The city of Surprise recently received a grant from First Things First that will provide educational programs tailored for infants through 5-year-olds and their caregivers at no cost to families.

The funding will allow the city’s Human Service and Community Vitality Department to offer activities that focus on S.T.E.M. programming, kindergarten readiness classes, early literacy, parenting classes and more.

To kick things off, HSCV is partnering with the Arizona Science Center to bring their Science on Wheels program to locations across the city.

Events include:

• 3-2-1 Blastoff: Design, build and test your own rockets using a specially engineered stomp rocket launch pad from 1 to 2 p.m. Sept. 26 at Surprise Regional Library, 16089 N. Bullard Ave.
• Colorful Chemistry: Mix up colorful art, try color-changing chemistry experiments and make a lava lamp to take home from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Oct. 9 at Asante Library, 16755 W. Vereda Solano Dr.
• Dino-mite: Explore paleontology by piecing together a skeleton, excavating a dino egg and creating your own fossil from 10 to 11 a.m. Oct. 18 at Surprise Resource Center, 12425 W. Bell Road.

Registration is required for all of the events.

To register, call 623.222.1675, or email jessica.vargas@surpriseaz.gov.