Modesto Children’s Museum offering free STEAM activity kits for kids to use at home

The Modesto Children’s Museum is offering free STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math) activity kits to children in Stanislaus County this summer.

The kits are available on a first-come basis, and families can sign up on the museum’s website, www.modestochildrensmuseum.org.

The kits, from the educational company KiwiCo, include all materials needed to build a creative and fun project, according to a news release from the museum. They are geared toward children ages 5-8 and there is a limit of two kits per household.

“We have purchased 500 kits with funds we have already raised,” museum board President Katie Barber said in an email to The Bee. “Two hundred of those kits will go to children at Sierra Vista Child & Family Services, and 300 will be available for community members.”

Anyone wanting to support the museum’s efforts can sponsor local children to receive additional kits by donating at www.modestochildrensmuseum.org/sponsor-a-kid, she said.

“The Modesto Children’s Museum is dedicated to providing kids in our community with hands-on learning opportunities,” Barber said in a news release. “With summer programs being canceled (because of the coronavirus pandemic), we have been working on ways to support caregivers with at-home learning. We want to provide fun, valuable experiences while we continue to plan for the museum’s future.”

Families can sign up for the museum’s email newsletter to be notified when kit registration is available. The kits have been purchased with donations from the museum’s fundraising efforts.

This story was originally published July 12, 2020 at 12:56 PM.