Ultimate STEM Family Night – a Science Focused Learning Event

This is going to be one monster post! Have you wanted to host a STEM Family Science night but not sure how? It has been in the works for many months. I wanted to hold a science night at my school for awhile and finally it is here! I created this product to get ready and it was a fantastic night. I’ll back up a little bit to show you all the prep work involved and the different parts of the night. If you love this event a great follow up would be on Slime Science.

First up – some EDITABLE fun promo slides! I have as .jpeg and then get to my person at school who puts them up on TVs and on our homepage.

We received the funding to provide food at our event but you can certainly edit that part out! These got the attention since most of our other slides are rather plain 🙁

I put those up a month – 6 wks before.

Invitiation: Both versions are editable with your school information! Once again, they were eyecatching and great attention grabbers! I included an RSVP because we needed a count for food at our event but you certainly don’t have to use it if you don’t want to.

I wanted to stress how fun it would be for the WHOLE FAMILY! What a great way to interact and get a night away from home 🙂

I want to stress how easy this can be if you make it! No schoolwide event is cake work but organization really makes the process smooth!

The setup: 8 stations with 2 demos. I only did 6 stations because with the amount of people 8 would have been too many to keep track of. Each station comes with instruction sheet, QR code for explanation, extra questions sheet to discuss with parents, and a worksheet to complete if you wanted. Here is an example of what is included for each station!

I got all the stations ready each in their own tub beforehand to make sure everything is in order. Good thing I have some helpers that will be there! printed out directions on each page then the questions to discuss on the back with the tub. All supplies are in the tub ready to go!

After the tubs were ready to go this is how I start:

1st demo – flaming money. I model how to follow directions then use the QR code to learn about how the science works then talk about the questions with your parents.
Spread out between the different stations and keep a timer. For our schedule it worked out to be about 8-10 minutes. 6 stations + 1 demo before and after + transitions about 1 1/2 hours.
2nd demo – elephant toothpaste – talk about what we learned and what we can take away.

Here are some pictures from the night! It went great even with the HUGE crazy turnout! I loved seeing the parents get involved and seeing the looks on the student’s faces!

Elephant Toothpaste – always a hit!

Magic Mixing Milk!

Learning about Surface tension!

Static Electricity Station – racing cans! Picking up salt, pepper, cinnamon, rice Krispies!

Glow flubber- look at the cute hubby there, he filled in when my high school helpers left – gotta love him!

Skittles and M&M Freebie

Pepper Scatter

Flaming Money

More Static Electricity

Marshmallow Shooters -definitely a favorite of the night!

I had a fantastic time! The event was well organized and went off great. Remember to download the updated file with new goodies!

STEM is great for parents to experience as well! It initiates conversation connecting classroom and home learning as well! A STEM Family Science night promotes skill building and extends learning beyond the classroom.

Posted in science, teachers pay teachers

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FabandFunin4th! on February 5, 2014 at 4:00 pm

That sounds like a really fun event! Tons of great experiments! I'm sure the families loved it!

Bethany
FabandFunin4th!

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Jamie knefely on February 6, 2014 at 1:24 am

This looks like a lot of fun and I really want to see flaming money in person!!

Jamie

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Susie Sincock on January 24, 2015 at 12:38 pm

This is so amazing! I think our school would love an evening like this!!

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isewell on October 3, 2015 at 8:56 pm

I just came across your blog post and I'm impressed by your science night. I'm planning to lead our first Family STEM Night in the spring. I'm wondering how many activities to set up. How many people (students and parents) attended your science night? Thanks for any feedback you're able to give.

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