Fun Slides Carpet Skatepark is happy to offer an exciting STEM field trip opportunity in the Pittsburgh area for grades 2-6 centered around the effect ultraviolet light has on materials like paint, fabric, plastic, carpeting, and so much more! By using UV bulbs that emit harmless, highly energetic, and invisible light certain substances, like the paint on our walls, can absorb and re-emit it at a different wavelength, making the light visible and giving the paint the appearance of it glowing. This is called fluorescence, and this process helps materials glow, and the brighter the neon is, the better the chance the colors will glow.

Each participant will be taking part in multiple fun hands-on activities throughout the park, in groups, to teach them more about the science behind ultraviolet light. For one of these activities, kids are given a coloring sheet featuring our mascot Slippy. The challenge is to make him glow as much as possible! There are a variety of tools given to make this happen, such as crayons, markers, and highlighters. It is up to you to decide which colors or tools to use to make Slippy as bright as possible. Not every tool will glow, so it is important to pay attention to which items have the most fluorescence. To see which one glows the most, we turn off the overhead lights and activate the UV lights!