STANFIELD — Residents living in and around Stanfield can build connections with their children through an ongoing grant-funded monthly program at the public library focused on activities involving various parts of science, technology, engineering, art and math.

“It’s not just a program where families bring their youth and drop them off,” Stanfield Library Director Cecili Longhorn said. “It’s where they spend the time doing these things together.”

This STEAM program began in September 2023 after Longhorn applied for an Amazon Web Services InCommunities grant and received $10,000. February’s theme is magnets, and each week features different magnet-based activities for children and their caregivers to explore.

Monthly family nights have had 30 to 50 people attending, and activities on Thursday nights and Friday afternoons often see 10 to 12 people. That way, Longhorn said, it’s more interactive and personal and less chaotic.

Programming such as this requires additional staff, Longhorn said. That’s where Kate Johnston, the STEAM program coordinator, comes in.

Johnston has experience working in schools and is in the process of earning a bachelor’s degree to teach middle school math, so running the STEAM events is a fun outlet for her.

“You basically get to do the fun stuff at school but you don’t have to do the hard part of disciplining,” she said of her role.

She likes that the kids sometimes realize that there are fun ways to learn.

“It’s the fun part of science and math and engineering. It’s not the part that you have to study for,” she said. “It’s like secret learning.”

Johnston and Longhorn brainstorm ideas, with the former figuring out how to make them actually happen.

“Kate gets just so excited about everything,” Longhorn said about working together. “When you get two people that love trying new things, it kind of explodes.”

For example, Johnston glued magnets to little wooden cars that the kids had decorated and others to a bunch of corks. The magnets on the corks can push a car forward without touching it if held back at a small distance because of the repelling magnetic fields.

Then, the children can race the cars against each other in a fun competition.

“I think it helps to create kind of out-of-the-box thinking, like, ‘What can we do to make parts work in other ways,?” Johnston said. “I think that’s really fun, seeing the kids light up about all this interesting stuff.”

Families from all around the area participate. Johnston will sometimes go into the Stanfield schools with a preview of the month’s activities. Plus, each month, different grade levels receive books and activity kits that match the month’s theme.

“A lot of activities involve taking home stuff, so they think it’s going to cost something,” Johnston said, “but a lot of the activities don’t.”

One mom who brings her kids to many library events, Kim Low, said they provide good social opportunities.

“We just always love the services that the library provides and the welcoming atmosphere,” Low said. “You can definitely see the gears processing for my oldest, definitely.”

Parker, Low’s elder daughter, is a 6-year-old in first grade who liked exploring the different stations. When Parker, her younger sister, Baylor, and her mom were at the library on Friday afternoon, Feb. 16, it was the family’s second visit of the week.

“There’s always something we can learn and challenge ourselves and grow,” Low said. The STEAM focus of the program makes her think of “the importance of daily learning.”

Johnston said one of her goals moving forward is to engage some of the older kids in the area, who might believe the activities are geared toward younger children.

Having an older perspective, she said, could lead to fun, surprising and creative ways to do the activities. It’s also good for younger children to see how older kids, or even their parents, approach the activities.

“It’s a really good overall family experience,” Johnston said. “It’s just a really good time to sit and create together and have some of that quality time.”