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Open doors with the mouse 2024: Exciting day for children at the IFUM Open Day

Open doors with the mouse 2024: Exciting day for children at the IFUM Open Day

On October 3, 2024, the IFUM and IFW opened their doors to children as part of the “Doors open with the mouse” campaign under the motto “Doing it together”. Together, the two institutes and the CRC 1153 showed how recycling and collaboration can go hand in hand - in a fun and educational way.

With aluminum chips to the horse's head

The journey began for the young visitors at the IFW, where they were able to see how aluminum chips are produced during drilling. They took these chips to the IFUM, where the next step followed: Here, the chips were pressed, sintered and finally forged into a horse's head.

In addition to the forging process, there were other exciting stations. At the IFW, the children were able to experience how pendants are engraved with a laser. The young guests were able to take these pendants home with them as souvenirs.

The IFUM continued the theme of “Doing things together” in a creative way: various materials and joining techniques were used to create the mascot “MUFI”, a jumping jack. Here, the children learned how important the interplay of materials and joining techniques is in order to create something new.

Stamping coins and “mousey” surprise

Another IFUM highlight was the coin stamping process, where the children were able to stamp their own coin. But the biggest surprise was waiting at lunchtime: the mouse himself came to visit. The report about the exciting day is now available in the ARD media library (from 17min:44s)!

A total of 50 children took part in this eventful day and were able to gain exciting insights into the world of research and technology. A big thank you goes to the IFW and to my dedicated colleagues at the IFUM: Julian, Konrad, Umut, Kimia, Lars, Kai and Janina, who made this day possible with a lot of motivation and commitment.

Published by René Laeger und Sonja Siring