The Kansas Children's Discovery Center hosted a great group of volunteers from Junior League of Topeka this week for a special project. "The Junior League of Topeka, Inc. is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers. Its purpose is exclusively educational and charitable," according to the organization's website.

Springtime is field trip season at the Discovery Center, when a large number of the museum's 10,000 annual field trip visitors come for programs and play. Field trips are a major part of our work as a nonprofit children's museum. We engage thousands of children in high-quality STEAM education programs during their visits, teaching engineering and problem-solving skills through play. Schools pay for field trips on a sliding scale depending on their percentage of students receiving free and reduced cost lunches to ensure these opportunities are available to all students.

Keeping up with museum maintenance during this time is always a challenge, and Junior League stepped up to pitch in. The organization sent groups of volunteers for two hours on three consecutive days, completing big cleaning projects and helping keep the museum in great shape for visitors.

Volunteers vacuumed and swept the grain exhibit, vacuumed the build exhibit, cleaned toys, washed windows and more. This was a hard-working bunch who finished even more projects then we planned. 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.

The volunteers even worked in some time for play! Thank You, Junior League of Topeka!