日本語 English

Social Activities

Laboratory Classes on the Wonders of Chemistry

Wonders of Chemistry Copyright©2006-2023 Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Laboratory Classes on the Wonders of Chemistry is one of the activities that the Mitsui Chemicals Group is promoting globally to contribute to society using chemical technology, to coexist with local communities, and to develop the next generation of human resources, in accordance with the Social Activities Policy.

Since 2006, we have organized various types of classes, from off-site classes, whereby members of staff from each of our sites go out to local schools, summer vacation events and festivals, to those held during tours round our works and research centers.

Taking into account the interests and opinions of the participants, the Laboratory Class topics are determined and developed by the Head Office and the Sodegaura Center. Relevant business divisions at the Head Office produce manuals on laboratory content and management and provide support for events organized at various Group sites in Japan and other countries. Additionally, leaflets that encourage children who have participated in laboratory experiments to take a more in-depth look at chemicals used at home have been published in response to external expert recommendations and these are being distributed to participants.

The program has also been registered as a group supporting the Saturday Educational Activities Program sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Delivery Laboratory Classes

In fiscal 2022, we held delivery laboratory classes for the Wonders of Chemistry.

This table is scrollable.

Month of implementationTargetDescription
JuneKobe Junior Chamber of Commerce and Industry sponsored event "Become a Great Doctor of Science! Dive into a World of Wonders!"
(Participants:61 people)
  • Let's classify plastics!
3rd grade students from elementary schools near Sodegaura Center
(Participants :69 students)
  • Will it expand? Shrink? Disappear!?
    Let’s look into the properties of mystery plastics!
August"Dream Challenge Experience School (Science School)" sponsored by the Chiba Prefectural Education Agency
(Participants :9 people)
  • Let's make a freezer!
"Otake Ranran College Summer School" hosted by Otake City Board of Educations
(Participants :37 people)
  • Making shiny slime
[China] Children enrolled in the Hozo Hut
(Participants :30 students)
  • Making slime
OctoberTakaishi Chamber of Commerce and Industry sponsored event "Takaishi Commerce and Industry Festival"
(Participants :158 people)
  • Making sparkling snow globes
  • Touchable soap bubbles
Ichihara Works Autumn Festival
(Participants :approx. 140 people)
  • Let's make a shiny name plate (plastic board)
"Science Festival for Youth 2022" organized by Iwakuni Science Center
(Participants :18 people)
  • Let's make bincho charcoal* batteries!
NovemberCultural festival organized by the Anesaki Community Center
(Participants :60 people)
  • Let's try to adsorb oil!
  • Let's make a shiny name plate (plastic board)
Sodegaura Center Neighborhood Elementary School
(Participants :Sixth grade students (3 times total, about 175 students))
  • Clean water! Let's experiment with mysterious cloths!
  • Let's play with mysterious plastics!
December1st year junior high school students attending a training course organized by the Mobara Rotary Club
(Participants :11 students)
  • Let's try to adsorb oil!
  • Will it expand? Shrink? Disappear!?
    Let's look into the properties of mystery plastics!
(2023) MarchIchihara Works Neighborhood Children's School
Senior kindergarten students
(Participants :30 students)
  • Let's make a shiny name plate (plastic board)

*Bincho charcoal: Charcoal from ubame oak (Quercus phillyraeoides)

Online Laboratory Classes

Since fiscal 2021, we have been conducting a new online style of laboratory classes. The events were well received by the participants, who commented: "While various events were canceled due to COVID-19, I could enjoy it safely from home” and “It was an enlightening experiment."

Event nameTargetDescription

Online Experiment Show

[August 2021]

Children of Mitsui Chemicals Group employeesAn experiment using the Group’s product ABSORTOMER™ was conducted.

Online collaboration workshop event on World Water Day between One-Coin Club (WaterAid Japan) and Wonders of Chemistry for children

[March 2022]

Children of Mitsui Chemicals Group employees and their friends

A workshop event with the theme of water was held in collaboration with WaterAid Japan, an organization supported by One-Coin Club.
An experiment using the Group’s product TAFNEL™ Oil Blotter™ was conducted.

Delivery Laboratory Classes "Become a Great Doctor of Science! Dive into a World of Wonders!" 2022

On Saturday, June 4, 2022, we exhibited an experimental booth at an event called “Become a Great Doctor of Science! Dive into a World of Wonders!” hosted by the Junior Chamber of Commerce Kobe as part of the Osaka Works Wonders of Chemistry. The purpose of this event was to let children experience the depth and breadth of science through science experiments and to cultivate multifaceted perspectives.

 The Group's experiment The Group's experiment

Business site tour by Hozo Hut children - Chemistry and Wonder Laboratory Classes in China

In August 2022, Mitsui Chemicals (China) Management Company Limited (MCCN) organized a tour of MCCN's Technical Center as an out-of-school learning experience for the children of the “Hozo Hut (public service activity)*.” To help children realize that chemistry is something that exists around them, we also held a chemistry laboratory class for the Wonders of Chemistry as part of the tour.

*Hozo Hut (public service activity):

This is a CSR activity in China that donates a portion of the operating costs of facilities that provide supplementary education and out-of-school learning to children of migrant workers who live in the city but do not have the same access to education and welfare as children born and raised in the city. MCCN has supported the facility since 2020.

Activities Activities

Laboratory Classes on the Wonders of Chemistry Experiments

*Experiment titles are subject to change.

Experiment titleDescription
Slime
- Making your own slime
- Making jumbo slime together
- Shiny slime
- Slime ball

FieldPolymer properties

By making "slime" (i.e. cross-linking polyvinyl alcohol with water using borax), participants learn that water can be confined and about the gels around us in our everyday lives
Light experiments with polarizing plate

FieldLight

Participants learn about the passage of light through a kaleidoscope fitted with a polarizing plate that converts natural light into linear light, as used in mobile phones and other such devices
Chromatography art

FieldAdsorption and separation

Participants learn that the ink in a water-based pen contains a mixture of various different colors (pigments)
Plastic board

FieldPolymer properties

Participants learn about the properties and separation of plastics, by using the heat shrinkable properties of polystyrene to make their own original accessories
Let’s make Cartesian divers!

FieldBuoyancy

Participants learn about buoyancy and pressure, by making a Cartesian diver from a PET bottle and a plastic soy sauce container
Let’s investigate the properties of aqueous solutions using red cabbage

FieldAcids and alkalis

Using anthocyanin extracted from red cabbage, participants investigate the properties of everyday liquids and learn about acids and alkalis
Let’s make an air freshener using spongy polymers

FieldPolymer properties

Related Group productsNonwoven fabrics

Participants learn about the principle of water retention, by making an air freshener from a water-absorbing polymer, as used in disposable diapers, gardening supplies and other such products
Let’s make a rainbow tower

FieldSpecific gravity

Participants learn about the specific gravity (relative density) of fluids, by pouring colored waters with varying concentrations together to make a tower
Let's make a freezer!

FieldHeat of solution

Related Group productsUrea

Participants learn about the principle of heat adsorption via the heat of solution of urea, as used in such products as fertilizer and moisturizing cream
Learn how bubble bath works!

FieldReaction of acid and salt

Participants learn about how carbon dioxide is produced, by making bubble bath from baking soda and citric acid
Learn about acid rain!

FieldAcids and alkalis, Oxidation / reduction

Participants learn about acid rain and what causes it, by measuring the pH using red cabbage extract and conducting a bleaching experiment using iodine
Let's make paper!

FieldRecycling / Making paper

Related Group productsAcrylamide

Using everyday implements, participants experience paper recycling from old paper and learn about papermaking and recycling
Let's make small objects from melted plastic!

FieldPolymer properties

Related Group products General thermoplastics

Participants learn about the properties of thermoplastics, which melt when heated, by using a glue gun to melt resin and make small objects
Experience the wonders of shrinking films!

FieldPolymer properties

Related Group productsFilms, PET, etc.

Participants learn about the principle of heat shrinkage, by using shrinkable film to attach labels and make their own PET bottle
See the power of air!

FieldHydrodynamics

Participants learn about air resistance, by observing air rings emitted from an air cannon
Let's make snow on pine cones!

FieldCrystals

Related Group productsUrea

Participants learn about crystal deposition, by observing dissolved urea being sprayed onto pinecones and drying
Let's make light like a firefly!

FieldEnzymes

Participants learn about the difference between bioluminescence and chemiluminescence by making light using each of luciferase enzymes taken from fireflies and using mineral-based chemicals
Let’s try and absorb oil!

FieldPolymer properties

Related Group productsTAFNEL™ Oil Blotter™

Participants learn about the principles and how to use adsorbent materials, by absorbing only the oil from mixed oil and water substances
Expand? Shrink? Disappear?!
Let’s look into the properties of mystery plastics!

FieldPolymer properties

Related Group productsABSORTOMER™

Participants learn about the properties of a variety of plastic films, by taking steps to expand, shrink, and dissolve various plastics. They also learn about changes in polymers (plastics) attributable to temperatures
Let's classify plastics!

FieldPolymer properties

Related Group productsPolyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and (Polystyrene (PS))
By sorting four types of plastics according to density, participants learned that there are various types of plastics even if they look the same, and that garbage can be recycled as resources by sorting them.