Delaware Science Outreach for Libraries & Groups
DASEF Library Programs & Local Outreach
Check our calendar for Saturday and Eyes on the Skies Programs as well as Family Days!
Librarians, Early Childhood, or Other Community Instructors:
DASEF offers programs at our Outpost in Smyrna, or we can bring our Science Outreach experiences to your Library, Early Childhood Center, or other Community Group for up to 25 students at a time. A classroom space is required to facilitate this traveling program at your school or site. With the exception of basic classroom supplies, all materials for the program are provided. Adult help is required for some of the hands-on activities, so parent chaperones are encouraged to participate (See our Chaperone Policy). Finally, check out our Scheduling Page for pricing and other details.
Our Offerings are described below, but all can be adapted to meet your specific curriculum needs!
Learn More About Our Offerings!
Around the Coral Reef
Around the Coral Reef
Bring your young undersea explorer to the library for a trip to a coral reef. You and your child will learn about forces, assemble a beautiful coral reef puzzle, use your imaginations to make a coral reef and its inhabitants from Shapescape building pieces, color some fish and other life from the coral reef, and make and take home a coral reef scene as you learn about this fascinating ecosystem. No scuba gear required - just an inquisitive mind!
Constructing Your Own Fun
Constructing Your Own Fun
Get right down on the floor and build something! Use our pieces to make your own structure, and make a roller coaster that will give a ball a looping thrill ride. Take the challenge to build the tallest tower - quickly, before it falls! And take home a picture of one of the world's greatest bridges to color. Build a great day with us!
Discovering Fossils
Discovering Fossils
Can't take your students to a fossil dig site? Bring our fossils to your classroom. Your students will learn how fossils were formed and assemble a floor model of a Protoceratops dinosaur skeleton. They will match fossil imprints to the mammal foot that made them, see real fossils and petrified wood from our collections, and they'll each make a model of a dinosaur skeleton to take home. Let them explore the world beneath their feet!
How Things Move
How Things Move
Give your young engineer some challenges in design and construction that make things move! You and your child will build a structure with moving gears, assemble and test a model vehicle, build and experiment with magnetic gears, and make and take home your own climbing creature or tumble wing glider. Dust off your thinking caps - you're going to need them!
Insects Aren't As Yucky As You Think
Insects Aren't As Yucky As You Think
Did your child ever get "bugged" by an insect? Come to the library to study some friendly ones. Your child will learn about the life cycle of a ladybug and the life cycle of a Monarch butterfly, with little hand-sized models. See our collections of dearly departed insects and work with your child to create their own insect model. Take home a picture of an insect to color. Plus you'll find insect books by Eric Carle - need we say more?
Kaleidoscope Wonders
Kaleidoscope Wonders
Has your little scientist ever taken apart a kaleidoscope? You and your child will explore kaleidoscopes using a tabletop model and make and reflect a geometric design into infinity! Also make and take your own simple kaleidoscope viewer. You can even check out a few dazzling books while you're there. What fun!
Make a Date With Dinosaurs
Make a Date With Dinosaurs
Too young for a scary trip through Jurassic Park? Our dinosaurs are much more tame. Complete a dinosaur puzzle, make and take a dinosaur mask, build your own dinosaur with Clics Building Blocks, and learn a little about meat and plant eaters with a bucket of our prehistoric pals. Bring your camera for a photo-op with our interactive Stegosaurus, Sarah. You'll rooooar for more!
Magnet Tricks for Young Scientists
Magnet Tricks for Young Scientists
Calling all "attractive" youngsters with a "magnetic personality"! It's time to come to the library to learn lots about magnets. You'll start by seeing and hearing a read-aloud of our Magnets Big Book. Then use special object collections to discover which materials magnets attract, test various magnet shapes to see their magnetic fields, play with attracting and repelling poles of circular magnets, go "fishing" in the magnetic fish pond, and make and take home a refrigerator magnet. This science will stick with you!


