STEAM Classes

Our STEAM classes are designed to give a hands-on experience to groups of 10 to 20 kids.  We offer classes for preschool, school age and even a couple for middle school. 

Each of our school age STEAM classes that take about an hour.  Many of our classes can be differentiated to work with preschool or elementary age school students.  Libraries, preschools, and summer programs with mixed ages often book two classes in succession, one for preschool and one for school age. 

We offer a series of workshops as after school programs.

Pricing:  Classes are $200 each.  If you book two of the same class for the same location and day, no more than an hour apart, each additional class is $150.   

Digging Dinosaurs (preschool & school age)

Become a junior paleontologist as we explore the features and characteristics that make dinosaurs fascinating. Learn about how we know what we know as you get hands on with a collection of interesting fossils.  Go on your own tabletop dinosaur dig and learn how paleontologists share their fossils as we make a cast of a T-rex tooth to take home.

Bugs!  (preschool & school age)

Everywhere we go we are surrounded by a miniature world creeping and crawling with bugs.  We will explore the amazing arthropods that make up the bugs we find all around us.  How are insects, arachnids, myriapods and isopods are the same and different. We will discover how bugs use camouflage to hide in plain sight and mimicry to confuse predators.  How do bugs around us help us and the environment?  What bugs do we find here in Minnesota, other than mosquitoes?  We will use what we learn to build our own bug to take home.  

Bubbles Bubbles Bubbles (preschool & school age)

Let's explore the chemistry and physics of bubbles.  What is the chemistry that makes bubbles possible?  How do bubbles make all those beguiling colors?  What shapes can bubbles make?  Students will make their own bubble wand to take home and older children can make a 3D bubble wand.  We even bring our own special device that will put you in a bubble.

Under the sea (preschool & school age) 

We will explore the ocean from the sunlight zone to the depths of the midnight zone.  What amazing animals we find as we go deeper.  We will compare the features and habitats of whales, sharks, sea turtles and much more. 

Space flight (school age)

Are you ready to launch?  Learn how Newton’s laws of motion make space flight possible.  Experience how spacecraft use gyroscopes and angular momentum to orient themselves.  Learn how astronauts live, work, eat and even go to the bathroom in space.   Experiment with your own mini air powered rockets to take home.  If weather permits and if we have a safe area we may even launch a model rocket.

Real robots (school age) 

Explore the science and the fiction of the history of robotics.  Did you know that robotics and automation can be traced back thousands of years?  Learn how circuits, sensors and motors help a robot move and explore its environment. Get hands-on experience with a variety of different robots from robot arms, remotely controlled vehicles and even autonomous robots that use a very simple artificial intelligence.  We will build our own colorful mechanical hands to take home.

Slime Science!

It's slime time!  Let’s get slimy and learn all about polymers. Learn how our world is full of long chain molecules called polymers.  Look inside yourself and see the proteins, starches and DNA polymers that make you work.  We will make several different slimes and discover how polymers make our modern world.  This is science that will stick with you!

Shocking Science (school age)

What you will learn about static electricity will shock you.  We will examine how electrons move to make electricity and how static electricity is different.  Students will learn how to create static electricity and how to store their charge as they build a leyden jar to take home. If weather conditions cooperate you might even make your hair stand on end and play with 50000 volts with our Van De Graaff generator.  

Serious Circuits (school age)

Let’s learn how electricity works by building some circuits.  Explore the shocking history of electricity and learn how electricity makes our modern world.  We will learn about voltage, current and resistance by building series and parallel circuits.  See how a fuse can save our house from fire.  Make your own light up glowbug to take home.

Forensic Science (school age) 

Who done it? Use science to solve the mystery!  Learn how we use the super science of fingerprints, chemistry and even DNA to solve crimes.  How do forensic scientists use fingerprints to identify suspects?  Use chromatography to find the hidden colors that will solve the crime.  What is DNA and how do investigators use it to solve mysteries decades or even centuries old?   

Rock on! (school age) 

Let's talk rocks!  We will learn about the three rock groups, igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary and the rock cycle. What rocks do we find here in Minnesota and how and where did they form?  How do we use the rocks around us in our everyday life?  We will become geologists and explore how to test and classify the rocks we find.  

Volcanoes and Earthquakes (school age) 

Let's look at the big geology that makes the earth shake and moves mountains.  We will explore the geology of earthquakes, volcanoes and the plate tectonics that drives them.  Learn how plate tectonics has changed the face of the earth over eons of time and how it affects us today.  Become an engineer and see how your building reacts to the S and P waves of an earthquake.  Discover the different types of volcanoes and create your own eruption using kitchen chemistry.

Cool Chemistry (school age)

We will learn about the structure of the atom by building a tasty model.  Build your own molecules out of edible atoms.  Explore some colorful chemistry with acid/base indicators.  Use your kitchen chemistry to inflate a balloon with carbon dioxide.  

You have Energy! (school age) 

In this class we will learn about various types of energy, focusing on potential and kinetic energy.  We will experiment with gravitational potential and kinetic energy by playing with hotwheels, ramps and loops.  Engineer a marble run with your team.  Learn how springs and rubber bands store energy that you can use by building a pom pom catapult to take home.

Science of Illusion (school age) 

This class explores the science and engineering that makes magic and illusions possible.  Discover the simple science behind some popular magic tricks that you can do at home.  Watch water disappear and see how money can burn and survive.  Be amazed as you discover how optical illusions trick our minds.  Bring home your own mini magic trick to amaze your friends and family.

Secret Science: Codes and Ciphers  (School age)

Discover how we use codes and ciphers to send hidden messages.  Learn how a secret code inspired Louis Braille to invent his Braille system for the blind.  Learn how cryptologists decipher secret messages and try it for yourself.  You will learn several ways to send your secret messages securely and bring home some tools to continue your studies at home.  

Extended Workshops

Extended workshops involve larger and more in depth projects so can take two or three hours to complete.  They are generally for students in the 3rd grade up to middle school.

Robot Engineering (3rd grade and up)

In this class small groups of students will collaborate to build and program a LEGO Mindstorm robot. If time permits, groups can equip and program their robot to follow a line or explore the room using an ultrasonic sensor.  Due to the complexity of the build and programming students need to have completed second grade.  The content of this class covers a significant amount of the requirements needed for the retired robotics adventure for Bears in cub scouts, the Robotics Merit Badge and two of the three robotics badges for Girl Scouts.

Model Rocketry with Launch (1st grade and up)

Students will build a scratch built model rocket in the first third of the class.  They will learn about the history and future of rocketry and spaceflight while their rockets dry.  They will then, weather permitting, learn how to safely launch their rockets.  They will get to take the rockets they build home.  This class covers requirements for the Cub Scout Nova awards as well as some for the Space Exploration merit badge.

DYI Electric Motor (5th grade and up) 

Students will use, or reuse, everyday items such as a hanger, wire, refrigerator magnets, and some scrap wood pieces to build a simple but fully functional electric motor.  Yes, they get to take it home.