GREAT FALLS — The Children’s Museum of Montana in downtown Great Falls is providing a STEAM camp to get kids out of the house during the Christmas break. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and math. The camp was created to help teach kids a multitude of things before they go back to school after break.
Museum assistant director Tim Luoma says they always try to plan camps when kids are on break to give them another opportunity for something to do and learn while they visit.
“The first day has been good. I mean it’s a little crazy after Christmas here but kids are really excited about it. They’ve been having a good day today. Science can be amazing so we just kind of wanted to bring out some of those magical qualities in science experiments for the kids this week for a little fun,” Luoma said.
“They’ve been having a lot of fun learning about static electricity today. Their hair is all standing on end so that’s been pretty fun to watch and it’s exciting to see them get so excited about learning about these things that we’re giving them a head start when they get back to school.”
The STEAM camp is just one camp the museum hosts while school is out. They say they want to provide kids with fun learning opportunities while they aren’t in school. Not only is it fun for the kids, it’s fun for the instructors as well.
Michele Hunt is teaching her very first camp and is using it to prepare for her teaching career. She said teaching the kids has been rewarding and is glad to be leading the camp.
“This week was the first science day. It’s been very fun because I’m going back to school to become a teacher so it’s kind of giving that nice step to help with the community and get things going,” Hunt said. My favorite part would have to be the excitement in kids’ faces because they always get so excited and just makes what I’m doing so much better, knowing that the kids are wanting to come back. That’s what we try to do whenever we do the camps. Try to make sure they’re good for all the different age groups.”
Along with the STEAM camp, the museum plans on opening several new exhibits in the coming months. The Children's Museum of Montana is located at 22 Railroad Square in downtown Great Falls (behind the Civic Center). Click here to visit the website.
