Full STEAM Ahead: A Zone-by-Zone Guide

From drones to potatoes, murals to math games, Full STEAM Ahead is transforming the Grand Forks Curling Club into a wonderland of imagination, innovation, and hands-on learning. This year’s exhibit zones offer something for every curious mind, whether you're a budding artist, future veterinarian, or aspiring astronaut or astrophysicist.

One of this year’s guiding themes at Full STEAM Ahead is Seed to Table, a celebration of the journey food takes from farm fields to family kitchens, and the people who make it possible. Across four immersive zones, kids explore this journey through hands-on play and discovery. In the Veterinary Clinic, they learn how animal health supports sustainable farming. At Harvest Helpers, they climb aboard a real tractor and identify crops like sugar beets, sunflowers, corn, and beans, cornerstones of Red River Valley Agriculture.

Potato Play dives deep into the science behind one of our region’s most iconic crops, while the Grocery Store brings it all together, showing how teamwork and logistics connect farms to communities. The train exhibit emphasizes how these foods are carried across the country. Together, these zones offer a powerful, playful look at food systems in action, rooted in local pride, using STEAM-based learning and designed to spark curiosity across generations.

Here’s your guide to the nine immersive zones that make Full STEAM Ahead a can’t-miss experience for families across the region.

Zone 1: The Launchpad - Where creativity meets cutting-edge tech…

o Build with Clixos magnet manipulatives

o Learn to fly a drone in the iSight drone cage, guided by professional pilots

o Watch everyday ideas transform into real, tangible objects with Bifrost’s 3D printers

Zone 2: Veterinary Clinic – for the love of animals…

o Empathy takes center stage in this imaginative play zone, sponsored by All Pets Hospital. Children become animal doctors for the day by checking heartbeats, wrapping bandages, and giving bubbly baths to farm animal patients.

o Learn to read pretend X-rays and blood tests.

o Explores the vital role of veterinarians in caring for animals.

Zone 3: MakerSpace & Art Gallery - A vibrant hub for self-expression and

community creativity.

o Create bold art projects using neon card stock, tempera paint sticks, scissors, glue, and bingo daubers,

o Explore optical illusions by crafting thaumatropes, a 19th-century toy where two images blend into one when spun (an early peek into animation).

o Save newly creative artwork in adjacent Blacklight Art Gallery, where fluorescent masterpieces will glow under UV light

Special Event: On Saturday, budding artists are invited to join muralist Margaret Kops Kuveke and MKK Murals for a special community art project just outside the Curling Club. It’s a chance to make your mark -literally -on a shared masterpiece that reflects the spirit of Full STEAM Ahead.

Zone 4: Blue Blocks & Digitalis Planetarium - Imagination takes flight… on Earth and beyond!

o Build a fort, or a rocket or a dinosaur with our iconic Blue Blocks …use your imagination!

Special Event October 4 & 5, the stars come out as Digitalis hosts immersive planetarium shows exploring galaxies and space science. Kat Hunt from Digitalis Planetarium presents two rotating shows: Growing by the Stars and Astrobiology, Big Questions, offering a dazzling journey through space and science.

Zone 5: Harvest Helpers - Step into the heart of Red River Valley agriculture, where learning grows from the ground up.

o Let’s celebrate the crops that shape our region: sugar beets, canola, sunflowers, potatoes, corn, and beans and explore the bounty of local farming through hands-on play and discovery. learn how each plays a vital role in our community’s economy and food systems. Harvest Helpers connects the dots between fieldwork and food in real, tangible experiences.

o Climb aboard a farm tractor parked right inside the Curling Club and imagine what it’s like to work the land.

o For our littlest learners, sensory bins filled with beans, miniature tractors, and farm animals invite imaginative play and tactile exploration.

Zone 6: Potato Play by NDSU - A mash-up of science, storytelling, and spud-tacular fun.

o Presented by our educational partner North Dakota State University, Potato Play is a joyful tribute to the humble spud. Explore the full life cycle of a potato, from planting and sprouting to harvesting and processing.

o Learn to name the parts of the potato plant, examine growth stages, and even compare the weight of different potato varieties to everyday household objects.

o Make potato stamp art, design their own characters at the Mr. Potato Head table,

o Follow along with a walk-around potato story that brings farming to life through movement and snap a photo at the potato-themed photo op

Zone 7: Grocery Store- From field to checkout, kids explore the full journey of food.

o Sponsored by Hugo’s Family Marketplace, this interactive zone invites children to take on every role in a bustling store environment: grocer, customer, clean-up crew, and even florist.

o Restock shelves, scan and bag groceries, and arrange pretend bouquets for shoppers, all while practicing real-world skills in a playful setting.

Zone 8: ThinkTank - Where brains and creativity collide.

o Blend art, math, science, and imagination into a dynamic playground for problem-solving and discovery.

o Dive into MathHappens activities that bring geometry to life, using hands-on tools and visual puzzles inspired by the iconic wave prints of Hokusai to explore how numbers and shapes intersect with art, unlocking new ways to see patterns in the world around them.

o Step up to our life-sized animal simulators—featuring a thoroughbred horse, a sheep, and a cow, provided by Northland Community and Technical College.

o Grasp the true scale of farm animals, sparking conversations about biology, agriculture, and the role of animals in our food systems.

Zone 9: Stitch, Story, and Trains - A cozy upstairs retreat for making, reading, and exploring how trains move this country.

o Learn quilting with the North Star Quilters,

o Curl up with books from The Little Red Reading Bus,

o Dive into our beloved train exhibit—now featuring a giant map of Central North America.

Join Us!

Full STEAM Ahead isn’t just a series of exhibits, it’s a regional celebration of creativity, connection, and the limitless potential of young minds. Each zone is thoughtfully designed to spark curiosity, invite collaboration, and reflect the Grand Forks Children’s Museum’s deep commitment to accessible STEAM education, rooted in local partnerships and community pride. From toddlers exploring sensory bins to young learners piloting drones, every visitor is welcomed into a space where learning feels joyful, inclusive, and empowering.

At its core, Full STEAM Ahead is about more than science, technology, engineering, art, and math... it’s about sharing, celebrating our community and belonging. It’s about giving children and families the tools to ask big questions, solve real problems, and imagine bold futures. It’s about honoring the knowledge already present in our communities and creating new pathways for discovery across generations.

Whether you're a parent, educator, or curious kid-at-heart, we invite you to explore, experiment, and connect. Because when we build together, we build something far greater than ourselves. We build a future rooted in wonder, creativity and possibility.

Katie Mayer, Executive Director, Grand Forks Children's Museum