Lansing USD 469

Two STEM Night organizers dressed in fairy-tale costumes pose beside colorful woodland-themed decorations at the entrance to the elementary school gymnasium.

Fairy Tale Family STEM Night Brings LES and LIS Families Together for an Evening of Fun

Lansing USD469

November 6, 2026

Lansing Elementary School was transformed into a world of castles, creatures, and creativity on Thursday, November 5, as students and families from Lansing Elementary and Lansing Intermediate Schools gathered for Fairy Tale Family STEM Night!

This year's theme, "Castles, Creatures, & Creativity," gave students a chance to explore science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) through hands-on activities inspired by their favorite fairy tales. The event, which has traditionally been held at Lansing Intermediate School, moved to Lansing Elementary this year for a fun change of scenery.

Students received STEM journals when entering the gymnasium to guide them through the evening's activities. Each journal included challenges, instructions, and opportunities to record observations as families explored the different stations.

Students put their problem-solving and critical-thinking skills to work through a variety of creative challenges, including:

  • Golden Grams: Using balances to measure the mass of sets of gold coins.

  • Measure Like a Giant: Measuring the footprints of mythical creatures and animals using tools such as Unifix cubes, paper clips, blocks, and measuring tapes.

  • Binary Magic Words: Learning about binary code by translating their initials into a pattern of colorful beads to create bracelets.

  • Sunken Treasure Test: Making predictions and testing everyday objects to determine whether they would sink or float.

  • Jack and the Beanstalk: Designing parachutes to help Jack safely descend from the beanstalk.

  • Rapunzel's Tower: Using oversized building blocks to construct towers inspired by the classic fairy tale.

Additional stations featured coding activities, engineering challenges, fairy tale games, and a themed photo booth where families could capture memories from the evening.

A special thank-you goes to Suzanne Phillips and Ingrid Murphy for their creativity and planning to making this event such a wonderful experience for our students and families. Their efforts provided opportunities for students to explore STEM concepts in engaging, imaginative ways while learning alongside their families.

We would also like to extend our appreciation to the many volunteers who helped make the evening possible, including students from the Lansing High School KAYS Club. Their time and support helped bring the activities to life and made the event enjoyable for everyone involved.

Events like Fairy Tale Family STEM Night are a wonderful reminder that learning can happen anywhere, especially when families and schools come together!

A colorful, fairy-tale-themed STEM Night display features a woodland scene with a rabbit, mushrooms, and directional signs pointing to different activity stations.A woman dressed in a black fairy-tale costume poses with two young boys holding their STEM Night activity journals near the gym entrance.A smiling woman dressed as a fairy wears a burgundy gown, black corset, leafy headpiece, and green butterfly wings.Two women dressed in fairy-tale costumes pose together in front of a colorful woodland-themed display at STEM Night.A student volunteer smiles behind a STEM activity table featuring measuring tools, colorful cubes, and instructions for the "Measure Like a Giant" station.A young girl uses a ruler to measure oversized animal footprints on the gym floor while an adult kneels beside her during STEM Night.Two volunteers stand behind a table filled with craft supplies beneath a large "Jack and the Beanstalk" sign at STEM Night.Two student volunteers stand behind a STEM activity table filled with colorful building materials, stuffed bears, and a "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears" sign.A family of five poses together in front of a colorful "The Elves and the Shoemaker" display at STEM Night.An adult and a young girl smile behind a table filled with colorful building blocks and stuffed animals at a fairy-tale-themed STEM station.A young girl wearing a handmade crown holds colorful building cubes at a STEM activity table, with fairy-tale displays in the background.Two young children dressed as princesses pose in front of a decorative "Once Upon a Time" backdrop featuring a castle, flowers, and butterflies.An adult in a red Lansing Lions jacket helps two students explore measuring tools and activity instructions at a STEM Night station.Two boys smile for a photo in the gymnasium during STEM Night, one wearing an orange animal costume and the other holding an activity journal.A young child dressed as a mermaid crouches on the gym floor while using a tape measure to measure colorful animal footprints.Families and volunteers participate in fairy-tale-themed STEM activities around decorated tables in the elementary school gymnasium.Students and family members work together at a "The Little Mermaid" STEM station, using activity materials and colorful containers.Two adults work together to steady a tall tower of stacked cardboard boxes during a STEM engineering challenge in the gymnasium.A young girl reacts with surprise while looking at activity cards at a STEM Night table, accompanied by two adults, with a tall cardboard tower in the background.A young boy in a navy blue hoodie writes in his STEM Night activity journal while an adult leans over to help him on the gymnasium floor.Students participate in a fairy-tale-themed STEM activity at the Cinderella station, using colorful beads and worksheets while adults and a volunteer dressed as a fairy assist.A young girl wearing a paper crown works with an adult at a STEM building station filled with colorful blocks. Other families participate in activities and build cardboard towers in the background.