4/15/21
Today we volunteered at the STEM Fair at a local women and children’s shelter we have recently been doing some work with. Before today, we had only donated some items for helping the kids. You can check out that blog post here. This time was more rewarding though, because we actually got to interact with the kids and it felt more personal than just donating things.
This STEM Fair was for the kids at the shelter to learn and have exposure to STEM. Due to COVID, the fair was happening outside on the half basketball court that they had at the shelter. There were a few other stations besides ours, including one where the kids built things out of legos, a small petting zoo, a art activity and a table of books for the kids to choose from. There was also a pony that they brought.
When we arrived, we first went to help out with setting up the fair. We moved chairs and tables outside and arranged them for the event. When we were done setting up the chairs and tables, we went over to help out at the table where they had books for the kids to take. We organized them and straightened it out.
After that, we went back to our booth and set up our activity. Our station was an engineering activity, the E in STEM. We had gumdrops and toothpicks and the kids were building structures with them. We made a few example structures, then waited for the fair to start.
When the kids showed up, we gave them a cup of gumdrops and some toothpicks on a plate. The kids were very creative and we had a lot of fun helping them out with their designs. A few of them were more interested in the candy than building, but most were focused on making a cool structure.
When the fair was over, we cleaned up our table, then put away our tables and chairs. After that we walked around helping others clean up.
Overall, this was a very rewarding experience for us. It was really nice to actually work with the children and get the sense that we were helping them. It was a more personal experience than just donating items because we got to interact with the kids. I hope we have more opportunities like this in the future.
