Adeline John, 3, attempts to blow up a balloon to make a do-it-yourself hovercraft during a "Saturday Make" STEM project at OH WOW! in Youngstown.

YOUNGSTOWN — “It’s a structure that floats over land,” said Leilanie Premkumar, 8, of Solon, when asked what a hovercraft is.

Premkumar was among other children who spent part of their Saturday blowing up balloons to power do-it-yourself CD hovercrafts that glided and sputtered over the tabletops at OH WOW! The Roger & Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science & Technology.

Every Saturday, OH WOW! holds a STEM — or science, technology, engineering and math — “make” day, where kids are encouraged to learn about scientific or mathematic ideas through crafts.

OH WOW “edutainer” Steven Hall said the “make” projects are meant to be as broad as possible so they’re applicable to all ages. The OH WOW! center itself caters mostly to pre-adolescent group, from toddlers to 10- or 11-year-olds. Hall said the center is also working to aim more activities at young teens, with programs like computer coding.

Edutainer Kelli Young said introducing kids to STEM projects at a young age helps develop important fine motor skills.

“Hand and eye coordination is important at an early age. I just believe that getting them involved with STEM early helps with brain development, especially hand and eye coordination, fine motor skills, social emotional skills,” Young said.

Young said a STEM storytime program on the last Saturday of every month is aimed at introducing even younger children to STEM. The program for 1-, 2- and 3-year-olds involves a story and a simple project like straw rockets, which Young said they made this week.

Hall said STEM projects also help encourage exploration abilities and observation skills.

Sharon Stringer and Ron Sharklee of Liberty brought their granddaughters, Brooke, 10, and Kendall, 7, visiting from the Cleveland area, to the museum Saturday afternoon to keep them engaged and entertained. They found their way to the craft area, and went to work blowing up balloons to power do-it-yourself CD hovercrafts.

“It is really interesting. They put things together that are not expensive but very creative. And you’re learning science and ingenuity and resourcefulness,” Stringer said. “Who would think you could take a party balloon, a soda bottle, a thumbtack and an old CD and learn about science and what makes the CD move. It’s just wonderful.”

Stinger, who teaches childhood development at Youngstown State University, said she’s always learning from OH WOW!, where she and Sharklee, also a teacher at YSU, have brought the girls three or four times.

“They love it. It’s very stimulating — and we try to keep up,” Stringer said.

“We just discovered the crafts area last time,” Sharklee said. “We didn’t realize you could come down here and do ‘make’ stuff.”

Young said the science of the project had to do with the force of the air exiting the balloon.

“As it deflates, it goes through the holes in the bottle caps, and so it pushes against the surface, and it creates a cushion of air over which the CD can glide freely over the surface,” Young said.

Vanessa Acierno helped son Jordan Acierno, 3, attach his balloon the CD hovercraft and let it go.

“You know what else works like this?” Vanessa said. “Air hockey.”

Upcoming “make” projects include printed patterns on Jan. 4, t-shirt no sew hobo bags on Jan. 18, and tie die polka dots on Jan. 25.

avugrincic@tribtoday.com