Last week the Kansas Children's Discovery Center hosted a group of volunteers from the Girl Scout Troop #3714. This troop is a part of Girl Scouts of NE Kansas and NW Missouri and has girls from Randolph and Whitson Elementary Schools.

This group cleaned and painted more than 250 pounds of rocks to start a rainbow path in our pollinator garden. They also got garden beds weeded and ready for spring planting! The girls worked hard and got a lot done in their time at the museum! The garden is designed for children to explore flowers, harvest vegetables and spot insects in their natural habitat.

The girls also donated proceeds from their cookie sales to support Access Discovery programs at the museum. More than one in ten Discovery Center admissions are free or donor subsidized. Special programs serve children with incarcerated mothers, medically fragile children, children with an autism spectrum disorder and children in foster care. 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.

Kansas Children’s Discovery Center offers high-quality interactive experiences to inspire a lifelong love of learning for every child. Volunteers aid our mission by creating these memorable experiences for every family who walks through our doors. Volunteers engage children in fun educational activities, provide customer service, pitch in at special events, maintain our outdoor space, help facilitate field trips, celebrate birthdays, and keep exhibit areas ready for play.

If your organization is interested in a fun volunteer day at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center, call our volunteer coordinator at (785) 783-8300. We have indoor and outdoor projects for any size group.

Thank You, Girl Scout Troop #3714!

 

 

 

 

This past weekend the Kansas Children's Discovery Center hosted a group of volunteers from the Kansas National Guard Teen Council Charter. The Kansas National Guard Teen Council Charter is dedicated to developing leadership skills, volunteering, and enhancing life for military children and youth of Kansas.

This group assisted us in setting up for our Winterfest celebration, engaged families in fun and educational play and helped to keep exhibit areas clean and ready for play. These youth were enthusiastic and engaged beautifully with visitors.With 15,000 square feet of indoor exhibits and 4.5 acres of Certified Outdoor Exploration Classroom, the volunteers stayed busy!

Kansas Children’s Discovery Center offers high-quality interactive experiences to inspire a lifelong love of learning for every child. Volunteers aid our mission by creating these memorable experiences for every family who walks through our doors. Volunteers engage children in fun educational activities, provide customer service at our front desk, pitch in at special events, maintain our outdoor space, help facilitate field trips, celebrate birthdays, and keep exhibit areas ready for play.

If your organization is interested in a fun volunteer day at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center, call our volunteer coordinator at (785) 783-8300. We have indoor and outdoor projects for any size group.

Thank you, Kansas National Guard Teen Council Charter volunteers!

 

 

 

This week, we were fortunate to host a group of volunteers from Heritage Bank! Heritage Bank is a Discovery Center sponsor who has sent volunteers before, this was a great group to host!

They completed many tasks including cleaning the programming room, disinfecting the grocery exhibit, cleaning grain, putting together activity kits and disinfecting our careers section. With 15,000 square feet of indoor exhibits and 4.5 acres of Certified Outdoor Exploration Classroom, the volunteers stayed busy!

Kansas Children’s Discovery Center offers high-quality interactive experiences to inspire a lifelong love of learning for every child. Volunteers aid our mission by creating these memorable experiences for every family who walks through our doors. Volunteers engage children in fun educational activities, provide customer service at our front desk, pitch in at special events, maintain our outdoor space, help facilitate field trips, celebrate birthdays, and keep exhibit areas ready for play.

If your organization is interested in a fun volunteer day at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center, call our volunteer coordinator at (785) 783-8300. We have indoor and outdoor projects for any size group.

Thank You, Heritage Bank volunteers!

This week, we were fortunate to host a group of volunteers from Cox Communications. This group of Retail Store Managers come from Topeka, Junction City, Manhattan, Salina and Newton for their quarterly meeting.

We are so grateful that they chose to share their time and service with the Discovery Center! This group was so pleasant to host. They worked together well as a team and got things done. They even found time to play!

Tasks completed included painting our Multimedia Gallery to prepare for the next exhibit, cleaning Mobile Museum toys and creating building packets for outreach programs. With 15,000 square feet of indoor exhibits and 4.5 acres of Certified Outdoor Exploration Classroom, the volunteers stayed busy!

Kansas Children’s Discovery Center offers high-quality interactive experiences to inspire a lifelong love of learning for every child. Volunteers aid our mission by creating these memorable experiences for every family who walks through our doors. Volunteers engage children in fun educational activities, provide customer service at our front desk, pitch in at special events, maintain our outdoor space, help facilitate field trips, celebrate birthdays, and keep exhibit areas ready for play. If your organization is interested in a fun volunteer day at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center, call our volunteer coordinator at (785) 783-8300. We have indoor and outdoor projects for any size group.

Thank You, Cox Communications!

 

The Discovery Center has been closed this week for the BIG Clean! What is the BIG Clean? It's our chance to change exhibits, deep-clean the facility and conduct maintenance we can't do while the museum is open.

Keeping the museum clean and healthy is an everyday job done throughout the year. Museum exhibits are disinfected every night at close. All toys and equipment are continuously inspected for signs of damage and repaired or replaced as needed, but we make time for major projects during BIG Clean week.

All Discovery Center staff and dozens of volunteers pitched in this week to complete tasks. Volunteers from Junior League, Heritage Bank, the Topeka Community Foundation, and the Discovery Center volunteer group gave hundreds of hours to make this week a success. Heritage Bank volunteers cleaned the Grow exhibit.

Topeka Community Foundation volunteers cleaned program rooms and painted walls.

What happens during the BIG Clean? Every surface gets scrubbed, and most surfaces get painted. Refreshing our bright and colorful exhibits with paint took sixteen different colors!

Mats in the grain exhibit are picked up and all grain that has fallen below the platform is collected, the wind maze tubes are all individually disassembled and scrubbed clean.

Paint splatter is cleaned from the roof of the art pavilion (we have some very excited painters!), mats in the Infant Sensory Garden are removed so the garden can be thoroughly cleaned and painted and more.

High places are dusted and we find all the ping-pong balls that have been launched in the ceiling and on rooftops throughout the year (2020 BIG Clean ping-pong ball count: 18).

We also packed up and shipped out our Kenya's Kids exhibit, which has been with us since September. Stay tuned for our next exciting exhibit announcement!

The Discovery Cafe' has switched menus again! Kids can now make their favorite sandwiches.

Visitors might notice the museum floor is a little brighter when they return. We'll be using less energy, too! Museum track lights were all replaced with new LED fixtures this week.

After the BIG Clean, we'll start working on getting the facility messy again! Join us for our reopening on Saturday, January 11 for Messy STEAM Factory, a whole day of with messy science to get us back in the swing of things.

Thank you to all of our volunteers and staff for helping with the BIG Clean, and to our visitors for your flexibility this week!

 

 

 

 

This week we were fortunate to host a group of volunteers from AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC). AmeriCorps NCCC is a team-based national community service program for young adults. Through direct, team-based service they strengthen communities and develop leaders.

This group of people come from all across the country and we feel so fortunate that they chose to share their time and service with the Discovery Center! The group was pleasant to host. They were eager to completed tasks and friendly to work with.

Tasks completed includes washing the windows (indoors and outdoors), cleaning our Mobile Museum and disinfecting multiple indoor exhibits. With 15,000 square feet of indoor exhibits and 4.5 acres of Certified Outdoor Exploration Classroom, the volunteers stayed busy!

Kansas Children’s Discovery Center offers high-quality interactive experiences to inspire a lifelong love of learning for every child. Volunteers aid our mission by creating these memorable experiences for every family who walks through our doors. Volunteers engage children in fun educational activities, provide customer service at our front desk, pitch in at special events, maintain our outdoor space, help facilitate field trips, celebrate birthdays, and keep exhibit areas ready for play. If your organization is interested in a fun volunteer day at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center, call our volunteer coordinator at (785) 783-8300. We have indoor and outdoor projects for any size group.

Thank You, AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps!

 

We were happy to host a group of students from the Washburn Leadership Institute for a fun evening of volunteering this week! The mission of the Washburn Leadership Institute is to further develop students into ethical and intentional leaders who value diversity and are prepared to immediately exercise effective leadership in today's changing society by cultivating the study of leadership and facilitating transformational learning experiences designed to challenge, motivate, and inspire.

This group of students were pleasant and efficient workers! They worked well together as a team and went above and beyond tasks assigned. Students mainly focused on cleaning and disinfecting indoor exhibit areas. The Infant Sensory Garden, Grow Exhibit and the Cafe were a few exhibits that were given extra attention.

With 15,000 square feet of indoor exhibits and 4.5 acres of Certified Outdoor Exploration Classroom, the volunteers stayed busy!

Kansas Children’s Discovery Center offers high-quality interactive experiences to inspire a lifelong love of learning for every child. Volunteers aid our mission by creating these memorable experiences for every family who walks through our doors. Volunteers engage children in fun educational activities, provide customer service at our front desk, pitch in at special events, maintain our outdoor space, help facilitate field trips, celebrate birthdays, and keep exhibit areas ready for play. If your organization is interested in a fun volunteer day at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center, call our volunteer coordinator at (785) 783-8300. We have indoor and outdoor projects for any size group.

Thank You, Washburn Leadership Institute!

We were happy to host a group of students from the LinC Bonner Scholar Program at Washburn University for a fun evening of volunteering this week! The LinC Bonner Scholar Program is a national service scholarship program supported by the Bonner Foundation in Princeton, NJ. Students in this program engage in service that develops leadership, civic and advocacy skills while working for social change in the community. Often times they do this through team-building and group service activities.

The volunteers greeted each task with an upbeat attitude and determined work ethic. They helped us spruce up the outdoor classroom by touching up the paint on our bike path and trimming and weeding paths. With 15,000 square feet of indoor exhibits and 4.5 acres of Certified Outdoor Exploration Classroom, the volunteers stayed busy!

Kansas Children’s Discovery Center offers high-quality interactive experiences to inspire a lifelong love of learning for every child. Volunteers aid our mission by creating these memorable experiences for every family who walks through our doors. Volunteers engage children in fun educational activities, provide customer service at our front desk, pitch in at special events, maintain our outdoor space, help facilitate field trips, celebrate birthdays, and keep exhibit areas ready for play. If your organization is interested in a fun volunteer day at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center, call our volunteer coordinator at (785) 783-8300. We have indoor and outdoor projects for any size group.

Thank You, LinC Bonner Program!

The Kansas Children's Discovery Center hosted a great group of volunteers today as a part of United Way of Greater Topeka's Nancy Perry Day of Caring. The Nancy Perry Day of Caring is an annual Topeka event that sends hundreds of volunteers out into the community to help different nonprofit organizations.

This year at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center, Nancy Perry volunteers installed a new bike rack out in front of the museum, cleaned Mobile Museum toys, mulched trails, weeded the stream and pond, restructured the sandbox, and more. With 15,000 square feet of indoor exhibits and 4.5 acres of Certified Outdoor Exploration Classroom, the volunteers stayed busy!

Volunteers came from Security Benefit and Westar Energy, both generous local businesses who are long-time supporters of the Discovery Center.

Kansas Children’s Discovery Center offers high-quality interactive experiences to inspire a lifelong love of learning for every child. Volunteers aid our mission by creating these memorable experiences for every family who walks through our doors. Volunteers engage children in fun educational activities, provide customer service at our front desk, pitch in at special events, maintain our outdoor space, help facilitate field trips, celebrate birthdays, and keep exhibit areas ready for play. If your organization is interested in a fun volunteer day at the Kansas Children's Discovery Center, call our volunteer coordinator at (785) 783-8300. We have indoor and outdoor projects for any size group.

Thank You, Nancy Perry Day of Caring!