STEAM
Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math
S.T.E.A.M. Learning Lab
The Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) Innovation Lab is now open and will host drop-in events every day. The Lab is designed to provide students, teachers and visiting families with enriching hands-on STEAM learning experiences. Learn more about STEAM programs that are included with museum admission here >>
STEAM programs are sponsored by Granite State Development Corporation, Breezeline, Eversource, Sprague, and Novocure.
Thank you to our STEAM Innovation Lab founding sponsors Thermo Fisher Scientific, The Roger R. and Theresa S. Thompson Endowment Fund, Granite State Development Corporation and the Horne Family Foundation.
Yellow Submarine
NAVIGATE OUR YELLOW SUB THROUGH AN UNDERSEA ENVIRONMENT.
Identify the creatures that live here in the Gulf of Maine.
Operate the periscope to secretly search the museum above you. Identify mysterious deep-sea sounds at the listening station, and use sonar to measure your distance from approaching objects.
Take a shift at the propeller or take a break and choose a bunk.
Go for a 'swim' outside of the submarine and scare away the fish on our Motion Sensor wall.
Build It! Fly It!
Fascinated by flight? Learn about aerodynamics and exercise your creativity in our Build It, Fly It exhibit.
Start at the construction station and engineer your own flying machine using colorful foam pieces in a variety of shapes.
Next, place your unique invention onto a 30-foot vertical, hand-powered conveyor system and crank it up through the rafters.
Watch as your creation is released at the very top to see if it flies, flutters or falls.
Following in the footsteps of scientists and inventors, you can then redesign and retest your flying machine to try and improve your results. Anyone can be an engineer in this fun and creative environment.
More Flight Fun:
Try out our Bernoulli Blower in the corner of Build It, Fly It, underneath a giant sculpture of a rocket ship! Bernoulli’s principle, named after Daniel Bernoulli, is all about air speed and pressure and relates to the science of flight. Kids can explore this concept by introducing balls of different densities, and scarves into a steady flow of air and observing what happens!
Then enjoy airplane cockpit with an instrument panel for imaginative play is being constructed and will be installed soon in the corner opposite the Bernoulli Blower.
Light! Shadow! Action!
An Interactive Classroom
Lights! Shadow! Action! is an interactive classroom incorporating low-profile interactive technology that can quickly transform a classroom to an exhibit space with a flip of the switch.
Create colorful designs with Everbright, an interactive LED light wall for all ages with a 4-foot by 4-foot grid of hundreds of adjustable color dials that rotate endlessly in either direction through the color spectrum.
Explore color mixing with light at the Additive Mixture “Shadow” exhibit, which shines red, green and blue LED lights onto a white wall to create a white light. When any of those light beams are interrupted, it creates a different color shadow on the wall.
Move and groove with “BEAM,” a virtual playground of sight and sound that features rotating games for different ages and skill levels. There are no moving parts, just your body interacting with the 5-foot by 8-foot game projected on the floor.
Thank you to the generous exhibit sponsors including:
Roger R. & Theresa S. Thompson Endowment Fund
Samuel P. Hunt Foundation
Abbie F. Moseley Charitable Trust
TD Bank Foundation
Music Matrix
Explore and experiment with Music Matrix, an interactive sound sculpture full of shapes and colors. By gently placing your hands flat on different areas of the wall, you will magically create 40 different musical sounds. Combine the sounds to compose your own music, or "jam" with your friends.
Look across to Sound Watch to see what sound waves look like. As you place your hand on each Music Matrix panel, corresponding sound waves dance across a plasma TV screen at different frequencies and illuminate a network of brightly-colored, pulsating lights.
Muse Studio
This art studio features a magnet table, inspiring artwork and fun technology for story telling.
Each month, Children's Museum of New Hampshire educators present new themed activities in the Muse Studio, where visitors can use their imaginations to create and explore. Each theme will have projects suited for both younger and older children to enjoy.
STEAM programs are sponsored by Granite State Development Corporation, Breezeline, Eversource, Sprague, and Novocure. Arts programs are supported by the Abbie F. Moseley Charitable Trust.
Thinkering Lab
Inside the Thinkering Lab visitors take on the roles of designer and engineer. This exhibit is regularly updated with different materials and themes. The latest theme "Raceways" opened in 2023 and features two hills with magnetic racing tracks that kids can build to their own design, and then test out with the many mini race cars on hand. Visitors are always encouraged to take risks and make discoveries as they put their own stamp on their creations and test their theories in the world.
Milo the Moose, mascot of Raceways exhibit sponsor Speedway Children's Charities at NH Motor Speedway, helps kids celebrate the opening of this new exhibit!
Coin Maze
An old favorite exhibit has taken on new life, thanks to a generous donation from Holy Rosary Credit Union. The Children's Museum of New Hampshire's Coin Maze, a popular spot where children drop in pennies and dimes to watch them tumble through obstacles, was redesigned in February 2015.
"We are thankful to Holy Rosary Credit Union for sponsoring the creation of a new, re-imagined Coin Maze exhibit for the Children's Museum of New Hampshire,” said Jane Bard, President of the Children's Museum of New Hampshire. “For more than a decade, children and adults have delighted in this Rube-Goldberg-type exhibit. Holy Rosary's generous support has allowed us to improve our visitor's experience and add a new component of financial literacy to the exhibit."