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Discovery Center’s Noon Year’s Eve ends with balloon drop

Balloons fall after STEAM rises

Ciara Parizek/MDN A young artist shows off her pink and blue snowflake she made on Tuesday.

Fun and learning took place Tuesday as Magic City Discovery Center held its fourth annual Noon Year’s Eve party for kids in Swain Hall at Minot State University.

Approximately 200 people attended this year, having fun at several stations based around Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM).

MCDC Executive Director Wendy Keller and Education and Outreach Director Liz Weeks, along with several volunteers, covered the gym floor with mats, set up tables and hung a large net of balloons from the rafters. Serving as background to all the fun, Chloe Marie Music played Christmas and other various music for kids to sing along to.

The way the stations were run differed depending on the activity. Keller described them as either self-paced, where they could take as much time as they needed to complete their project, or directed, where the kids did activities step-by-step or within a time limit.

At one table, kids experimented with distilled water, alka seltzer tablets and film canisters, with the help of adults. The gentleman guiding the station activity explained that the film canisters shoot upward in the plastic tube because “the calcium carbonate in the tablets dissolves in the water, releasing a gas that builds until it breaks the seal of the cap and propels it upward.”

Ciara Parizek/MDN Kids wait for the balloons to be dropped in the Swain Hall gym on Tuesday.

A young volunteer said that at first they didn’t think the reaction was working the way it should have been, so they let one pop its top without the enclosing tube and it went several feet into the air. After using the tube again, they concluded that friction is created with the canister, preventing it from going nearly as high.

At a technology station, kids were using tablets to move remote control robots around an area closed off by pool noodles taped to the floor. Some kids followed the little device around the edge of the area; others sat in chairs and watched them go.

In an engineering area, there were small and large blocks in bins that kids could use to build whatever their hearts desired. Stacking them as high as they could without the tower falling over was a popular activity. Buildings were made with the assistance of adults as well.

Art stations had coloring pages with crayons and pipe cleaners with plastic beads. One station had something very unique. On top of tablets were camera-like devices that showed what a child was creating on paper. The screen showed an outline of an animal or object, which the participant traced, along with the paper in the background. Participants used the screen to trace the image rather than look at their papers where the image was being drawn. One tablet had a puppy, another a dinosaur.

A math table had an activity in which the participants put metal nuts or dice on numbers and counted them. Another activity included using those items to make a triangle shape, using the same number of items as the diagram displayed.

To tie it all up at noon, balloons were dropped, and kids immediately stomped and squeezed them to pop them. Parents and children alike smiled and laughed as the gym echoed with continuous pops. A few of those pesky balloons were stubborn, needing more than one stomp attempt. A lucky bunch of balloons were saved and taken home by children to have fun with later. Within just a couple of minutes, the floor was littered with latex scraps. Keller described previous balloon drops as “a grand finale and it gets very, very loud!”

Keller expressed gratitude that MSU allowed them to use the space. Having the extra room gave them the opportunity to have more stations and give kids a little more freedom to have fun. She said MSU was a great partner in the activity. The first two years, MCDC had their event at the Dakota Territory Air Museum and last year, it was at Ramstad Middle School.

Mark Lyman, president of MCDC, said the board is in the process of raising funds for a bigger building that would be about 22,000 square feet, three stories high, and would have a B-52-shaped feature that children can climb for a great view of the surrounding land. It is going to be built at 15th Ave NW, just south of the Sertoma Sports Complex. The discovery center board hopes to break ground in 2020 with the funds it has been able to raise.

MCDC currently has no building open but is still doing pop-up events like the Noon Year’s Eve party. With a bigger facility, the board hopes to make more possible for the kids and give them many new things to explore.

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