This year, through the Dollar General and YALSA partnership, our library received a grant to purchase supplies for an after-hours STEM Night. Our library has previously hosted a STEM Night and it was a big success. One thing that we learned from that program was the we needed a bigger supply of gadgets. Although our library has a large budget, we do not always have the funding to spend on supplies like robots, LEGO sets, etc. This grant made it possible for our library to buy various new items for our STEM gadget collection. Although the patrons are not allowed to check these items out, we have hosted several coding workshops in the past, and we plan to host even more in the future to fully utilize our new items.
For this year’s STEM Night, we utilized the entire library building and meeting rooms. This allowed us to showcase both the old and new gadgets that the library has to offer our patrons. Below is a list of activities that we had going on during STEM Night.
Station #1: LEGO Duplo STEM set building
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We own two sets, both purchased with grant money.
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Geared for ages 5 and under.
Station #2: 3D Pen
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We owned three 3D pens and one bag of filament.
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The grant allowed us to purchase three more 3D pens and two bags of filament.
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Geared for ages 5 and up.
Station #3: Mouse Robot Coding
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We now own three sets, all three were purchased with grant money.
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Geared for ages 5 and under
Station #4: Sphero
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We owned two Spheros, and they are very popular.
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The grant allowed us to purchase 3 more Spheros.
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Geared for ages 5 and up.
Station #5: Ollie
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We owned two Ollie robots.
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The grant allowed us to purchase 2 more Ollies.
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Geared for ages 5 and up.
Station #6: Dash race
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We owned one Dash robot, and it is very popular.
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The grant allowed us to purchase 2 more Dash robots.
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Geared for ages 5 and up.
Station #7: Robot Turtles
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For this station, we are reusing materials from the previous STEM Night.
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Geared for ages 5 and under.
Station #8: LED Bugs
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For this station, we are reusing materials from a previous program
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Geared for ages 5 and up.
Station #9: Mid-America Science Museum booth
We have also developed several partnerships with local organizations and individuals. Mid-America Science Museum set up a booth demonstrating some of the fun things that they do at their museum. Kids got hands-on experience at this booth.
Station #10: NASA Telescope booth
We are also very lucky to work with someone who is an ambassador for NASA. He brought a telescope and gave a detailed telescope tutorial/lesson about how to locate and identify the stars above.
As you can imagine, a program of this size required several staff members and volunteers. We had nine staff members and two volunteers working the night of the program. The program ran for an hour and a half, so there was plenty of time for each person in attendance to make it around to each station.
If you have any questions about how to put together a STEM Night at your library, please give us a call at 501-623-4161 or email Katie Allen (kallen@gclibrary.com) or Brittany Chavez (bchavez@gclibrary.com). We love talking with other librarians and exchanging ideas!
Brittany Chavez, MLS, is the Young Adult Librarian at the Garland County Library in Hot Springs, AR.
