The Kansas Children's Discovery Center and BriggsAuto.com announced a new partnership this week to serve military families. The partnership includes Briggs financial support to underwrite the museum 10% off military discount for the next 12 months and outreach to active and retired military families in Northeast Kansas.

The BriggsAuto.com Military Discount is one of several access programs to make the museum accessible to all children. More than one in ten Discovery Center admissions are free or donor subsidized. These admissions included over 1,000 Museums for All visitors from families receiving TANF or WIC, and over 5,000 field trip visitors from schools with a high percentage of children receiving free or reduced cost lunches.

The Discovery Center is a hands-on children’s museum with a mission to enhance the lives of children and enrich the communities it serves. Since opening in 2011 in Topeka, Kansas, the Discovery Center has become a special place where children can explore, create, discover and learn through play. The museum features over 15,000 square feet of indoor exhibits and a 4.5 acre certified Nature Explore Outdoor Classroom. Outreach programs bring quality, hands-on experiences into our community to inspire a lifelong love of learning for every child.

Thank you to BriggsAuto.com for supporting families!

Local kids will find some educational, fun new additions to the pavement at ten parks and community centers in Topeka. The Kansas Children’s Discovery Center installed and activated the outdoor Discovery Play Spaces in Shawnee County parks to encourage kids to learn and play. The project was funded by Shawnee County Coronavirus Relief Funds for Community Based Programs.

“Every sidewalk has the potential to become a place to play and explore,” said Dene’ Mosier president and CEO of the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center. “This project is one way we are bringing educational play out of the museum and into the community.”

“Our parks and trails have been essential during the pandemic, providing families a chance to get out of the house and enjoy the benefits of being in nature and being active,” said Tim Laurent, director, Shawnee County Parks + Recreation. ”This project extends that opportunity by adding a new, fun element that families can enjoy with their children.”

Each vinyl circle is designed to encourage physical activity and serve an educational purpose. The installation is fully bilingual in English and Spanish. The first circle encourages pattern identification, comparing and contrasting, the second has engaging letters to allow spelling, the third shows two colors and shapes overlapping to create a unique color and shape, the fourth circle encourages counting, and the final circle asks children to create rhythm and noise using hands, feet, and other tools. The Discovery Space also serves as a seek and find, with hidden stars on each circle. A footprint jumping path connects the circles. The Discovery Space was designed by Topeka artist Sara O’Keeffe working alongside the museum’s education team.

The Discovery Play Space project is the latest in a series of community-based play programs from the Discovery Center during the pandemic. Shortly after closing the building in March, museum staff called and emailed thousands of local families to find out about their needs and responded with online activity videos and learning kit deliveries. Activities helped families use play to explore science, technology, engineering, art and math. Discovery at Home online videos were viewed over 400,000 times, and nearly 3,000 learning kits were distributed. Museum programs have specifically targeted low-income and underserved children, out of concern for learning gaps created by limited access to educational resources for many families during the pandemic.

Discovery Play Space locations were selected in partnership with Shawnee County Parks + Recreation to activate play opportunities, particularly in underserved communities. Locations are:

• Aaron Douglas Art Park
• Austin Park
• Betty Dunn Park
• Central Park Community Center
• Garfield Community Center
• Hillcrest Community Center
• Horne Park
• Hughes Park
• Oakland Community Center
• Santa Fe Park

The Kansas Children's Discovery Center needs your help.

Provide every child with rich and diverse museum experiences. More than 1 in 10 visitors to the Kansas Children's Discovery Center receives a free or discounted admission to be able to play. The Discovery Center is a privately-funded, nonprofit organization that relies on admission revenue to operate. Your generous financial gift is an essential part of creating a vital educational resource for our children, families and educators. The support you give today impacts the lives of our community's dreamers, teachers and leaders of tomorrow.

Most new donors come to us from Facebook.

In less than a minute, you can create a fundraiser for the Discovery Center on Facebook, and we receive 100% of the money raised! To create a fundraiser, click here or follow these steps:

1. Visit www.facebook.com/fundraisers on a computer, or from the app, click the icon that looks like three lines on the bottom right of your screen, then click "community resources" and then "fundraisers"
2. Click "select nonprofit"
3. Search for the Kansas Children's Discovery Center.
4. Fill in the fundraiser details. Share your favorite thing about the Discovery Center! Choose a cover photo from the suggestions, or use your family's favorite photo from your time at the museum.
5. Click "create" and you're done!

Why should people support The Discovery Center?

1. Because play is powerful! Play can heal and transform. Children need play to imagine, create, reduce stress and inspire joy. As play advocates, we are working to transform our communities through play. While playing, children’s natural desire to explore is stimulated. They use scientific processes while playing, exploring, creating and investigating. A child who builds is engineering, a child who climbs is building muscles, a child who pretends is practicing interacting with others.
2. Because the Discovery Center is committed to access for every child. More than one in ten Discovery Center admissions are free or donor subsidized. In a typical year, these admissions include over 1,000 Museums for All visitors from families receiving TANF or WIC, and over 5,000 field trip visitors from schools with a high percentage of children receiving free or reduced cost lunches. Special programs serve children with incarcerated mothers, medically fragile children, children with an autism spectrum disorder and children in foster care.
3. Because all children need access to museums. Families with money will always be able to access cultural experiences for their children, but the loss of smaller, nonprofit cultural institutions means that families with more need will have less access. This is an equity issue that is even more critical with school buildings closing. One in ten Discovery Center admissions are free or subsidized based on need.
4. Because we have a significant economic impact. The Discovery Center hosts over 95,000 annual visitors, one quarter of which are from out of town. We are a significant driver of regional tourism, bringing families to Topeka to eat, stay and play.