Drop by NanoFest's Festival Hub every day for an engaging selection of free, hands-on science for the whole whānau. The Festival Hub is in the Wall St Mall, 211 George St.

We'll have stalls from local science and conservation organisations where you'll be able to get creative with light and sound, experiment with plants, examine bugs through a microscope, and get your favourite rock identified.

Find out more about the creatures we share our landscape with (and why some of them are considered pests), test your sensitivity to cold and see how healthy your heart is. Let the kids get creative with our ever-popular big blue Imagination Playground while parents peruse the BioEconomy Institute’s exhibition celebrating 100 years of science and its practical applications.

Watch our visiting artist Sione Faletau create an artwork over the course of the festival using local data and materials!

There will be something different every day!

Every Day in the Hub:

• Imagination Playground - Our big blue blocks of creativity!

• Exhibition - Science Working for NZ - 100 years and counting

• Ongo mei he fonua: Sounds from the land - get involved with using environmental data to make art using sound, light and sculpture.

• Citizen Science Project Discovery Table - learn how YOU can get involved in Science in your backyard

• DOC Coastal Otago Presents: All things Conservation! - Sealions, lizards, albatross and more!

• Ask Dr Rock! to identify your favourite rock..

• OPERA shares their passion for Preserving Nature’s Song

And then a variety of other drop-in stalls and workshops every day....

Wednesday 15th July

Workshop: Space Art, Explore, Create Learn! Drop-in, free

Drop-in tables:

• Town Belt Kaitiaki presents - Bugs in the Grass

• From Plant to Plate: Biochemistry of Plants and Flavour

• How Sensitive are You to Cold?

• Tūhura Otago Museum/The MacDiarmid Institute Pop-up

• Open Valley Urban Ecosanctuary

• Orokonui Eco Explorers

• Gadgets for Good: How Tech is Helping Create a Predator Free Dunedin

• The Science Behind Your Food

• Unexpected Physics   

Thursday 16th July

Workshops: Chain Reactions!! Booking Required, $5pp

• Ask a Wikimedian

• From Plant to Plate: Biochemistry of Plants and Flavour

• How Sensitive are You to Cold?

• Tūhura Otago Museum/The MacDiarmid Institute Pop-up

• Orokonui Eco Explorers

• The Science Behind Your Food

• Unexpected Physics   

Friday 17th July

Workshop: Build a Rocket with Wonder Project! Drop-in, Free

• Heart Hub

• From Plant to Plate: Biochemistry of Plants and Flavour

• Pest Management in Otago

• Pest Plant or Just a Weed

• Tūhura Otago Museum/The MacDiarmid Institute Pop-up

• Orokonui Eco Explorers

• The Science Behind Your Food

• Unexpected Physics   

Saturday 18th July

Workshops: Intergalactic Bath Bombs! Booking Essential, $15

• Otago Entomology - Getting Bzzzy With Bugs!

• Otepoti Magnetic Leaves Bioblitz Follow-up

• Making Waves with Te Wāhi Auaha – Sound, Light and Electronic Experiments from the Scrap Heap

• Pepeketua of Aotearoa - NZ Frogs!

• Rocks for Tots!

• Pest Management in Otago

• Pest Plant or Just a Weed

• Open Valley Urban Ecosanctuary

Sunday 19th July

Workshops: Intergalactic Bath Bombs! Booking Essential, $15

• Otago Entomology - Getting Bzzzy With Bugs!

• Repair Cafe

• Open Valley Urban Ecosanctuary

And nearby, in the Golden Centre and Meridian Malls we have...

• Currents of Aotearoa - daily workshops

• Build a Computer! - daily workshops

• Science Alive! Antarctica Film - daily shows

• Science Alive! Solar System Exploration - daily shows

See you there!!