Kansas Children’s Discovery Center…The Perfect Place to Spend a Winter Day
Topeka, Kansas
In December, I visited the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center. I was given a tour of the center by one of the employees. It was an overcast somewhat snowy day and the perfect day for families to come and play with all of the different activities that the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center has to offer.
Activities
Everything at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center is hands on. The pictures above are just a few of the many activities at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center.
Traveling Exhibit- There is an area that is set aside for traveling exhibits. On the day that I visited, there was a Curious Gerorge exhibit with a lot of fun Curious George hands on activities.
Grocery Store- There are shelves of products that kids can take to scan in a cash register area.
Jumbo Stacked Cups- Many kids have stacked and unstacked normal sized cups. The center has a jumbo sized version of the cups where kids can play the same game.
Building Stations- There are several building stations. The center has large building blocks, a lego station, KEVA blocks, and soft sided blocks to build and arch.
Painting Station- Kids are provided with paint, brushes, and squeegees so that they can paint on the walls that are made out of plastic or glass.
Job Stations- There are stations where kids can try out different jobs . The job station that stood out to me was the one where kids can do different things involved with maintaining a car. For example, kids can do different things with the engine of a car and kids can practice putting on the wheels and hubcaps.
Outside Station- On the day I visited the center, the weather was not great, but the employee who took me on the tour said there are multiple stations outside that kids really enjoy.
Resources
The following resources are from the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center website:
Discovery Kindergarten- Discovery Kindergarten is a free, fun resource for all incoming kindergarten students, attending any school, provided by the Kansas Children's Discovery Center.
Mobile Museum- Some of the Mobile Museum options are discovery play, discovery classroom, Family STEAM Night.
Discovery at Home- This link has at home projects and educational resources.
Field Trips- This link provides information about the field trip programs: Build, Roll, Engineer!, Push, Pull, Launch!, Seismic Design, and Robots Introduction. This link also has cool, free classroom activities.
A tip from someone who has been there.
I noticed that around the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center there is quite a bit of green space. In good weather, parents and/or teachers could probably find a place to picnic. I also noticed that the following places are nearby: Reinisch Rose Gardens, Topeka Zoo, and Carousel in the Park. I have not visited any of these place, but they are potentially good places to check out when visiting the Discovery Center.
