A fun filled fair fuels a passion for learning

As kids knocked down fake fires with the Wareham Fire Department, launched paper airplanes in the Wareham Elementary School gym and constructed the next edition to Water Wizz, they were learning about the world around them and how it works.

The elementary school’s annual Steam and Art fair was held Thursday, May 15 where kids got to explore a variety of topics that relate to science, technology, engineering, art and math.

“We have an egg drop going, we have Water Wizz helping kids make water slides, the arts department has artwork out and we’re trying to show everyone all aspects of steam and how wide reaching it is,” said Wareham Elementary School steam teacher Elizabeth Costa.

Tables and activities were set up around the elementary school and many local organizations came out to give kids hands-on experience with a variety of topics.

One of the participating groups was the Wareham Land Trust who had fake poop displays kids had to match to the corresponding animal.

“This is always a huge hit and the adults love it too,” said Terracorp Service Member and Land Stewardship Coordinator for the land trust Julia Ledo.

On top of being a source of entertainment, Ledo said the kids get to learn more about the wildlife nearby while figuring out whose poop is whose.

“It’s a good way to engage them because for some reason or another poop is really big with kids,” she said. “They love it, it gets them laughing, it gets them excited and they want to know who's done what.”

Several baby chicks that pre-schoolers and their teacher Laura Pol hatched in the classroom were on display for people to see.

Pol said the project began in mid-April and the experience helps set the kids up for a lifetime of learning.

“I think it’s really foundational because even if they don’t remember it many years from now it plants something in them as far as their awareness of the world and life around them,” Pol said.

Eight-year-olds Aria Malimoski and Avilyn Pires said they were having a good time learning about plants and animals at the fair while they were counting the rings of an old tree stump to figure out its age.

“I liked learning about the spots on butterflies,” Avilyn said.

Aria added she liked "butterflies color and stuff” the best.

Seven-year-old Everett Hickey was at the fair with his mom Makenzie and grandmother Nancy Hetu said he couldn’t pick a favorite but learning about the Wareham Police’s drone was cool.

Mackenzie added the kids weren’t the only ones doing the learning and said she learned some interesting facts about cranberries.

“I didn’t realize it becomes a flower first before it becomes the fruit and once it becomes the flower, the bees come and pollinate it because the bees don’t like the actual fruit,” she said.

The hands-on learning style at the fair is something Costa said can be very impactful for young kids and can help them find pathways they are interested in.

“It shows kids we’re not just teaching them science to teach them science but there’s real things they can go out and do everyday that are steam connected,” Costa said. “It shows them different pathways they can choose when they get older and helps them explore topics that they may be interested in and never knew existed.”