A world of workshop themes.

Did you feel that? Preschoolers will learn that even though air is invisible it is all around them all the time. They will learn that air has the power both to move items and to slow them down. They will also experiment with a variety of items that rely on the air to help them move.

We love animals! Preschoolers will explore the fur, scales, feathers, and other skin coverings on animals. They will identify animal shapes and the sounds that animals make. They will match animal babies with their parents, and create a fun creature mask to bring home.

From the egg to the caterpillar to the winged beauties we can all identify, preschoolers will learn about the lifecycle of these wonderful insects. They’ll find out where they come from and where they may go. They will learn about butterfly diets and dances. Children even make some butterflies of their own to take home during this workshop.

This workshop will introduce preschoolers to the exciting world of color. They will make a new friend while learning about the colors of the rainbow and will experiment with their creative side during an activity on color mixing. Demonstrations will be conducted to introduce students to the primary colors as well as color mixing.

Veggie-saur or carnivore? Children will learn about the differences between plant-eaters and meat-eaters, and will have the chance to look at some dinosaur teeth up close! They will also work as paleontologists by participating in a mini dinosaur dig to unearth some fun fossil facts and hone their scientific skills.

Children always have fun making things move! Preschoolers will learn about the laws of motion as rules of movement. They will play with toys and discover some simple concepts about storing and using energy to make things work. They will take home springy toys that will help them remember how energy and motion are related.

How do our eyes and brain work together? Preschoolers will try different ways to play with their sense of sight. They will experiment with magnifying glasses, kaleidoscopes, and binoculars. They will also interact with a variety of optical illusions to illustrate that your eyes can sometimes play tricks on you.

Children will be excited to learn all about their fine feathered friends when they take an up-close look at birds. They will discover how to match bird mates, see which eggs are produced by which species, understand how a bird’s beak is a tool, and learn how to identify different bird songs. Preschoolers will take home bird warblers to practice their bird songs at home.

What is good to eat, and good for the body? Preschoolers have some hands-on fun as they learn about basic nutritional concepts. They will discover what makes a balanced meal, and why they need to keep eating fruits and vegetables to grow up healthy and strong!

Meet Mr. Bones and learn about the systems of the body! Preschoolers will assemble a skeleton and learn how their muscles help them to stand and move. Stethoscopes help the children learn more about what’s inside their bodies, from the heart to the blood it pumps.

Children will learn how they understand the world with their sense of touch. They also will learn that some objects are safe to touch while others are not. Preschoolers will participate in a challenge to identify objects using only their sense of touch. They will also experiment with using touch to build their own creation.

Children get a chance to look for small details with tools that help them see up close. Using mirrors, microscopes, and magnifying glasses, they will see the world from another point of view. They will take away plastic magnifying glasses to continue their exploration at home.

Preschoolers will learn the basics of measurement during this workshop. They will get to measure all kinds of objects using balance beam scales, bathroom scales and even their own feet! They will learn the concept of estimation, and take home a measuring foot to cut out with their parents.

What is light? Children will learn how their eyes see light and how they detect colors in objects. The spotlight is on shadows and how the sun changes their forms. Children will mix colors of light and make a rainbow shine.

What was that sound? Demonstrations with a wave motion model and a twirling tube help reveal the source of sounds as waves and vibrations. Preschoolers learn to pick out pitch and identify similar sounds. They see how movies turn everyday materials into uncommon noises, and learn how to make special sound effects.

Preschool is a place for fabulous reactions! Children will have fun setting off mini volcanoes. Our budding chemists will get hands-on experience mixing up their own modeling dough to take home.

How do magnets stick? What do they stick to? Children will feel the power of magnetic fields as they play with the poles on preschool- friendly magnets. They will go on a hunt to find magnetic metal in a pile of test materials.

From rhythms to songs, sounds make music! Children will feel, hear, and see the vibrations that create music in this hands-on exploration of everyday materials and percussion instruments. They will tap, pluck, and jingle all the way to a fabulous finale!

This is beach science! Children will learn about the sea community within the surf, and find out what sand is made from. They will explore how shells protect some animals who live in or near the ocean. They will also make their own ocean bottle to take home.

Preschoolers will discover different shapes and structures in this hands-on workshop. They will make shapes from scratch using pegs, strings, and tiles. Then they can create their own cornstarch noodle structures to take home.

Take a trip through the solar system in our Mad Science Astronaut-in-training program. There will be moons, planets, and many other elements of space to explore! Our trainees will even get to take their very own mini rocket home.

Join us for a journey through our sense of smell. This class will introduce preschoolers to the way their sense of smell helps them enjoy their favorite foods. They will follow their nose to find scents that are pleasing and some that are pungent. The children will create their very own scented pictures to take home.

Water is all around us, in its many forms! Preschoolers will experiment with water and find out some simple water facts along the way. They will experiment with floating, sinking, absorption and so much more.

Do clouds mean rain or snow? This interactive program has preschoolers making wind blow and rain fall indoors! They will also learn all about the water cycle and weather patterns and will design their own windsock to take home.

Preschoolers get a chance to dig into the life of decomposers! This wormy workshop brings the underground residents to the surface for a supervised visit with children. They will get a close-up look at worms through magnifiers and learn how important these creatures are.

The science of our insides is on the table in this class! Students journey through the major systems of the human body, learning about their basic functions. This is a lesson on how food is digested, how blood flows through our bodies, and how the brain controls all of our body parts.

Take some worms, add some leaves and food scraps, and what do you get? Fresh soil and a whole lot of fun! Students gain an understanding of decomposition as they learn about the vital role of worms and other decomposers in the ecosystem.

Students examine fossil casts and explore the differences in the teeth of herbivorous and carnivorous dinosaurs. After learning about fossilization, children embark on a mini fossil excavation and make a cast of a dinosaur tooth to take home.

This class provides students with an opportunity to explore the properties of magnets. Students learn about attractive and repulsive magnetic forces and try out floating tricks after they master the basics of magnetic poles. The class then devises and performs experiments to test magnetic strength.

Students trek through a treasure trail and learn the proper techniques of measuring objects. From shoe size to hand spans to the metric system, the greatest treasure comes from using critical thinking and measuring skills to solve a challenge.

It’s time to explore four of our five senses. Students test their vision with optical illusions, experiment with their hearing, sniff out some scents, and try their touch at reading braille. Students will learn how our brains, nerves, and sensory receptors work as a team to give us a sense of our world.

Plastics and elastics are a part of our everyday lives. We use it for practical purposes in clothing and containers, and play with its properties in slimy solutions. This class explains how these polymers have become so important to us.

Students surf sound waves in this “offbeat” class. They explore how sound travels through the air, how different sounds can be produced and how our ears help us hear sound. A concert of sounds resonates as the class learns how vibrations produce sound.

This dynamic class explores the concepts of air pressure and air flow. From the push of a puff of air to the vacuumed lack of it, students experience awesome atmospheric events. The class spirals to an astounding finish as students harness air power with a simple sheet of paper.

The oceans teem with life and human activity. Students study the effects of an oil spill on marine life and then learn about the techniques for cleaning the animals that live on or around the ocean. In a time-sensitive challenge, the class must engineer a solution to stop a simulated oil spill from spreading.

In this workshop students build models of something they could otherwise not see. This modeling method helps students visualize the tiny factory parts that make up a working cell. Microscopes and slides bring the concepts to light, and physics experiments show how cell communications work.

Students get excited about electrons in this electricity workshop. They test materials to find conductors and insulators, and use their newfound circuitry knowledge to make some serious circuits. Plasma balls and buzzers are part of the program!

Students investigate the nature of ecosystems and cycles. These abstract concepts are made more accessible by role-playing food webs and modeling energy sources. The class learns about human impacts on the ecosystem and how field journals work to track the changes.

Students investigate the science of sound along with the basics of vibration, frequency, and pitch. They discover how instruments make music and test their ability to feel sounds without using their ears.

Listen to stories of how necessity motivated inventions, from Morse code to earmuffs. These stories become historical facts as the class learns how trial and error are part of the inventing process. The program provides students with a chance to turn an observed necessity into an invention, so that they too can become great inventors.

Students explore molecules and the forces that hold atoms together. They learn to sort out differences between physical and chemical changes, and mix up a batch of fun science to stretch their learning at home.

Students examine the formation of rocks by the Earth, and learn to identify and classify rocks and minerals. They experience the thrill of panning for gems; the gems they find, they can take home for further study and investigation.

What makes some metal magnetic? What shapes do magnetic fields form around different-shaped magnets? Can compasses really help you find your way? Students pick up some magnets and search for answers in this polarized class.

This class highlights how important plants are in a food web. Students delve into the miniature structures that perform photosynthesis and learn about important pigments in plants. This is the chemistry of plant life and students can start their own garden and promote photosynthesis!

Plastic is a prominent part of our world! This workshop reveals the chemical and physical properties of plastic. Students learn about the convenience of plastic tools and make some polymer-slime. Students will have a fun time exploring the plethora of practical applications for plastics in our daily lives.

Learn about the functions of each stage in the scientific method. Students will apply these ideas in a facilitated experiment. The experiment begins with a science lesson to teach the students about key principles of science. Then students apply their learning by making a hypothesis and choosing the variables to test in an experiment. Each group will record their observations, discuss their analyses, and then share their conclusions.

Take measurements to new depths with three-dimensional objects! Students fill- up on the physics of liquids and practice techniques fit for a lab tech! The scientific units of measure will hold no secrets after this calibrated class.

This class reveals the physics of movement and biomechanics and the importance of our skeletal system. Students assemble a skeleton, identify bones, and perform a quick forensic challenge with their group’s set of bones. Case studies of medical disorders allow the class to compare the effects of both nature and nurture on bone growth.

This introduction to molecular biology begins with the study of human chromosomes, how we inherit them and their composition. Students learn about polymerases and nucleotide bases through role-playing activities. They pull DNA from a plant as they work through a laboratory protocol.

This workshop introduces the concepts of heredity, linking traits to genes, and genotype to phenotype. Students go through the motions of chromosome and cell division. They model the rules of heredity with mini- mad scientists to see population genetics in action.

Students learn to locate, name, and identify the organs that make up the digestive and circulatory systems. After a discussion of how they interact, they examine the digestive tract along its entire length, measure their own blood pressure, and construct a manually pumped heart model.