The program, which began on Tuesday and ends today, offered about 100 classes taught by 125 faculty members from 16 academic units ranging in topic from dorm makeovers to caring for horses.

“I think that usually kids aren’t that interested in science or subjects other than PE, but if they presented it this way, with explosions, I think they’d get hooked on it,” grandchild and Illinois resident Noah Oxer said at the Joy of Chemistry class.

The class exemplified GU’s approach to education: getting children involved in learning through engaging material and hands-on activities.

MSU professor Rob LaDuca taught the Joy of Chemistry and kept grandparents and grandchildren learning, laughing and on the edge of their seats throughout his one-and-a-half-hour science class.

“Sometime within the next 30 seconds to 30 minutes, it will explode,” LaDuca said with a grin, after putting a sealed plastic bottle full of liquid nitrogen into the trash. The same liquid nitrogen he jokingly called “colder than his ex-wife.”

Later the children created green goo and a glow-stick like fluorescent liquid that lit up the darkened hall among many “oohs” and “ahhs.”

For each experiment, LaDuca explained the reaction and used the name of the element along with its household counterpart.

“The professors are wonderful,” GU Event Director Kathryn Reed said. “They really make the program by bringing their research down to laypeople and children. We do anything we possibly can to keep the kids interested in science and the arts and humanities.”

Another class, Summer Cooking for Kids, had children make a variety of easy snacks.

“This is stuff you can make at home,” John Findley, event teacher and executive chef at the University Club, said. “They’re simple, but different.”

Children’s hands shot up at every opportunity to volunteer, and they cooked up trail mix with popcorn, cherries and peanuts; apple sandwiches with peanut butter, granola and chocolate sprinkles; and “gourmet s’mores” with marshmallow fluff, fudge-stripe cookies and chocolate sprinkles.

“I try to inspire them to get into the kitchen, cook and try new food,” Findley said.

Holt resident Aria Schulter, a visiting grandchild, said she picked the class because she likes making food and it sounded fun to cook with her grandma.

“I like how you put in the ingredients,” Schulter said. “You don’t just find the ingredients; you have to go to the store. You don’t just find the cake you’re making; you have to actually make it.”

GU is more than an educational experience — it’s an opportunity for grandparents and grandchildren to learn more about one another, Reed said.

“There are a lot of opportunities to go to a child’s game or their play, but never an opportunity to spend several days together and get to know each other,” Reed said.

MSU alumni and DeWitt residents Dan and Judy Dickinson were at the cooking event and tested each snack their grandson whipped up.

“Our grandson lives in Illinois, so we only see him once every couple months,” Dan Dickinson said. “It’s nice being with him and getting to know him a little better.”

Alumni also got a chance to see their alma mater once again because of GU.

The event brings back memories for MSU alumnus and Brooklyn, N.Y., resident David Werber.

All the grandparents and grandchildren stayed in Holmes Hall for the three-day event, the same hall Werber occupied as a freshman in 1965, which was the first year the building held residents. Werber remembers peeling off the sticker on the then-brand new toilet.

“It’s nostalgic,” he said.

With all its nostalgia, laughter, explosions and education, was it a successful year for GU?

“It wouldn’t be an experiment without the possibility of failure,” LaDuca told the crowd before setting off an explosion.

Later, before serving liquid nitrogen ice cream, he asks the class: “Is chemistry boring?” and the response fills the lecture hall with a resounding, “No!”