The “oohs” and “aahs” were nonstop when a traveling science museum came to Kankakee this week on its trip across the country.

Between the two-day event, about 1,400 area students in third through eighth grades participated in the Impossible Science program, hosted at the Kankakee First Church of the Nazarene.

The program features hands-on science experiments and magic tricks designed to inspire curiosity.

Concepts like levitation and invisibility are demonstrated and then explained with science.

The Iroquois-Kankakee Regional Office of Education partnered with other ROEs in Illinois to bring the Impossible Science team to Kankakee.

On Monday, students from Manteno, Donovan, Bishop McNamara, Herscher, St. George, Pembroke, Grace Christian Academy and St. Paul’s of Woodworth attended.

Tuesday’s students were all from Kankakee School District 111.

Rachel Tobey-Barrows, professional development coordinator with the I-KAN Regional Office, said she has gotten lots of positive feedback about the event.

One fifth grader said, “I wish every day at school could be like this,” and a couple of teachers remarked that it was the best field trip of the year.

Lazaire Mallet, a third grader at Lincoln Cultural Center, said the science experiments were “100% fun.”

Lazaire said that science can help you to discover the world around you.

“Kids should know that everything is different all around you, and it’s all a possibility that could happen,” he said.

Piper Bailey, a third grader at Lincoln Cultural Center, said one of her favorite tricks was the mind reading demonstration, but she has “no clue” how it was done.

“It’s been really fun here experimenting and trying to figure out how to solve the experiments,” she said.

Piper is not opposed to doing science experiments of her own. She has made her own volcano project at home.

“I am very interested in science,” Piper said. “Every single time I’m able to get a science kit, I get them.”

Charlie Mount, a magician with Impossible Science, said the California-based company was founded three years ago.

Impossible Science got its start bringing the traveling science museum around the state of California. This is the team’s first time traveling across the country.

Mount performs magic tricks for kids when they first arrive and explains the scientific method as they try to guess how he did them.

“The reason we use magic is we want to start with a wow factor, rather than just lecturing,” he said.

The energy and excitement were high from District 111 students Tuesday morning as they formed and tested hypotheses about how Mount appeared to be catching an invisible ball inside of a paper bag.

“They may not understand the science behind every experiment, but they walk away wondering,” Mount said. “They realize they can figure things out, and not everything is a mystery.”