KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Regnier Family Wonderscope Children’s Museum's new program hopes to inspire its earliest learners with English and Spanish in its new bilingual program.
Inside the museum, many children take advantage of the fun exhibits and activities, including four-year-old James, who played inside the museum's Waterworks exhibit.
"He just loves to come up here and play," James' grandmother, Kathy Cipolla said.
James took it all in and his grandmother, who he calls "Nonni," says it's a great place to have a good time.
"You almost have to run to keep up with him, so it keeps you in shape as a Nonni," Cipolla said.
While James has fun in the water, he's also learning a number of different skills, including critical thinking, science and math.
James is a part of the Road to Readiness program, "a self-guided program designed to help children assess skills in important developmental areas."
Recently, the museum added Spanish language to its program: Camino A Preparación.
"Our community has really embraced us and we want to support and enrich them in any way that we can," Program Coordinator, Lauren Taylor said. "So offering it bilingually meets a lot of those needs within our community."
Wonderscope's education committee is made up of educators, therapists and administrators. They created the program using a customized curriculum.
"We aligned everything with Missouri and Kansas learning standards as well as the DRDP, which is the development profile used across the nation for early learning," Taylor said. "But done in a really fun and approachable way that you can do with your child on your own time, at your own pace."
The self-guided program allows children to take part in planning what they're learning.
"We enrolled James about two months ago in the prekindergarten program," Cipolla said. "He's been doing the activities when he comes into Wonderscope and he loves it, he has a great time. It's a very educational program."
Taylor said her child is also going through the program.
"It helped me understand how parents approach this and some of the bumps in the road that come with working with your own child," Taylor said. "And how to work some of that together through the museum, but also through your parenting style and just the way you play together and open that door together in lifelong learning."
As the pandemic put a pause on many resources, Taylor said the program is crucial.
"With a lot of kids, especially Pre-K kids being out for the last year, this offers a really fun way to learn and play," Taylor said. "It takes some of those stressors off of more formal classes style learning."
The program is roughly eight weeks long. Pre-K students will get diplomas to certify they went through the program
The Road to Readiness is free with museum admission or membership.
Low-income families who qualify for public assistance can take advantage of Wonderscope's reduced ticket price program or become members through the museum's Wonder Fund.
"Equity in play is so important in our community and we really strive to make that possible for as many people as possible," Taylor said.
The bilingual orientation sessions begin Friday.
You can choose from one of the following sessions:
- Friday, May 28, 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
- Saturday, May 29, 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
Online registration is required. To sign up, click visit the Wonderscope website.
