Noon Year’s Eve at Union Station offers daylong activities on December 31

For people who have trouble staying up until midnight to ring in the New Year, Kansas City’s Union Station is offering daytime alternatives this Friday. Science City’s annual New Year’s event, Noon Year’s Eve, returns for another fun-filled, end-of-year celebration.

Enjoy a festive day of science fun with the whole family. Featuring hands-on demonstrations, educator-led activities and the return of the wildly popular balloon drop, featuring a community countdown that ends with thousands of colorful balloons floating down to eager hands below.

READ: Auschwitz Exhibit at Union Station extended until Spring 2022

Activities for families include:

• Science on a Sphere: NYE Celebrations around the World, 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.: Science on a Sphere will show how different cities around the world celebrate the New Year.
• Early Learning: Paper Plate Noise Makers, Noon to 5:30 p.m.: Create a noisemaker to ring in the new year out of paper plates and other recyclable materials.
• Maker Studio: Paper Sparklers, noon to 5:30 p.m.: Make a tissue paper sparkler to ring in the New Year celebration.
• Creative Corner: Word of the Year Bracelets, noon to 5:30 p.m.:Choose a word to describe your hopes for 2022 and create a bracelet to help you remember it.
• Test Kitchen: Learning NYE Food Traditions from Around the World, noon to 5:30 p.m.: Why do we eat certain foods this time of year and what does the food symbolize?
• Nature Works: Animal Changes through the Year, noon to 5:30 p.m.: See how animals change from birth to adulthood.
• Periodic Table: Celebrations Around The World, noon to 5:30 p.m.: Demonstrations showing how others around the world bring in the New Year.
• Stage Show: Flames and Fireworks, 5:15 p.m.Celebrate the new year tradition of fireworks in a series of demonstrations featuring combustion reactions highlighting chemical combustion reactions and the lights of fireworks.
• Maze Park & The Amazing Brain: Balloon Drop, 6 p.m.: Ring in the new year with a balloon drop.

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice