Maryland STEM Festival kicks off this week! Get ready for tons of events aimed at exposing kids and teens to science, technology, engineering and mathematics. I've combed through the hundreds of events planned throughout the state and put together a guide for those of us in the DC metro area. The Prince George's County Memorial Library System has a bunch of events geared towards ages 5-12 labeled STEM Labs and STEM Fun. The Montgomery County Public Libraries have similar events; however, more of them are geared towards upper elementary and middle school students. The University of Maryland will also host a bunch of open houses and workshops at several of their campuses geared towards middle and high school students. Most of these events are free and open to the general public. Check out the guide linked below and stay tuned to social media for event highlights as the month-long celebration rolls on. Happy Planning!
Sarah Acors
Creator of 4DMV Kids & Founder of BCB DMV+
Upcoming Events
Top Activities This Weekend
Washington, DC
- [Last Chance] Thursday (10/16) – Sunday (10/19) | The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe at Museum of the Bible ($)
- Saturday (10/18) at 7:00 am | Race for Every Child at Freedom Plaza in NW DC ($)
- Walk or run a 5K for Children’s National Hospital patients and families. Kids Dash at 10:00 am!
- [Just Added] Saturday (10/18) at 10:00 am | Kids Euro Fest Family Day at the Spanish Cultural Center in NW (Best for ages 2-12)
- Includes performances, story times, crafts, activities & workshops from 15 European countries!
- Saturday (10/18) at 10:00 am | MVT Fall Fun Day 2025 in NW
- Includes a kids parade, doggie costume party + free activities & more!
- Saturday (10/18) at 10:00 am | Planet Word’s 5th Wordiversary Celebration: A Free Community Day at Planet Word in NW
- Listen to gallery pop-up talks from curatorial staff, participate in live experiments by the Language Science Station, relax with word games, tasty treats, and music in our Wordplay Lounge in the Mansard Room, and enter for a chance to win exciting raffle prizes such as a free Lexicon Lane experience and more!
- Saturday (10/18) at 10:00 am | The Big Build at The National Building Museum
- FREE, hands-on festival celebrating the world we design and build. Kids of all ages will explore a wide variety of unique, interactive activities from professions including plumbing, home remodeling, construction, woodworking, and many more.
- Saturday (10/18) at 10:00 am | Mid-Atlantic Grain Fair at Rock Creek Park
- The Grain Fair brings farmers, millers, and bakers from across the region to Rock Creek Park for a day of cooking and milling demonstrations, hands-on activities, live music, and a vendor market filled with local, whole-grain foods!
- Saturday (10/18) & Sunday (10/19) | DIY in DC Festival at MLK Memorial Library (Best for ages 5+)
- Cross-genre sound, experimental storytelling, improvised movement, artmaking, and more—a full-spectrum celebration of DIY experimentation in Washington, DC.
- Sunday (10/19) at 2:00 pm | 53rd Annual Black Student Fund & Latino Student Fund School Fair at UDC
- The BSF/LSF Annual School Fair is a forum for families to learn about independent school education and engage students, teachers and administrators from more than 70 local and national independent schools and educational programs. This event will also include workshops, recorded content and a digital resources library, as well as Greenbelt Cinema raffles.
Maryland
- Saturday (10/18) at 11:00 am | 17th Annual American Indian Festival 2025 at Patuxent River Park
- Includes live music, DIY arts & crafts, interactive storytelling, demos & more!
- Saturday (10/18) at 11:00 am | Spooky Festival at The Collection Chevy Chase
- Includes games, kids crafts, music, a petting zoo, and other attractions.
- Saturday (10/18) at 11:00 am | Harvest Festival at Riversdale House Museum Historic Site
- Learn about Maryland’s harvest traditions, and make sure you peek inside the dependency and see what the Riversdale Kitchen Guild is cooking up!
- Saturday (10/18) at 12:00 pm | College Park Day 2025 at College Park Aviation Museum
- Three stages of live music and performances, 17+ food & drink vendors, artist alley, activities and games for all ages, museum entry & more!
- Saturday (10/18) at 12:00 pm | Grandparents Celebration at Germantown Community Recreation Center
- Includes crafts, games, karaoke & light refreshments!
- Saturday (10/18) at 1:00 pm | Fall Festival at Potomac Community Recreation Center
- Activities will include face painting, games, fall-themed crafts, a moon bounce and much more.
- Sunday (10/19) at 11:00 am | Halloween on the Green at Cabin John Village in Potomac
- Enjoy a fun-filled foam party, live music, face painting, balloon art, Halloween mask decorating and more!
Northern Virginia
- Saturday (10/18) at 10:00 am | Kids Baking Fun! at Cookology in Arlington ($)
- Bake Blueberry Strussel Muffins & Strawberry Shortcakes
- Saturday (10/18) at 11:00 am | Pumpkin Palooza at Lee-Fendall House in Alexandria ($)
- Includes a historic home scavenger hunt, Fall holidays educational table, arts & crafts, pumpkin painting & more!
- Saturday (10/18) at 12:00 pm | Pike Fest 2025 at Penrose Square in Arlington
- Enjoy local food and drinks, music, family-friendly activities, and pike photos, all designed to showcase and uplift the businesses that make the Pike special.
- Saturday (10/18) at 3:00 pm | Annual Spooky Mad Science Expo at Patrick Henry Recreation Center in Alexandria
- Includes a STEM costume parade, science activities, games, prizes, live DJ & food trucks!
- Sunday (10/19) at 10:00 am | Make Family Brunch at Cookology in Arlington ($) (Best for ages 8+)
- Make Focaccia, Shakshuka & Blueberry Muffins!
More Adventures
Celebrate Culture
- Sunday (10/19) at 2:00 pm | Celebrate Diwali at Olney Library
- Celebrate Diwali with a recital featuring traditional Indian music, including vocals, sitar, and tabla. Learn about the history of traditional Indian music through an introductory instruction of each of the featured instruments.
Create Art
- Saturday (10/18) at 9:30 am | Arts & Crafts at iGEN Educational Academy at Eastern Market in SE DC ($)
- Saturday (10/18) at 10:00 am | Create a Play Firehouse at Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores
- Saturday (10/18) at 11:00 am | Art Enables Saturday Workshop – Mandala Magic: Exploring Doodle Art in NE DC
- Sunday (10/19) at 11:00 am | Family Craft Along: Make a Stuffed Monster! at Made with Love DC in NE ($) (Best for ages 5+)
Northern Virginia
- Saturday (10/18) at 10:00 am | Take and Make Paper Pumpkin Mosaics at Columbia Pike Library
- Saturday (10/18) at 10:30 am | Ooey Gooey Slime Making at the Innovation Studio in Arlington
- Saturday (10/18) at 11:00 am | Animal Wonders featuring Do-A-Dot Art! at Lakeshore Learning in. Alexandria ($)
- Sunday (10/19) at 1:30 pm | Tiny Tot: Pumpkin Painting at Long Branch Nature Center in Arlington ($) (Best for ages 18 months – 35 months)
Theater & Musical Performances
- Thursday (10/16) – Sunday (10/19) | Adventure Theatre’s Not Your Mother’s Goose at Glen Echo Park ($)
- Saturday (10/18) at 11:00 am & Sunday (10/19) at 2:00 pm | InterAct Story Theatre’s Encore Performance: Bobtail Bong Bong: A Monkey’s Tale at Highland Elementary School in Wheaton, MD
- Saturday (10/18) & Sunday (10/19) | The Puppet Co. Presents Jennie the Cat: A Halloween Adventure at Glen Echo Park ($)
- Sunday (10/19) at 2:00 pm | Uncle Devin’s in the Pocket Go-Go Show at Prince George’s Publick Playhouse ($) (Best for ages 3-12) ♥
- Get ready to Go-Go with Uncle Devin! Inspired by the official music of Washington, D.C., this interactive concert uses original tunes, funky grooves, and the DC style of African call-and-response to have children experience the infectious energy of a live Go-Go.
Maryland STEM Festival
- Friday (10/17) at 11:00 am | Egg Drop Engineering with Science Connections at Twinbrook Library in Rockville (Best for ages 6-10)
- Friday (10/17) at 2:00 pm | Make a Haunted Halloween House! at Olney Library (Best for ages 8-17)
- Saturday (10/18) at 2:00 pm | Legos: Creative Club at Upper Marlboro Library
- Saturday (10/18) at 2:00 pm | Guess Who? STEM Game for Young People at Long Branch Library in Silver Spring (Best for ages 12-18)
- Saturday (10/18) at 2:00 pm | Ooey, Gooey Science: STEM at Germantown Library (Best for ages 5+)
- Make slime!
- Saturday (10/18) at 4:00 pm | STEM Program: Animate the Stars! at White Oak Library (Best for middle & high school students)
- Animation professor Laurence Arcadias and NASA astronomer Robin Corbet team up to show us how to use state of the art animation techniques to illustrate the movements of the stars and planets!
- Sunday (10/19) at 11:00 am | Make Your Own Marble Roller Coaster at Kensington Park Library (Best for ages 10-17)
- Design your own roller coaster. Using cardboard tubing, tape, and ingenuity, you will create a “roller coaster” for marbles. See what kind of engineering feat you can accomplish.
STEM Events in Northern Virginia
- Sunday (10/19) at 1:00 pm | Slime Time at Old Town Books Junior in Alexandria ($) (Best for ages 5+)
- Sunday (10/19) at 1:30 pm | Traveling with Light Planetarium Show at Arlington’s David M. Brown Planetarium ($)
- Travelling with Light uses a conversation between a child and his mother to learn the importance of light in many areas of our lives.
- Sunday (10/19) at 3:00 pm | Mars: The Ultimate Voyage Planetarium Show at Arlington’s David M. Brown Planetarium ($)
Storytimes & Book Events
- Friday (10/17) at 10:30 am | Author Meet & Greet featuring Amy Timberlake of Rock Paper Incisors at Politics & Prose on Connecticut Avenue in NW DC (Best for ages 8-12)
- Saturday (10/18) at 10:30 am | Ello Hour! at Parklands-Turner Neighborhood Library in SE
- Ello is your fun, interactive read-along companion that helps Kindergarten to 3rd Grade children become confident, joyful readers. Families are invited to explore this exciting new early literacy resource together!
- Saturday (10/18) at 11:30 am | Story Explorers: Beginning Readers at Largo-Kettering Library (Best for ages 5-8)
- Saturday (10/18) at 4:00 pm | “I Am Not Your Literature” Book Launch at Arts’tination at National Harbor
- Be among the first to experience Saniya’s book, hear the poet share their work, and learn about the journey to becoming Youth Poet Laureate.
- Saturday (10/18) at 5:00 pm | Scary Stories Around the Campfire at Old Town Bowie Welcome Center in MD
- Listen as Conductor O’Brien shares chilling stories of eerie local hauntings, then warm up with s’mores and hot chocolate. Halloween costumes are encouraged. This free, family-friendly event does not require registration!
- Sunday (10/19) at 9:30 am | October Chapter Chasers Book Club at Old Town Books Junior (Best for ages 6-8)
- Sunday (10/19) at 10:30 am | Halloween Family Storytime at Rockville Memorial Library
- Sunday (10/19) at 11:00 am | Drag Story Hour with Tiffany D. Carter at Loyalty Petworth in NW DC
Watch Movies
- Friday (10/17) at 6:00 pm | Outdoor Movie Night featuring How to Train Your Dragon at Flower Avenue Urban Park in Silver Spring, MD
- Friday (10/17) at 6:35 pm | Free Movies on the Plaza featuring Ghostbusters at Union Market
- Friday (10/17) at 7:00 pm | Halloweentown at Yards Park in SE DC
Sensory Friendly & Accessible
- Saturday (10/18) at 10:15 am | Sensory Storytime at Central Library in Arlington (Best for ages 0-11)
- Saturday (10/18) at 10:30 am | Down Syndrome and Friends Community Playgroup at Lamond-Riggs Neighborhood Library in NE DC (Best for ages 0-12)
- Saturday (10/18) at 2:00 pm | Accessible Movie Screening: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice at MLK Memorial Library in DC
- Shown with ASL and open captions right on the screen.
- Sunday (10/19) at 9:00 am | Sensory Friendly Sunday at Port Discovery in Baltimore ($)
For Older Kids & Teens
Washington, DC
- Friday (10/17) at 3:30 pm | Teen Maker Lab – Cricut It! at Parklands-Turner Neighborhood Library in SE (Best for ages 13+)
- Saturday (10/18) at 10:00 am | Park Care Day – Volunteer Event at Anacostia Park
- Sunday (10/19) at 11:00 am | Teen Volunteer Project: Breakfast Kits for SAMU at Edlavitch DCJCC
Maryland
- Friday (10/17) at 4:00 pm | Teen Life Lab: The Art of Using Your Voice at Bowie Library
- Friday (10/17) & Saturday (10/18) | The Haunted Experience at Rockburn Branch Park in Elkridge ($) (Best for ages 7+)
- Saturday (10/18) at 12:00 pm | 3rd Annual Empower YOUth Resource Fair in Silver Spring
- Saturday (10/18) at 12:00 pm | Tween & Teen Escape Room: Escape from Freddy at Gaithersburg Library (Best for ages 12-17)
- Saturday (10/18) at 5:00 pm | Zombie Chase at Upper Marlboro Community Center ($) (Best for ages 9+)
Northern Virginia
- Friday (10/17) at 6:00 pm | Teen Nights at Gunston Community Center in Arlington
- Saturday (10/18) at 11:00 am | DIY Teens: Rock Painting at Barrett Branch Library in Alexandria (Best for ages 11-18)
- Saturday (10/18) at 11:00 am | Babysitting 101 at Burke Branch Library (Best for ages 13-18)
- Free, all-day training to sharpen your skills on childcare. This program is conducted by HeartsCPR, partner of American Red Cross. Certificates are valid for 10 years.
- Saturday (10/18) at 6:00 pm | Seeing! A Photon’s Journey Across Space, Time and Mind at Arlington’s David M. Brown Planetarium ($) (Best for ages 10+)
- Saturday (10/18) at 7:30 pm | Exploding Universe Planetarium Show at Arlington’s David M. Brown Planetarium ($) (Best for ages 10+)
- Sunday (10/19) at 3:00 pm | Banned Together Documentary (Rated PG-13) at Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse ($)
- A diverse cast of visionary teenagers, stirring public protests, private threats, criminal charges, and drama-filled school board meetings: this is the explosive world of Banned Together. The film pulls back the curtain on two of the most controversial issues in America today: book bans and curriculum censorship in public schools.
This Week's Book Recommendation
Related Blogs
Maryland STEM Festival Events
See the list linked below for Maryland STEM Festival events grouped by age & interest with workshops and activities for older kids & teens too. Stay tuned for updates to this blog as the month-long celebration continues.
2025 HALLOWEEN EVENTS
See the full list of Halloween Celebrations going on around DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia this month. Stay tuned for updates and more events to be added!
