Austin children on Monday quickly showed friends and families they weren’t afraid to tackle a challenge.

And, there were plenty of challenges to try and demonstrate during the family STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) night at I. J. Holton Intermediate School.

From “Mystery Math” and creating toothpick towers; to playing an instrument to exploring circuits, the students and parents lined up to try something new.

Take Michael Dube for instance, who was participating in an activity called, “Float Your Boat.” Using only aluminum foil, pennies and a small tank of water, he tried different designs for a “boat” created out of the aluminum foil, eventually hitting on the shape of a square to find out about things like distributed weight. He found he could load up to 25 pennies or more in the small boat before the boat sank; he was sure when he began it would only be seven.

“Wow,”  he said, looking at his mom, Carolyn.

It was an evening of “Wows,” as students, along with parents, worked on designs, engineering, math challenges, and computer programming.

As well, students had the opportunity to show their art and musical talents in other demonstrations.

So much was going at various activity stations and offices, that on that it took two floors to contain it.

Ella Slowinski and her twin sister, Kassidy, both 10, were in town from their home in Lyle. It marked the third trip, they said, they had made to Holton for activities.

They were both trying to create mini-catapults with tongue depressors, rubber bands, and other items.

“I thought it sounded like fun,” said Ella.

“And I wanted to play games,” said Kassidy.