October Theme: Engineering. This month in Discovery Time, we will be exploring the fascinating world of Engineering. This program is carefully crafted to spark curiosity, inspire creativity, and lay the foundation for a lifelong love of learning. Activities will encourage children to ask questions, explore, and discover the world around them through fun, interactive, age appropriate activities.

Day: Wednesday

Time: 10 – 10:30 a.m. EST

Recommended Ages: Children ages 3 to 6 years

Location: WonderLab

Cost: Free with Museum Admission

Hands-on activities might include:

• Engineer a city: work as a group to design a small town!
• Designing, testing, and building a device that cleans trash in space.
• Racing through mazes made out of pool noodles and straws.

It is said that young children experience the world and express themselves in a “hundred languages.” Discovery Time utilizes a broad array of these learning languages – including music, art, stories, and creative movement – to connect children to science. Children ages 3 to 6 are developing increasingly complex theories about the world, rapidly gaining language, and learning to work with others. Discovery Time activities are designed by early childhood specialists specifically to nurture and challenge the rapid development of preschool-aged children in a fun, safe, and collaborative learning environment. Discovery Time sparks the interest of science education in young children by teaching them how to explore a broad range of topics with a curious mindset. Each month will have a different focus, ranging from oceans, to space, to physics, to human health and anatomy. You never know what you may learn at Discovery Time!

Children ages 3 to 6 are developing quickly and gaining and mastering skills in a wide variety of domains including language, motor, symbolic representation, and concrete operational thinking. Discovery Time is structured around exploring the scientific method: observing, hypothesizing, testing, and discussing the results! Discovery Time provides open-ended activities that are accessible and engaging for children across a spectrum of development, and helps generally prepare them for the more structured learning environments they will encounter in elementary school.