Debuting a new STEAM center on Pi Day and Albert Einstein’s 140th birthday only seems fitting. With a $1 million dollar donation from St. Louis–based manufacturing company, Emerson, the children’s play center is sure to offer new hands-on experiences for St. Louis kids. Even better, museum admission will be discounted to $3.14. Beth Fitzgerald, The Magic House president, told SLM the five things to know about the addition to the Magic House (516 S. Kirkwood).
1. The STEAM Center encompasses the entire lower level of the south wing of The Magic House. The wing will be dedicated as the Kent Family Wing with the Center’s grand opening on March 14.
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2. The Art Studio and Make-It Workshop lets kids tinker and work with their hands—whether that be on a sewing machine or painting a masterpiece.
3. The Future Play exhibit combines technology and art, teaching kids how to play and learn together.
4. With help from Spire, a new science lab will be an “iconic science lab experience for kids. If you’ve read about science labs or seen them in movies, it looks like that,” Fitzgerald says. The whole space has a tech-focused look. “We’re excited that we had a new installation put in yesterday. An artist has created a very cool gear wall where kids can turn these beautiful gears and make different things happen,” she says.
5. There will be owl pellets to dissect and hundreds of fossils for kids to look at under microscopes. “We have two very sophisticated microscopes that are very child friendly. Kids can look at a lot of different real life things,” Fitzgerald says. Kids will feel like scientists, even wearing white lab coats as they examine atoms and molecules and learn the periodic table.
“The activities that we have in the science lab, the art studio, and the maker space are all ones that you can replicate at home,” Fitzgerald says, “so we’re hoping that children will be excited about these new experiences, and parents will see that happening and support that kind of learning at home.”
