Children learned to make rockets, freeze fruit and design body parts at the launch of Oxfordshire’s first science festival.

Hundreds of people tried their hands at experiments at the event in Bonn Square, Oxford, on Saturday.

Representatives of 15 organisations set up stalls to show passers-by how science could be fun.

Crowds watched Tash Verniquet, of Science Oxford, perform a show every hour featuring a sodium bicarbonate-powered rocket and an explosion caused by mixing mints and cola drinks.

Annabel Cook, of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, in Old Road, Headington, showed visitors how to extract DNA from strawberries using alcohol and salt.

She said: “The people who are here today are the next generation, so it’s really important. It’s about making science fun and accessible.

“It’s not all about lab coats and using expensive equipment — you can do this in your own house.”

Bob Joiner, education co-ordinator for Cotswold Wildlife Park, said: “We’re trying to convince people there’s science behind zoos.”

Melanie Windridge, of Culham Science Centre, demonstrated how to shrink balloons and instantly freeze fruit by dipping it into liquid nitrogen at -196C.

She said: “The children especially enjoyed it. It’s always impressive to see.”

Visitor Anna Freestone, 39, said: “It’s really good, especially when it’s so interactive. It makes it much more interesting for children.”

Her nine-year-old son William added: “I have been enjoying myself. I don’t really like science at school but I do like maths.”

Oxford University zoology researcher Teddy Wilkin, 36, from Cowley, took his daughter Emilia, two, to the festival.

He said: “It’s excellent to have hands-on stuff for children at this age.

“I think anything that brings science to the public is worthwhile, because there’s often quite a gap between what’s being found by scientists and what the public believe.”

Paul Cooper, from Mollington, near Banbury, said: “Sometimes science can seem a bit dry but you can get them enjoying themselves and making it look fun.

”Making things go bang and making them fly around catches the kids’ attention.”

His daughter Anna, seven, said: “I made a modelling clay body and putting in a heart and bones and brains.

”I had a lot of fun.”

The festival will see 58 different events take place in the county over the next fortnight.

For more information, see oxfordshiresciencefestival.co.uk