Powered by Curiosity: RTR’s First STEAM Night a Hit!

Last weekend, RTR hosted our first Kid’s STEAM Night Out — and it was a roaring success!

We had 24 kids, from kindergarten through 5th grade, join us for a night of exciting STEAM activities. Students learned programming basics by building and coding their own automated mini golf holes using the LEGO Spike Essentials kits.  The kids had a blast programming Sphero robots to race across the floor and knock down bowling pins in a fun, hands-on challenge that combined coding with physics.

They also explored exciting science concepts during our hands-on science rotation. Students used chemistry to inflate balloons by combining baking soda and vinegar in a classic acid-base reaction. They mixed ingredients to create slime, experimenting with texture and consistency, and then took it a step further by making magnetic slime. Using strong magnets, they observed how their slime responded and moved, introducing them to basic principles of magnetism and materials science in a fun, interactive way.

We ended the night with a pizza dinner, followed by an outdoor teamwork-based activity where the kids had to deliver cups of water to a "beached fish." This challenge taught them how to collaborate and problem-solve in a fun, hands-on way.

All in all, Kid’s STEAM Night Out was a fantastic experience for both the students participating and the volunteers who helped run it. We’re already looking forward to next month — and hoping for an even bigger turnout!

Register now for our July Kid's STEAM Night Out

Coming up: RTR will be selling water and demoing our robot, B-Side, at the Clocktower Classic bike race this Wednesday, June 25. We’ll also be at Oak Creek’s annual 4th of July parade, where we’ll demo this season’s robot, Barracuda, and shoot off t-shirts with our parade bot!

As always, we couldn't do any of this without the incredible support of our sponsors, mentors,, and families. Your contributions — whether through donations, encouragement, or volunteering, — help us keep learning and building.

We would like to give an extra thank you to Matheson Gas who generously filled our CO2 tanks for free-helping us get ready to shoot off lots of t-shirts for 4th of July!