The Saint Louis Science Center’s SciFest: Play and Creativity Expo on August 9th welcomed more than 5,500 people for a day filled with hands-on STEM exploration and imaginative discovery, proving that science and creativity truly play well together. Made possible through the generous support of BJC HealthCare and Spry Digital, the free, all-day event showcased the powerful connections between play, innovation, and 21st-century learning skills. Guests of all ages engaged with local artists, innovators, and STEM experts through presentations at Energy Stage and activities across the entire Science Center campus. With nearly 60 organizations spread across the Science Center and the McDonnell Planetarium, Play and Creativity Expo showcased a range of ways that science and technology intersect with innovation, imagination, and creative problem solving, including examples from right here in the St. Louis region. Guests participated in an assortment of hands-on activities from bubble art, woodturning, and brain games to circuit building, 3D printing and drawing, drone flying, and much more.
On the Science Center’s Lower Level, May Hall hosted activities from FIRST Robotics, where attendees could program and even drive robots. In the T-Rex Room, guests could explore neuroscience with WashU’s Amazing Brain Carnival. Guests could meet members of the 501st and Rebel Legions to discuss costume design, learn about fermentation with StilL 630, or discover how molecule chains control electricity flow with researchers from the University of Missouri. Encouraged to tap into their own creativity and bright ideas, guests could create items like origami art, stamped metal bracelets and keychains, layered kazoos, catapults, and even LED flashlights. Using real world examples of the minerals found in the video game Minecraft, WashU Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences allowed guests to touch and learn about the properties of each mineral to see what makes them unique and useful. Several artists and builders from MADE Makerspace came to demonstrate and cover STEM concepts involved in foam carving and wood burning art, pewter casting, 3D printing, and more. Guests could also try their slapshot and stick-handling skills with the St. Louis Blues Street Team—all while learning about the science of hockey ice and equipment. And the St. Louis CITY SC Street Team engaged attendees, talking about the science of soccer.
The Science Center’s quarterly SciFest expos demonstrate how STEM impacts so many aspects of our daily lives, as well as how much STEM truly happens in St. Louisans’ own backyards. Events like Play and Creativity Expo allow guests to meet and learn alongside the people who are creating, problem solving, and innovating in big ways, as well as give the companies and organizations who deal with STEM every day the opportunity to share more about the work they’re doing. SciFest sponsors BJC HealthCare and Spry Digital took their involvement beyond philanthropic support with team members on site to connect with the community. Guests could try out a colorful nutrition activity with exhibitors from BJC or complete a bingo challenge on user experience design with Spry Digital.
Special presentations at Energy Stage throughout the day gave guests the chance to learn about what goes into creating dragon puppets with Cari’s Creatures, see the creative science behind metal art and sculptures with Augusta Missouri Metal Arts, and even witness two professional game developers from STL GameDev as they made a game live on stage using suggestions from the audience. By showing what’s possible when imagination sparks innovation, SciFest events like Play and Creativity Expo embody the Science Center’s mission to inspire everyone to be curious and engaged in science. Thank you to BJC HealthCare and Spry Digital for their generous support, and thank you to everyone who participated in SciFest: Play and Creativity Expo! See more photos from the day below and be sure to come back for Sci-FEAST this November. Learn more here.
