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Last updated 17-Aug-2025 (be sure to refresh your browser)
For many of our most devoted young fans Cool Science Carnival Day for Kids IS the festival! Carnival Day at UCCS (even though it wasn't called that yet) actually began in 2009, and was such a huge hit that it was a no-brainer when we decided to expand it the following year to create the multi-day celebration of all things STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math) that we all enjoy now. Cool Science Carnival Day for Kids at UCCS is truly STEAM on steroids! As always there will be several exciting demonstration shows, including a Chemistry Magic show from the U.S. Air Force Academy with color changing "potions" and explosions! 
Chemistry Magic Show
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If You're Going
What: Cool Science Carnival Day for Kids ** FREE ** When: Saturday, Sep. 27, 2025 10am-4pm Where: Univ of Colorado- Colo Spgs 1420 Austin Bluffs Pkwy., Colorado Springs (map) Who: Primarily for kids K-8th (fun for all!) Why: Because STEAM Rocks! How: With your help, please donate below |
But there's a lot more than just shows on Carnival Day! We'll have dozens of hands-on STEAM activity stations featuring rockets, robots (LOTS of robots), live fish and zoo animals, race cars, drone soccer, fog bubbles, bicycle and automotive engineering, virtual and augmented reality stations, telescopes, microscopes, mushrooms, 3-D printers, birds and bees and bugs, and fire trucks.
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All of this is presented by Cool Science and dozens of participating companies, schools, museums, clubs, nonprofits and other organizations from throughout eastern Colorado. Best of all, it's FREE (including parking) and fun for all ages!
Don't forget that Carnival Day is just one of dozens of great Colorado Springs Cool Science Festival events for all ages. Check out the full 16+ day schedule for more information.
You can also join our mailing list to keep updated on the festival and Carnival Day.
We still need lots of help to pull this off. Ask about volunteer opportunities for groups and individuals.
Don't forget that Carnival Day is just one of dozens of great Colorado Springs Cool Science Festival events for all ages. Check out the full 16+ day schedule for more information.
You can also join our mailing list to keep updated on the festival and Carnival Day.
We still need lots of help to pull this off. Ask about volunteer opportunities for groups and individuals.
Help us promote Carnival Day
Cool Science Carnival Day Save-the-Date Poster/Flyer (600KB JPG)
Planning Your Visit
- Pre-Registration: Carnival Day is FREE, but please pre-register online to help us to know how many people are coming, kid's ages and how you found out about the event. It only takes a couple minutes.
- Pre-Arrival: If you like to prepare for big events in advance, you can download a copy of our Carnival Day Map/Flyer (coming soon) to plan your route through all the fun activities.
- Best Time to Come: We expect about 8,000 people to attend throughout the day, so it's always best to arrive earlier.
- Parking: All campus parking lots are FREE on Carnival Day, but fill up quickly. Check the campus parking map for more information.
- Arrival/Information: Our activities will be spread across much of the UCCS Central (main) campus, inside and outside the University Center (UCTR), Centennial Hall (CENT), Gallogly Events Center (GEC), Osborne Center (OCSE), and the new Anschutz Engineering Center (AEC). We will have maps and volunteers to assist you at the main entrances to each of these buildings, but a good place to start is the University Center Lower Plaza Information Table (just to the right of "KFL" on this campus map).
- Food: We expect the University Center food court, Cafe 65, will be open as well as the coffee shop, also in the University Center (exact times for each coming soon). The variety and quantity of food available may be limited, however, so you may want to bring your own snacks.
- Weather: We'll go rain or shine. If it is raining, snowing or extremely cold we will move most of the outside activities indoors, and of course the majority of our activity stations are already indoors.
- Social Media: Help us spread the word. Please share this page with your friends (Facebook "Like" and "Share" buttons above) and share your comments and photos with us on our Carnival Day Facebook event page (and be sure to Like us on our Facebook page too). We're also on Instagram and TikTok. Use the hashtag #CSCSF. BTW we post a cool STEAM activity that we like from the internet every day on our Facebook page- check it out and give us a Like!
- T-Shirts: The official 2025 Cool Science Festival T-shirt will be announced soon. Youth and adult's sizes will be available only at the University Center (UCTR) Lower Plaza Information Table (just to the right of "KFL" on this campus map) for a donation to Cool Science ($15/youth, $20/adult, cash only).
Some T-shirts from previous years may also be available for a reduced donation.
* Please help us keep this event admission FREE *
Make a suggested donation of $2/child ($5/family)
Donate at Information Tables (cash only) or online through ColoradoGives
Make a suggested donation of $2/child ($5/family)
Donate at Information Tables (cash only) or online through ColoradoGives
Demonstration Shows, Labs, Tours and Workshops:
** More coming soon! **
U.S. Air Force Academy: Chemistry Magic Show
Show Times: TBD (~50 minutes)
Always a fan favorite, experience the wonders of chemistry! "Potions" will change colors, explode and even freeze right before your eyes (all ages, Centennial 203).
Black's Magic Productions: Magic Mission to Mars!
Show Times: TBD (~50 minutes)
Master Magician Bruce Black blends comedy, magic and science principles to take everyone on an amazing magical journey to the Planet Mars! (all ages, Centennial 203).
UCCS Geology Minor and the Geology Club: Trashcan Volcano Demonstrations
Show Times: TBD (~40 minutes)
Prof. Jennifer McLeod and students will recreate the processes that go on inside a volcano prior to an explosive volcanic eruption using a large trash can, water, balls to represent tephra (volcanic rock debris), and a water bottle filled with liquid nitrogen! (University Center Upper Plaza).
UCCS Physics: Rock & Roll Band
Performance Times: 11:30 am and 12:30 pm (~40 minutes)
Enjoy a group of UCCS faculty (mainly physics faculty) performing classic rock and roll music from a range of decades. (all ages, outside University Center Upper Plaza stage).
Show Times: TBD (~50 minutes)
Always a fan favorite, experience the wonders of chemistry! "Potions" will change colors, explode and even freeze right before your eyes (all ages, Centennial 203).
Black's Magic Productions: Magic Mission to Mars!
Show Times: TBD (~50 minutes)
Master Magician Bruce Black blends comedy, magic and science principles to take everyone on an amazing magical journey to the Planet Mars! (all ages, Centennial 203).
UCCS Geology Minor and the Geology Club: Trashcan Volcano Demonstrations
Show Times: TBD (~40 minutes)
Prof. Jennifer McLeod and students will recreate the processes that go on inside a volcano prior to an explosive volcanic eruption using a large trash can, water, balls to represent tephra (volcanic rock debris), and a water bottle filled with liquid nitrogen! (University Center Upper Plaza).
UCCS Physics: Rock & Roll Band
Performance Times: 11:30 am and 12:30 pm (~40 minutes)
Enjoy a group of UCCS faculty (mainly physics faculty) performing classic rock and roll music from a range of decades. (all ages, outside University Center Upper Plaza stage).
Hands-on Activity Stations:
** Many more coming soon! **
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Aerospace Ham Radio Club: Check out the club's emergency communications trailer and use the club's radios to talk to other 'hams' on several amateur radio bands. Autism Vision of Colorado: Make dinosaur scratch ornaments and dinosaur tracks with Play-doh. Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences (UCCS): The Simulation Learning Center presents a hands-on adventure in healthcare! Listen to heart and lung sounds using a stethoscope, respond to a simulated medical emergency with an EpiPen, and perform a physical assessment on our manikin patient. Bricks & Minifigs: Design, build and race a LEGO® derby car on our 4-lane derby car track, then tweak your design to go faster! C Cubed Training: Are you a Pentester? Use a mock Instagram site to find bits of personal information that should not be shared, then use that information, to decipher the poster's password. Cave of the Winds Mountain Park: Learn how some caves and rocks form with our Geology Lab, and some of the critters you might find in a cave. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo: [10am to 2pm only] Interact with live animals and touchable biofacts from the ZOOMobile. You might meet snakes, hedgehogs, lizards, or who knows what else. Children's Hospital Colorado: Coming soon... Colorado Parks and Wildlife: Experience why the wildlife and fish native to Colorado are so important at this hands-on activity station with live fish. Colorado Springs Astronomical Society: Safely observe the sun's surface and its atmosphere using our special filtered telescopes. We'll also hand out free solar viewers and UV bead bracelets. Colorado Springs Fire Department: [10am to noon only] Get up close and personal as CSFD firefighters demonstrate the equipment and capabilities of their fire engine. Colorado Springs Rocket Society & Estes Rockets: Build a quality Estes Rocket Model that will take to the skies! COSROCS members will be on stand-by to help with the construction and to answer any questions you may have on rockets (OCSE A327). The Colorado Springs School: Learn about friction through experimentation. Build (& rebuild) LEGO cars using different sizes, shapes, & textures of wheels, then race them on a track/ramp to determine which wheels go the fastest & why. Colorado Springs Utilities: You're a cathodic protection engineer for the day to determine which metal is the best sacrificial anode to protect pipes from rusting. Cool Science: Something fun TBD! Cougars Gone Wired (D11 FIRST Robotics Team): Play robot soccer with Vex IQ robots while the team demonstrates their new full-size 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition robot. El Paso County Nature Centers: Use magnifying glasses and microscopes to meet the tiny swimming creatures often overlooked in our ponds and streams. Fort Carson Veterinary Center: Learn about veterinary anatomy with animal skeletal models and by playing interactive games to guess the x-ray anomaly or animal species and identify skeletal bones. Front Range Community College - Optics & Laser Technology: Learn about optics, lasers and quantum science while experimenting with a variety of fun activities. GO TEAM Therapy, Airport and Crisis Dogs: Visit with our very special dogs. Minerals Education Coalition: Learn how valuable mineral resources are discovered and mined as you pan for gold in sand- and keep what you find! Missile Defense Agency: Learn about controlled flight while designing, building and launching your own inflatable missile, hoop glider or gyrocopter. Mobile Earth + Space Observatory (MESO): Check out our cool space science RV with telescopes, an augmented reality sandbox, a gravity well and more hands-on activities. |
National Museum of World War II Aviation: Build and test-fly a foam plane that showcases the physics of flight and some of the control systems used by airplanes/gliders, then take it with you for more fun at home! Nature & Wildlife Discovery Center: Explore our skins and skulls touch table, learn about our resident raptors and even meet and greet with some live birds of prey (OCSE B213). Patrick Henry Elementary School (D-11): Try your hand at programming Ozobots and Sphero Indis using color codes. You will also observe a 3D printer making objects designed by students at Henry Elementary. Pueblo Zoo: Bird Beak Buffet: a hands-on challenge where you become bird scientists (ornithologists!) and explore the wild world of bird beak adaptations that help birds find food and survive in their habitats. Pikes Peak Library District: You will be the engineer with our soft and giant Big Blue Blocks. What will you build? Pikes Peak Regional Science and Engineering Fair: Middle and high school science fair participants will present their projects and explain the difference between a science demonstration and an experiment. Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center: Hold and feel some of our amazing fossils and learn about the dinosaurs that ruled the prehistoric world. Schriever SFB School Liaison's Program: Learn about the science of ultraviolet light and it change the colors of UV beads. Also use our 3D pens to draw, build, and create anything you can imagine—right in the air! Scouting America Pathway to the Rockies Council: Build a LEGO racer to test on our racetrack, model rockets, and more. Slalom. ** Festival Sponsor **: Make “galaxy slime” with glitter, glow powder, or color-changing pigments, while learning about non-Newtonian fluids and how certain planets might have unusual materials on their surfaces. U.S. Army 1-41IN, Fort Carson: Soldiers from Ft. Carson will demonstrate some of their armored vehicles, mortar systems, and protective gear. U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Play some fun games to learn about protecting our environment. UCCS American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics: Tour the UCCS Space Systems Lab highlighting high altitude balloon and sounding rocket launches (Anschutz 102).
UCCS Cognitive Development Lab: Is it easier to remember pictures or words, and why do you think that? Play our fun memory game and win prizes to learn how you remember information. UCCS Cyber Security Programs Office: Learn about Cybersecurity- what it is, and the jobs it offers- through games, activities, career guidance, prizes, and several VR (virtual reality) stations. UCCS Data Driven Modeling & Machine Learning Lab: Believe it or not- you will levitate small objects using only sound waves! UCCS Design, Build, Fly: See the competition RC aircraft that the DBF student team made, They'll demonstrate how it works while controlling it on the ground and some wind tunnel testing. UCCS Geology Minor and the Geology Club: Explore Earth's Treasures with a variety of rocks, minerals, and fossils (CENT 115). UCCS MAE Machine Shop: Take a tour of the Engineering Machine Shop- see lathes, mills, 3D printers, and have fun with penny catapults (OCSE A-303). Utility Robotics Engineering: Learn about engineering robots. We're Cookin' Now! presented by Chef's Kitchen: We'll demonstrate culinary science through multiple interactive and hands-on activities related to cooking and baking at altitude. |
** Many more coming soon! **
Colorado Springs Cool Science Carnival Day Sponsors
Colorado Springs Cool Science Carnival Day Partners
Thanks to all of our Cool Science volunteers and the participating organizations that make Carnival Day possible!
Disclaimer: Please be aware that by attending this event, you consent to your likeness being used, without compensation, in photography for use in any and all media, whether known or subsequent. You release Cool Science, its successors, assigns and licensees from any liability whatsoever of any nature.
Disclaimer: Please be aware that by attending this event, you consent to your likeness being used, without compensation, in photography for use in any and all media, whether known or subsequent. You release Cool Science, its successors, assigns and licensees from any liability whatsoever of any nature.
