Love of Learning KidsQuest Children's Museum

KidsQuest participates in Museums for All, a program that encourages individuals of all backgrounds to visit museums regularly and build lifelong museum habits. Through Museums for All, those receiving food assistance (SNAP benefits) can gain free or reduced admission to more than 600 museums throughout the United States simply by presenting their SNAP EBT (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Electronic Benefit Transfer) card for up to four people per card.
Every single visit, no blackout dates. Come on in and you’ll get the $3 rate.

In 2019, KidsQuest saw 5,288 patrons who used Museums for All to enjoy the museum. Finances should never keep a child from playing and learning at the Museum. Lauren Belmonte, KidsQuest’s Director of Visitor Services talks about the importance of making cultural institutions accessible for all visitors.

KidsQuest is celebrating its sixth successful BizQuest corporate fundraising event. BizQuest is a unique way to come together virtually and network with local professionals and community members. The panel this year shared some fantastic insights on how newly learned adaptations in the work place are likely to become lasting business trends.

Madeline Read, Corporate Relations and Event Manager joins us on the podcast to talk about the widespread impacts BizQuest has on the Museum and within the greater community.

If you weren’t able to join us live, you can find a recording of the event on KidsQuest’s YouTube page. Here’s the link to check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyVb7QUBzkM&t=330s

In this episode we learn about the incredible collection of dolls that live throughout the Museum’s galleries. Before KidsQuest moved to the space in 2017, the building was home to the Rosalie Whyel Museum of Doll Art. Rosalie continues to share her collection of dolls representing cultures from all over the world with KidsQuest visitors. She talks about her experiences opening her very own museum and what dolls can teach us about history and tradition.

Thank you so much to Rosalie Whyel for joining us on this episode. If you want to check out the dolls in person, head over to KidsQuest’s website to purchase tickets. 

https://www.kidsquestmuseum.org/

KidsQuest is excited to welcome back Low Sensory Afternoons from 3-5 PM on the third Thursday of each month. This very special event is returning on May 20th after a long hiatus due to COVID. As many of us know, visiting KidsQuest can be a loud, bright, shiny, sometimes splashy, experience. For some kids and adult guests too, those stimuli can be overwhelming to the point of being uncomfortable or even unbearable. Low Sensory Afternoons are set aside just for kids and families with sensory sensitivities or anyone with special needs. Registration is free, even if you aren’t a member!

Museum educator, Jenn Boesenberg talks about how the museum created this program specifically for families who have a child living with sensory processing difficulties or who is on the autism spectrum, and her work to make KidsQuest a certified Sensory Accessible Venue.

KidsQuest has compiled a pdf of sensory tips available on their website in both English and Spanish.
Click here to check it out


Thanks for listening!

STEM Paths Innovation Network is a nonprofit working with partners in King County, Washington to design and lead STEAM opportunities to students who otherwise wouldn’t have access to them. According to their website, they’ve served over 800 girls and youth of color through their programming with over 20 community and school partners in the greater Seattle area. Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Shana Beckwith talks with host Allie Cheroutes about creating a future in which all students can see themselves in a STEM field and have the support they need inside and outside the classroom to get there.

Check out their website to learn more about their incredible curriculum and programs:

www.stempaths.org

Visit KidsQuest’s website to learn more about their online and in-person STEAM opportunities:

www.kidsquestmuseum.org

KidsQuest wants to ensure that everyone is able to enjoy a day of play at the Museum. Through the Museums for All program, they are able to offer discounted daily admission rates with proof of EBT, Chip, Provider One, or WIC.

Invite your family over to listen to this episode’s Audio Postcard segment! Host Allie will guide you through making your very own straw rocket in honor of Katherine Johnson, a NASA mathematician whose calculations were used in the first moon landing and in the development of the Space Shuttle program. As a Black female mathematician during 1950s and 60s, she was truly a pioneer who broke barriers of gender and race and inspired generations of future STEM leaders.

This episode is all about the Arts in our Full STEAM ahead series exploring Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. What’s the deal with the A in STEAM? Traditionally, the arts and sciences were viewed and treated separately. Now, the wider understanding is that the arts’ role in STEAM is to encourage application of creative thinking and ignite imagination. STEAM is meant to engage both the analytic and creative sides of the brain. Liberal arts, language arts, and physical arts all help prepare kids for an increasingly interdisciplinary world. What innovation would we have without someone first following a creative spark?

In this episode we’ll hear from Sadie Bowman, co-founder and performer in the musical theater group,  Matheatre. Their mission is to get students (and adults!) excited about math and science through comedy. Bowman shares how a musical about calculus turned into a mission to make science and math accessible and fun to all audiences. Fifteen years later, Matheatre tours worldwide performing four shows in schools, museums, and planetariums.

Head over to their website to learn more about their shows, digital offerings, and their own podcast, History Science Theater:

https://matheatre.com

In this episode’s Audio Postcard we put our creativity to work in a fun hat design challenge for kids from the KidsQuest educators. Take a listen with your family and see what they come up with!

Matheatre Music Credits

MAXIMA & minima, icanhasmath

Physics Extravaganza, icanhasmath

I Believe in a Power Rule! , icanhasmath