Family STEM Night (FSN)

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Hosting a Family STEM Night

When you and your school have decided on a date for your STEM Night, please email us to see what kits we have available for that time frame. 

Pick-up and Return of the kits is done by the teacher requesting them. At this time, we do not have enough staff to assist in running your event.

All of our kits are generally prepared for 100 people. 

Please email if you would like more information on specific kits from the list below. 

Kit Descriptions
***MT- "Make & Take" These activities will provide take home materials.

Area Conquest Game

Roll a pair of dice and draw a square or rectangle to maximize the area contained using your two rolled numbers. Winner has the most squares.

Battle Graphs

Inspired by the classic game of Battleship, compete against a partner to try to identify and sink their ships. Hide your ships within a coordinate plane and attack your opponent's ships by identifying the coordinates on which they float.

Binary Wizard

So, you thought you knew how to count? Well, here is a new way to do it! Did you know that computers use only zero and one? Everything that you see or hear on the computer-words, pictures, numbers, movies, and even sound is stored using just those two numbers! This activity will teach you how to count using only two digits! (CS Unplugged).

Brush Bots

Brushbots are a simple, fun type of robot you can build out of arts and crafts materials. They are easy to build and you do not need any previous experience with robotics. You can build them yourself, build two robots with a friend and race them against each other, or even make them sumo wrestle! In this activity, our brush bots will be making art for you.

Cartesian Divers

Is it mind control? Or is it science? Learn how Cartesian divers work and build your own diver to send into the water!

Drops on a Penny

Predict how many drops of water you can place on a penny. Test your prediction.

Duct Tape Parachute

Students will use paper, duct tape, and sting to design, build, and test a parachute to slow the descent of a golf ball. YOU MUST HAVE a high area (not a ladder) to drop the parachutes from for this activity.

Factor Blaster (MT)

Game where you remove a number and your opponent removes all the factors of the number.

Floating Pennies

Given a 1 foot square sheet of aluminum foil, how many pennies can you float?

Fraction Tracks

Race your family by using your knowledge of fractions! Who will win?

Gak (MT)

Make Gak (AKA Oobleck) using glue and water!

Game Station 24 - Bingo - Math Games (MT) - Triangle Puzzle

Play several games with students and explain some of the reasoning behind them.

Ghost Bubbles

Make dry ice vapor bubbles to explain how the density of the bubbles causes it to fall fast and what causes the fog. Great for an introduction to sublimation!

Laser Battle

Lights and mirrors! Laser light shows may feel like magic but it's really science! It is this science and a good dose of brain power that's needed to direct the laser beam through this series of mind challenging mazes. Get ready for a satisfying mental workout as you flex your strategic thinking muscles and ignite the light on the grid!

Light a Light Bulb

Using only a light bulb, one wire, and a battery how many ways can you get the bulb to light up?

Monte Carlo Pi

What is Pi? Simply, Pi is a ratio (or comparison) of a circle's circumference to its diameter. In this activity you will express Pi visually rather than mathematically.

Paper Air Planes (MT)

Use a book full of templates as a resource to have students make airplanes to what design goes the farthest or stays in the air the longest.

Pasta Tower Challenge

Using only 50 grams of pasta and 25 grams of mini marshmallows, students will try to make the tallest structure capable of holding a ping pong ball.

Pattern Block Balance

Play against your opponents to be the best shape builder! Describe shapes to earn points and win the Pattern Block Balance!

Ping Pong Practice

Practice your math skills and hand-eye coordination with this fun speed game! It's up to chance and a bit of talent to determine the problems you will need to solve!

Probability

Learn about probability using dice, cards, and spinners.

Roller Coasters

Build a roller coaster with 2 hills, a loop and a turn; explain gravity, friction, and kinetic and potential energy to students. Design your coaster so the car stops at end of the track.

Shape Jackets

Even 3D Solids need jackets! Learn what it takes to wrap different 3D figures in their jackets, and what these nets look like! Construct and design your own 3D solids from their nets to take home!

Smarties Math

Are you a Smartie mathematician? Use smarties to investigate ideas about probability, graphing, and simple arithmetic!

Sound Cups (MT)

Help students construct the cups and show them how they work. Discuss with students how sound is made.

Stomp Rockets (MT)

Students will cut and then fold a rocket template. After adding some weights to the rockets they will launch them. Launcher info here http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/295790main_Rockets_Pop_Rocket_Launcher.pdf templates and instructions are at http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/295791main_Rockets_Pop_Rockets.pdf

Tangram Challenge (MT)

Students will make shapes from tangrams. Students will be given a paper tangram set and sheet of shapes to take home with them.

Under Pressure - Air Pressure - Magdeburg Hemispheres

Discuss what air pressure is and how powerful air pressure can be with this quick demonstration. Students will pump all the air out of the hemispheres and then try to separate them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdeburg_hemispheres . Include a can crush demonstration if you have access to several empty soda cans. Information can be found here http://youtu.be/QVayky_b-6U if you are really ambitious you can do the can crush this way http://youtu.be/JsoE4F2Pb20

Walk Through a Piece of Paper

Cut a hole in a standard piece of paper large enough to walk through. Can you do it with half a sheet? Quarter sheet? Note card?