STEAM Fest 2023 & more: Experience the wide world of STEAM at the library

By Eileen Saam, Children’s Librarian

We are so excited to partner with Oak Park Elementary School District 97 and the Oak Park Education Foundation to bring you STEAM Fest 2023!

On Thursday, March 2, families with students in grades K-8 are invited to come to the Oak Park Public Library to experience the wide world of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) at hands-on stations set up throughout the Main Library:

  • Have fun with robots like Dash, Ozobot, and Sphero and check out the amazing robots made by the Oak Park middle schoolers in Vex Robotics Club.
  • Explore coding with Bee Bots, Lightbot, and Osmo.
  • In the new Creative Studio, check out the 3D printers in action and meet Edison, a Lego Compatible robot.
  • Get building in the new Acorn Lab.
  • Create some art in the Children’s Services area.

There are so many STEAM activities to explore, and kids can try them all or choose a few! We’ll have passports and stickers for families to keep track of all the activities they complete.

D97 families also are invited to celebrate the culmination of One Book, One District with the book, Maya and the Robot by Eve Ewing, just announced on February 3.

Registration for this event is encouraged, but walk-ins are welcome!

And there’s so much more STEAM learning to explore at the library

Register now for these upcoming programs:

Look for more STEAM programming for kids like Tech Wednesdays, 3D printing, and programming with Edison Robots in the coming year!

*Girls who attend a TechGirlz program this month will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win prizes. A raffle entry will be included for each TechGirlz workshop girls have attended at the library from October 2022 through February 2023. This means that girls will have a better chance to win if they participate in the workshops this month!

Check out STEAM Discovery Kits

STEAM Discovery Kites are designed to integrate the disciplines of STEAM learning and exploration. You can check one out to try at home or wherever you are with your Oak Park library cared:

  • Botley: Coding is the language we use to communicate with computers. In this kit, kids have the opportunity to use coding language and coding principles to program Botley the robot to “think” using a remote programmer and coding cards as a guide.
  • Sphero Mini: With this Sphero mini robot kit, beginning coders have the opportunity to drive and play STEM-inspired games with the Sphero Play App. More experienced learners can program the Sphero robot using block-based coding or Javascript in the Sphero Edu App. Kids can take their learning to the next level and build their own mazes, obstacles, towers, and tracks to navigate through the house!
  • Bee Bot: Bee-Bot is a programmable floor robot designed for kids ages 4-7. It is ideal for teaching control, directional language, and programming to children and it’s a lot of fun!

Want to learn more about STEAM learning? Read more »

Eileen

About Eileen

Eileen Saam is a children’s digital learning librarian who loves discovering new things, learning from others, and sharing with children the joy and wonder of books. One of her favorite things to do at the library is to help children, families, and teachers find books and digital resources that delight and inspire them.