The Staten Island Children's Museum Announces New Science Outreach Program

The Staten Island Children's Museum has been hitting the road with a popular exhibit and children on the Island's North Shore are now getting hands-on experience with engineering!

Children at several Staten Island North Shore libraries are participating in the new "SICM on the Go with STEAM" (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) outreach program. The program provides opportunities for children to take part in hands-on STEAM activities at local libraries, afterschool programs and in community centers.

The program's activity is centered on the Rigamajig traveling engineering exhibit, which the Children's Museum lends for 1- 2 months at a time. The Rigamajig allows children to build simple machines while using their imaginations and fine motor skills. The concepts are open-ended and without formal instructions, allowing the young builders to let their imaginations soar and while creating their own original structures.

To get the program started, members of the Children's Museum's Education Department, led by Program Director Zoë Tirado, visit the library branch and show staff how to set up the exhibit. The Museum Educators also provide a demonstration of how the Rigamajig works and use this demo as the basis for a lesson that the library staff can share with their visitors. To date, the exhibit has traveled to the NYC Public Library branches at Mariners Harbor, St. George and West Brighton. It is currently at the Port Richmond and Stapleton library branches.

"The Rigamajig builder project has been enthusiastically received by the participants," said Tirado. "By bringing this mobile design lab to the library branches, we are able to reach children who may not have the opportunity to visit us here on site at the Museum."

The Children's Museum will lend the Rigamajig to other Staten Island library branches, afterschool programs and community centers. Interested organizations should email ztirado@sichildrensmuseum.org with their request and contact information.

"We are excited to deliver creative expression and STEAM exploration with more children and families beyond our walls and to make even deeper connections with our community," said Dina Rosenthal, Executive Director of the Staten Island Children's Museum. "We are grateful to Con Edison, the Richmond County Savings Foundation and the National Grid Foundation, for their support of this new outreach as well as the many other science programs we offer throughout the year."