How a grassroots idea becomes one of Oregon’s largest children’s museums

If you're just joining us, my guest is Sunny Spicer, Executive Director of the Children's Museum of Southern Oregon.

Now, I understand the museum attracts families from all over the region, including Northern California.

Can you tell me about the experiences for kids and the parents like playtime, learning, and hands-on workshops?

So children learn about the world around them by experiencing it.

So what we want is not to just put a screen in front of them and tell them about something.

We want them to experience it in a way that they're going to understand it.

So if we're talking about things that are happening in our economy, we're going to give them the chance to do it for themselves.

So we have a little orchard.

They might pick fruit.

They might learn how to pack it.

They put it into a grocery store.

They'll take it to a restaurant.

They'll buy it and take it home in the little creative home setting and We have a medical center.

We have an ambulance.

We have a neonatal unit.

But they're all things in a child-sized setting that they can start learning about what the world is around them.

They can think about their career pathways.

They learn to interact with kids around them, how to socially, emotionally react in a way that's appropriate, how to share.

So it's a play experience, but it's really like learning how to be in this world, right?

And you have hands-on workshops like the kids can get their hands dirty with clay.

Absolutely.

So one of the things, one of the roles we try to fill in, we have an amazing preschool.

We love our preschool, and we fully acknowledge preschool is expensive.

There's about 70-some percent of the families in our community that can't access it because of cost and whatever else that may be.

So we create workshops that families can come in, and there is no additional cost once you come into the museum.

If you're just joining us, my guest is Sunny Spicer, Executive Director of the Children's Museum of Southern Oregon.

Now, I understand the museum attracts families from all over the region, including Northern California.

Can you tell me about the experiences for kids and the parents like playtime, learning, and hands-on workshops?

So children learn about the world around them by experiencing it.

So what we want is not to just put a screen in front of them and tell them about something.

We want them to experience it in a way that they're going to understand it.

So if we're talking about things that are happening in our economy, we're going to give them the chance to do it for themselves.

So we have a little orchard.

They might pick fruit.

They might learn how to pack it.

They put it into a grocery store.

They'll take it to a restaurant.

They'll buy it and take it home in the little creative home setting and We have a medical center.

We have an ambulance.

We have a neonatal unit.

But they're all things in a child-sized setting that they can start learning about what the world is around them.

They can think about their career pathways.

They learn to interact with kids around them, how to socially, emotionally react in a way that's appropriate, how to share.

So it's a play experience, but it's really like learning how to be in this world, right?

And you have hands-on workshops like the kids can get their hands dirty with clay.

Absolutely.

So one of the things, one of the roles we try to fill in, we have an amazing preschool.

We love our preschool, and we fully acknowledge preschool is expensive.

There's about 70-some percent of the families in our community that can't access it because of cost and whatever else that may be.

So we create workshops that families can come in, and there is no additional cost once you come into the museum.