Families can learn about how their bodies work at All About You, writes NATASHA VERNIQUET

Hands On Science Gallery is celebrating You' this summer with activities all about the human body. All About You provides a fun, learning environment where parents and children, who are naturally curious about themselves and their bodies, can learn and play together to find out how their bodies work and what makes them who they are.

Did you know, for example, that there are as many hairs per square inch on a person's body as on a chimpanzee's? It's just that on a human body you don't see all of the hairs because most are too fine and too light to be noticed.

Children will be able to fill out their own personal passport by completing a series of activities, ranging from looking at their hair under a microscope and determining what type they have, to figuring out illusions that fool our brains.

All About You will be launched on July 19 at 2pm with a special Meet the Scientist session, where children will find out quirky facts about their bodies and have the opportunity to ask important questions such as why do we have eyebrows or why is poo brown?

Children benefit from seeing science and scientists in an everyday context. There is a tendency for scientists to be stereotyped as balding men with white hair and lab coats. Hopefully, the Meet the Scientist sessions will show children that scientists come in all shapes and sizes.

This session is particularly exciting because the children get to be directly involved in the discussion with scientists by asking questions and the stranger the better.

In addition to the All About You exhibition, Hands On has a range of permanent exhibits that focus on concepts from magnetism to light and sound.

Hands On promotes the excitement of science by running activities that encourage children to learn through play. They can operate a digger arm using hydraulics, create an aerodynamic train in a wind tunnel and, the most popular of all, take a picture' of their shadow.

Even though Hands On is aimed at five to 12-year-olds, science is an area that is so deeply involved in our everyday lives that anyone can enjoy the activities on offer.

Natasha Verniquet is Hands On science gallery co-ordinator at Science Oxford. Science Matters is co-ordinated by Science Oxford.

Science Oxford is at 1-4 London Place, St Clements. For information call 01865 728953, or visit www.oxtrust.org.uk