filled science show. Learners had a chance to test their knowledge of the Bafana Bafana team. Boitumelo Pitsi and Punleng Tsie explained the importance of nutrition, vibrations of the vuvuzela and the shapes in a soccer ball to the learners.

Puleng Tsie and Godfrey Kgatle from Sci-Enza, discovering the science of soccer with a young soccer fan.	Thina helping a Grade 5 learner dicover the geography of the countries in the FIFA 2010 wold cup.

With soccer fever almost tangible in the air, most South Africans know about the Diski dance, a uniquely South African dance based on soccer moves. The learners had the opportunity to discover the science behind this rhythmic truly African dance. The muscles and joints of the human body used to do the Diski, were shown to the learners by Vusani Mathada. Dineo Makala, a Sci-Enza intern said: “Even though the kids new the Diski dance, they did not understand where it comes from or its relation to soccer. It was nice to help them understand that you are pretending to do soccer moves while you dance the Diski.”

The group of learners from Bajabulile Primary School with their origami paper soccer shirts
	Vusani pointing out the joints of the Diski dance to learners.

Thina Msomi took the learners on a virtual journey to all the competing countries. At each stop the learners would get to know the country’s flag and an interesting geographical fact. “Did you know that the Ghanaians dye their chickens pink to protect them from predators?
It was a great experience to let the children discover geography beyond the boundaries of South Africa” said Thina.

Boitumelo Pitsi, one of the presenters from Sci-Enza said: “It was surprising to see how little kids new about the countries competing in the world cup or our own Bafana players. But the great thing was that we could all better our knowledge during the day!”

Another highlight of the day was the Bafana Bafana soccer shirt folding. Paper folding oragami skills were put to the test when every learner had the opportunity to fold their own soccer shirt from an A4 sheet of paper. Thabiso Mogoatlhe another Sci-Enza intern said: “The activity gave us the chance to bond with the children while we helped them to fold the shirt. They were so proud to see their own name on the famous yellow soccer shirt!

The day was part of Sci-Enza’s ever popular Science is Fun holiday programme. The holiday programme is usually hosted Sci-Enza on the main UP campus during school holidays, but due to the FIFA world cup, Sci-Enza decided to present the programme in Mamelodi as part of the science centre’s community engagement activities.

Young Bafana supporters with their soccer shirts.