Carnival Day for Kids at UCCS
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Discovery Center Science on a Sphere
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The 2025 Colorado Springs Cool Science Festival • Sep 27 - Oct 12
Scroll down for the full schedule of events
The best (and only) science festival in Colorado is back again with 16 days of fun and engaging events designed to showcase STEAM where it's taking place in Colorado Springs and around the Pikes Peak Region. There are events for all ages- adults, kids, teens and families - and most are absolutely free (some events may have a fee to help the hosts cover their costs). This year we've even included some special pre-festival events on Friday, September 26th to help set the stage for festival fun. If you've ever felt lost in the woods, don't miss Intro to Orienteering at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, while little home schooling scientists can learn about Awesome Arthropods at Fountain Creek Nature Center, and parents can drop off the kiddos for Kids Night Out: Cosmic Quest at Bear Creek Nature Center. There are also 3 new virtual events this year, including Pikes Peak Library Q&A's with famous science authors Mary Roach and Rosemary Mosco.
Of course our biggest and most popular event, the Cool Science Carnival Day for Kids at UCCS will be Saturday, September 27th from 10 am to 4 pm. We'll have dozens of exciting science magic shows, laboratory tours and demos, rockets, slime, drones, live animals, virtual reality, robots, liquid nitrogen treats, and lots of other hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math) activities and exhibits for kids (primarily K-8th grades). It's all FREE (even the parking) and fun for all ages!
We don't forget the folks without young children either. If you aren't going to Carnival Day you might like to try a Beginning Birding Class at Bear Creek Nature Center in the morning, take in a cool science history talk at the Manitou Springs Heritage Museum, Nikola Tesla in Colorado Springs, or relax with a citrus Winery Tour at Evergood Adventure Wines. Either way the entire family will enjoy an evening of stargazing at Mueller State Park's Dark Sky Party.
Once Carnival Day is over, the festival events really kick into high gear. New events this year include Magnets, Motors, Microcontrollers, and Monster Magic on Sep. 29th at Library 21c, where engineers from IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) we let you play with some of their coolest "toys." On Saturday, Oct. 4th kids can build their own free wood project at Home Depot's Kids Workshop, uncover fossils at Concrete Coyote Paleontology Dig Day, learn to bake donuts at Chef's Kitchen, check out the dinosaurs at the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center, or meet real wolf-dogs at Garden of the Gods Visitor Center. Are you brave enough to take the Expedition Cave Tour at Cave of the Winds on Oct. 3rd? On Sunday, Oct. 5th you can hike into Seven Falls to learn about the geology of Tava Sandstone and how it relates to the Snowball Earth event with a Colorado College Geology professor.
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On Oct. 8th kids can study the Science of Pizza, then learn how fish and plants work together on an Aquaponics Tour at Emerge Aquaponics. On Oct. 10th kids can become a Junior Ranger at the Pond in Fountain Creek Nature Center or learn basic outdoor Survival Skills at Mueller State Park, while adults can hone their artistic skills with a Photography Workshop at Rainbow Falls. Saturday, Oct. 11th is another very busy day. Kids of all ages can Fly Model Rockets with COSROCS and watch planetarium shows at Challenger Learning Center, Celebrate African Penguins at the Pueblo Zoo, see Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Science on the Fast Track at the Penrose Heritage Museum.
A lot of our favorite events are also back this year, including the ever-popular, deeply discounted Family Friendly Bats and Cave Tours at Cave of the Winds (Oct. 2), Cool Bugs at the May Natural History Museum (Sep. 28, featuring a bug-hunt safari for kids of all ages between 9am and noon), Space Science Shows at the USAFA Planetarium (Oct. 1), Math in Action at Mathnasium Rockrimmon (Oct. 3), Pikes Peak Behind-the-Scenes Summit House Tours (Oct. 6 & 10), Foothill Elementary School's STEAM Night (Oct. 9), National Fossil Day at Garden of the Gods Visitor Center (Oct. 11), Thomas MacLaren School's Community Stargazing Night (Oct. 11), and for the adults, Science Riot at Ivywild (Oct. 11)>
This is just a small sample of the dozens of special events this year. Some do charge a small fee (often deeply discounted from normal prices) and many require online pre-registration. Check out the schedule below for all the details.
A lot of our favorite events are also back this year, including the ever-popular, deeply discounted Family Friendly Bats and Cave Tours at Cave of the Winds (Oct. 2), Cool Bugs at the May Natural History Museum (Sep. 28, featuring a bug-hunt safari for kids of all ages between 9am and noon), Space Science Shows at the USAFA Planetarium (Oct. 1), Math in Action at Mathnasium Rockrimmon (Oct. 3), Pikes Peak Behind-the-Scenes Summit House Tours (Oct. 6 & 10), Foothill Elementary School's STEAM Night (Oct. 9), National Fossil Day at Garden of the Gods Visitor Center (Oct. 11), Thomas MacLaren School's Community Stargazing Night (Oct. 11), and for the adults, Science Riot at Ivywild (Oct. 11)>
This is just a small sample of the dozens of special events this year. Some do charge a small fee (often deeply discounted from normal prices) and many require online pre-registration. Check out the schedule below for all the details.
2025 Colorado Springs Cool Science Festival Sponsors
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Colorado Springs Cool Science Festival Partners
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Below is the full calendar of festival events. You can view it as a list (default) or by week or month. You can also select which events are displayed by target audience (that's the Select Calendar icon on the right side at the top). Click on any event title for a detailed description and a link to pre-register or purchase tickets. Note that many events require online pre-registration, and some may even require a small reservation fee (to discourage no-shows). You may also choose to show up without a reservation on the day of the event in case there is space available, but we can't promise that you will get in. If you have trouble registering for any events contact us at [email protected] .
You can find more information about the special events and let us know what you think about the festival on our Festival Facebook page, and join our mailing list to keep updated on the festival.
2025 Cool Science Festival Events Schedule (Sep. 27 - Oct. 12)
Download a printable version (713KB PDF) (note that not all events appear on the print version- full schedule below)
** Note: the date settings for the embedded Google Calendar below are not working properly, so use the < > arrow buttons at the top to scroll through the dates from Sep. 26 - Oct. 13.
Download a printable version (713KB PDF) (note that not all events appear on the print version- full schedule below)
** Note: the date settings for the embedded Google Calendar below are not working properly, so use the < > arrow buttons at the top to scroll through the dates from Sep. 26 - Oct. 13.
