Thousands of children and their parents enjoyed a showcase of all things science and tech at the weekend.

Lancashire Science Festival returned for its biggest event yet.

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The free award-winning event had explosive experiments and lots of colourful creations.

Other highlights included Matthew Tosh’s exciting show on the Science of Fireworks where bright colours and loud bangs filled a packed out Venue 53; What’s The Matter, a slapstick comedy theatre performance about quantum physics; and Heavy Metal Marine Biology, where television personality The Blowfish used his electric guitar to discuss marine biology.

A bug eating stall, a test the power of a penalty kick, basic first aid skills, virtual reality computer games and working with robotics were among the interactive challenges on offer.

What kids made of it

Nine-year-old Umar Patel, from Frenchwood Community Primary School, was enjoying playing at the remote controlled robotic stand. He said: “I like all the activities because they are hands on. I’m getting to play but learn at the same time.”

Sophia Pearson, from Southlands High School in Chorley, spent time at the British Aerospace stand. She commented: “I think it’s very good to bring young children to events like this because it gets them involved with things they might not want to do and they might learn more about subjects.”

Sam Heap, a Year 10 student at Millfield Science and Performing Arts College in Thornton, took part in an air demonstration with his classmate Jessica Anderson. He said: “I’ve really enjoyed learning about forensic science and the Minions session was very educational as well as being fun at the same time. It’s really been a very good event to show the variety of uses of science.”

Nicola Oatley, deputy head of St James’ CE Primary School in Haslingden, watched on as her pupils got hands-on in the paramedic training area. She added: “The great thing about the Lancashire Science Festival is the hands on activities and the unbelievable real life experiences it offers to the children. They are all being able to have a go at some wonderful tasks and they can see what fantastic facilities the University has.”

Read more: A parent’s eye view of a previous Lancashire Science Festival

What the boss said

Lancashire Science Festival director Dr Jo Heaton-Marriott said: “The Lancashire Science Festival just gets bigger and better every year. It was a joy to see our Preston City Centre Campus packed with thousands of youngsters who were all really enthusiastic about science, technology, engineering and maths. The interest in our award-winning festival, with its wide variety of shows and workshops, highlights the appeal of free, educational events in the North West. This year to have all 6,000 places for this year’s schools’ days snapped up in less than 15 minutes was mind blowing.

“Again, we are grateful to our sponsors for their help. This was a real team effort, with contributions from staff, students, volunteers, regional businesses and organisations and the result of inspiring the next generation to love science as much as we do is well worth all the hard work.”

The science festival is due to return in 2018.

Read more: Lego dinosaurs coming to Preston city centre

Full pictures from the Science Festival can be seen on the UCLan Flickr page.

Did you go along to Lancashire Science Festival? What did you think? Let us know in the comments below