Imagine if all children in Doña Ana County had access to a children’s museum. A treehouse area with an easy table, a sound wall, an imaginative play area and a workshop. A place where parents and caregivers can access the resources they need and children can explore the world through a microscope. A garage area where families can engage in a giant wall of pneumatic tires and mechanical gears to investigate. Now imagine if all families could engage in and learn from meaningful STEAM activities that strengthen family relationships regardless of where they live in the county and what resources they have.
Ngage New Mexico is spearheading the ambitious Vamos Niños: Play to Learn Mobile Children’s Museum project that will travel through Doña Ana County. Our theory of change is that young children with access to quality early childhood education experiences are equipped with a strong foundation that can powerfully influence their development, increasing their chances of thriving in school and life.
“The Vamos Niños project is exciting because it is a creative concept that came from the Doña Ana Early Childhood Education Coalition. It will be a way to get hands-on learning and fun for families where they are, and at the same time use the museum as a real tool to connect families with early childhood supports and services,” said Lori Martinez, Director Executive of Ngage NM. .
Vamos Niños will be housed in a converted RV toy hauler. Ngage NM and the Children’s Museum Committee are partnering with Sightworks, an Albuquerque exhibit fabrication company. The interpretive planning process has now been completed and will be followed by the design and fabrication of the exhibition for Vamos Niños.
Kimmi Cravens, museum development coordinator at Ngage NM, said, “It’s so exciting to see the designs for the mobile museum come together. The team at Sightworks did an incredible job of bringing together all the ideas from the Children’s Museum Committee and creating an interpretive plan for a space that will provide play-based learning for children and help connect families to their resources.”
The Children’s Museum’s volunteer committee is made up of more than 20 community members and includes retired educators, early childhood service providers and community leaders working in various industries. During the interpretive planning process, Sightworks determined the goals, values and strategies to be implemented in the planning and design of the mobile unit; The next step is to design and create exhibits that will challenge and excite our younger minds.
Vamos Niños will impact the delivery of ECE throughout the county, especially in rural areas affected by transportation issues, bringing quality interactive learning opportunities to communities with less access. Vamos Niños will include a resource center to inform families of resources that can benefit them and will travel with other mobile organizations bringing a caravan of services and programs to a wider underserved audience. This project will increase knowledge and access to ECE services and programs and increase family engagement and experiences through play-based learning for families who may not otherwise have access.
Studies show that children learn through play and interaction. The interpretive plan explains that during play-based learning activities, children test ideas and roles and act out scenarios and ideas about how the world works. The mobile children’s museum will provide an informal learning environment to promote play, exploration, experimentation, social interaction and activities that stimulate imagination and creativity. The museum’s committee has stated that Vamos Niño’s exhibits and activities should serve “the whole child – addressing their physical, emotional, social and cognitive development.” The New Mexico Early Learning Guidelines and the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework were used in planning exhibits and activities for the mobile children’s museum.
Ngage is grateful for the support of our community, and we couldn’t do it without you! The Vamos Niños project has received monetary support from Walmart Community Giving, Western Sky Community Care, WK Kellogg Foundation, Daniel’s Fund, Federal Congressional Appropriations Funds and generous community members passionate about this project. “We’ve had tremendous support to get to this point, but now we’re asking the community to help bring this plan from concept to reality.” Kimmi Cravens explains, “We need to raise an additional $215,000 to get Vamos Niños rolling in Doña Ana County and are looking for individuals and companies in our community to step forward and help invest in the construction.”
Contact Kimmi Cravens, Museum Development Coordinator with Ngage New Mexico- Kimmi@NgageNM.org to learn more about the project, join the museum committee, or explore other contributing ways to get involved.
Candace Cichuniec is a special projects coordinator for Ngage New Mexico.
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