Kidspace Children’s Museum has been a mainstay for curious kids since its inception in 1979, when it was founded by Caltech parents and the Junior League of Pasadena.
Meanwhile, with no PUSD students, and few students in Southern California, actually attending school campuses this year, a new dynamic in children’s learning is mushrooming worldwide–online learning.
And Kidspace is on virtual board, continuing to jumpstart young imaginations through the museum’s Kidspace-At-Home: Virtual Learning & Play Resources initiative on its website and social media platforms.
The Kidspace-At-Home webpage showcases an assortment of projects, activities, experiments and resources, which can all be easily done at home, according to J.J. Leissing, chief programs officer at Kidspace.
“To keep with the mission and spirit of Kidspace, our featured activities are designed to be kid-driven, open-ended experiences that emphasize play learning and encourage curiosity, creativity, and exploration,” Leissing said.
A quick jaunt through the varied resources on the Kidspace webpage offers some quick insights for parents and the obligatory S’mores recipe (this time solar-powered), as well as a collection of fun, smart videos for the inquisitive child.
Past projects include a live virtual event series with World of the Weasel, the creators of the children’s books Once Upon a Weasel and Wild, Wild Weasel.
Kidspace also partnered with the Tournament of Roses to produce the first ever virtual Rosebud Parade, featuring small scaled floats lovingly made at home.
Another recent online addition to Kidspace’s offerings is its Busy Bee Store, which features select bestselling toys, books and games, as well as museum-curated STEM and arts activity kits–merchandise that “inspires play and engages family learning,” according to the site.
“For more than 40 years, we have been a community resource, and though Kidspace may be temporarily closed, the team is as committed as ever to execute our mission,” said Mike Bryant, Kidspace board president. “I could not be more proud of the service Kidspace is providing through virtual programming and now the online store. Kidspace will continue to do our best to adapt to meet the needs of families during this unprecedented time.”
Weekly Kidspace-At-Home programming is available at kidspacemuseum.org.
