The sounds of giggles and cheers filled the auditorium of Franklin Elementary School on Friday as students and family members gathered for the second annual "Family Science Night," sponsored by the Lehighton school's PTO.

It was a chance for kids to explore the fun side of science with hands-on activities, and to share what they've learned with family and friends."It's extremely important to get kids interested in science and to have kids doing fun things with science," said Tiffany Strausberger, a fourth-grade teacher at Franklin Elementary and the organizer of the event.She noted that as teachers are asked to cover more material in the classroom, it's become difficult to make time for hands-on activities like the ones featured at the fair. Getting kids involved and interested in science has never been more important, as these children will likely use STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) concepts throughout their life.Kids could choose from nine experiment stations, including the "human bubble," blubber, rockets or building a marshmallow catapult."They are loving it. They're excited to get on to the next activity," said Strausberger. "It's getting the parents involved as well. It's nice to see the whole Franklin community coming together."Students could also take home a science experiment kit, which covered topics such as musical instruments (sound waves), star constellations, positive and negative electrons, and rocks and geology.The night ended with a program by "Mad Science of the Lehigh Valley."