STEAM night at the Bartlett Library

From STEM to STEAM, the Bartlett Library held its first STEAM night on Wednesday, June 22. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. STEAM is all of that, but with art added in.

The program started out with a short video presentation that taught the various aspects of a circle such as radius, diameter, circumference, origin and pi. The video delved deeper into what pi is by showing that it is the relationship between the circumference and diameter. You get the value of pi, roughly 3.14, by taking the diameter and wrapping it around the circle that many times.

After the video, the children were instructed on the various stations they could go to in order to experience different aspects of STEAM.

In total, there were five stations for the children to pick from. They were able to cut out colorful, geometric shapes and glue them onto black paper to create colorful collage designs; make Olympic rings with construction paper and a compass; create a self-portrait with paint dots; create a stained glass window by folding a piece of black paper in half, cutting out different shapes and then gluing colored see-through paper in between the papers; and then there was a Magna-Tiles station where children could build a myriad of structures by using the magnetic geometric shapes.

If the children weren't able to make it to all of the stations then there were various handouts available for them to take home.

An upcoming Youth & Teen Services program is "LEGO Night for Teens" on Thursday, June 30 at 7 p.m. For grades 5-8: Architecture and your imagination come together when you design a unique LEGO creation while enjoying a snack with other teens. The Bartlett Library will display your model in the Youth and Teen Services Department.

For more information and a complete listing of scheduled programs, call 630.837.2855 or visit www.bartlettlibrary.org.