Full STEAM Ahead: Imaginology Makes Its Return to Orange County

This free, family-friendly event offers a fun and educational space for local youth to explore science, technology, engineering and the arts.

Stethoscopes and magnifying glasses are among the "toys" kids can play with to explore the world of science during the Imaginology event at the OC Fair & Event Center. Photo courtesy of OC Fair & Event Center

For more than 30 years, Imaginology has encouraged innovation and discovery, presenting Orange County youth with the chance to explore art and science up close. The family-friendly event returns this April, embracing visitors of all ages with a variety of STEAM – science, technology, engineering, art and math – activities and competitions.

“I’ve been here for 23 years, so … I’ve been very close to it,” said OC Fair & Event Center CEO Michele Richards of the event, which started in 1989 under the name Youth Expo before it was rebranded Imaginology in 2014. “It’s just a beehive of activity, and it exposes kids to opportunities in career fields, new exploration and … is just full of hands-on activities and learning.”

Geared toward students of all ages, from preschool to high school, Imaginology aims not only to educate, but also to inspire the next generation, showcasing the many careers available to them. “The goal is to connect kids with the things that excite them, that spark their creativity and their imagination, but also make a connection to how they can use those ideas down the line,” Richards said. “Someone who really enjoys building things out of Legos could be an architect or someone who enjoys looking under a microscope might become a scientist.”

Whether Imaginology leads students to develop new thoughts and interests surrounding their future or not, it does encourage time spent with family, which is a win in and of itself. “Our lives are so busy,” Richards said. “Oftentimes, families lack the opportunity to do activities together. I just love to see parents interacting with their kids and kids interacting with their siblings. It’s a really wonderful thing.”

The Blueprints for Creativity

It’s difficult to describe all that Imaginology encompasses. With more than 40,000 children, teens, family members and school groups in attendance, there’s a little something for everyone.

One big draw is the lineup of competitions, including projects that are created at home ahead of time, as well as those held on-site the weekend of the event.

“It’s kind of a no-holds-barred, no-boundaries weekend .… There’s a big mural project where students can work with huge sheets of paper or canvas to make their own pieces or put them together as collages,” Richards said. “It’s this big, creative team project.”

Lake Forest residents Ashish Shah and Prachi Potdar have attended Imaginology for the last few years with their two oldest children, Sunehri, 9, and Suraiyan, 7, after discovering it while looking for children’s activities following the COVID-19 lockdown. Sunehri participated in the mural competition in 2023, working with a group of her school friends to create a winning project.

“They chose to draw their faces and they cut the facts in half, then mixed and matched their faces and presented it that way,” Shah said.

PHOTO 1: Sunehri Shah’s diversity-themed Mural Project from 2023. PHOTO 2: Sunehri Shah with a butterfly she created for the cardboard engineering competition. PHOTO 3: A car designed by Suraiyan Shah for the cardboard engineering competition.

Photos courtesy of the Shah/Potdar Family

This year, Sunehri is entering the poster art competition, where she will design a banner at home to present for judging during the event. “My poster that I’m doing this year is about the heart – how the heart works and just fun facts and the blood circulation,” she said.

The family has also enjoyed being a part of the cardboard engineering project, where students create things like life-size robots or spaceships from popular science fiction films entirely out of cardboard. For Suraiyan, the highlight of the event is building Lego cars that are then pitted against other students’ creations in a race, courtesy of Brain Builders.

Sunehri enjoys the art-related activities, like clay molding and bracelet-making, and seeing the new exhibitions each year in addition to spending time with the animals. The event center opens its Centennial Farm during Imaginology to allow the children to discover the ins and outs of a working farm through seed planting, blacksmithing, terrarium-making, chick education, digging for roots and demonstrations ranging from milking to shearing and beekeeping. “I learned a lot about the different kinds of animals and where they live,” she said.

“We were all extremely impressed by the creativity that was presented at the show, with all the varying competitions that they have and the different kinds of crafts and artwork,” Potdar said. “It’s a lot about the learning experience, not so much the results. A lot of times, there’s trial and error in the creating process and seeing their creativity grow, seeing them come up with ideas and get excited about what they've created themselves – that’s the part that we’ve enjoyed. And going there and seeing everyone else’s projects and what other kids are capable of, it’s pretty impressive.”

Ninja boot camps, animal demonstrations and magic shows are a part of the Imaginology experience.

Photos courtesy of OC Fair & Event Center

The Latest Innovations

This year, several new experiences will captivate participants’ attention. One component that will be especially fun for bigger groups or those attending with young children is the train that will wind its way through the event center.

Centennial Farm will also be open once again, with new animals to see. Ninja Nation Boot Camps will take place near the farm, on the Heroes Hall Sky Hawk lawn, offering inflatable obstacles for kids to tackle. Designed to test both physical strength and mental agility, this course is the ultimate adventure for active children, giving them a dedicated place to jump, climb, run and race during Imaginology.

“We have a new group that’s joining us, too, called Mind Works,” Richards said. “They’ve got a lot of classic games, puzzles and building activities, but on a giant level. So there will be giant versions of games like Operation, chess and Connect Four as well as giant Legos and Linkin’ Logs where the kids can just build.”

Other new attractions for 2025 include Zany Zoe’s Magic Show and engaging experiences with Megan the Bubbleologist. Aside from the competitions and animal encounters, returning favorites include 4-H contests that showcase the kids’ abilities to raise small livestock and master an understanding of animal science, virtual flight simulations, reptile interactions, science experiments, equine healing demonstrations with therapy horses, computer coding, scavenger hunts and live entertainment ranging from singing and dancing to aerial acrobatics shows. Additional activities have been added to the Imaginology website for kids to continue the learning once they’ve returned home.

“One of my favorite things about the event is seeing parents engaged in these activities with their kids as well,” Richards says. “It’s not necessarily putting the kids in an activity and the parents stand there and wait for them. You see a lot of great family engagement, which is wonderful.”

The weekend includes a variety of demonstrations and experiences. PHOTO 1: An aerial arts demonstration. PHOTO 2: A teen mariachi group performs. PHOTO 3: Kids can participate in a scavenger hunt. PHOTO 4: Children can learn how to play chess. PHOTO 5: Stations are set up for photo opportunities. PHOTO 6: Teams of teens work together to create science projects. PHOTO 7: A building project, with paper and tape. PHOTO 8: Kids are included in the science demonstrations. PHOTO 9: A giant Lite-Brite board provides thoughtful play and artistic expression. Photos courtesy of OC Fair & Event Center

Empowerment for the Future

The true magic of Imaginology lies in its ability to connect families, inspire children and create a fun learning environment for such a wide range of attendees. No matter where you focus your attention, you’re sure to discover something new or enhance your knowledge through the weekend’s experiences.

“Incorporating both art and science together is what’s really interesting about this event,” Shah said. “There are definitely elements of things they see and learn that then stimulates the itch to learn more about that topic. It’s a catalyst that inspires them to want to do more, see more.”

Sunehri said the art has been the most impactful to her and has deepened her love for the subject. “Seeing the mural projects, some of them are really good artists and I like doing art a lot, so it’s really cool to see what I could do when I grow up.” Despite his young age, Suraiyan has also been inspired by Imaginology projects and wants to one day become an engineer.

“It’s just a really great event,” Shah said. “It’s one thing for it to be free, but mixing fun, art and education all in one, it’s really unique. We’ve had friends come to visit and enter stuff too, just to join in on it. It’s a really unique experience and a super creative opportunity. We’ve never come across anything like it before.”

According to Richards, who is planning to retire before the start of the fair this summer, Imaginology is one of the jewels in the OC Fair & Event Center’s crown, serving as an exciting challenge for staff as they strive to produce a high-quality event that truly gives back to the local community.

“I’ll give you a little insight into how I measure the success of Imaginology,” she said. “At the end of the weekend, as families are leaving and we’re getting ready to shut down the event, I measure the success by how many kids are walking out the gates having a meltdown because they don’t want to go home. That’s such a great thing – they haven’t sat in front of a TV, they haven’t zoned out on a computer. They’ve just had great family fun, exploring, learning and being entertained, and they walk away so satisfied that they don’t want to leave.”

Overall, as Richards prepares to say goodbye to her time at the event center and with Imaginology, she hopes that the STEAM sessions continue to enchant families for years to come. “I hope that kids are inspired to take the things that they love to do and the skills that they’re good at and understand how those can be used to further their education as they decide on a career path for themselves,” she said. “I hope that the world just opens up for them.”