On Sunday, April 10 from 9am – 2pm, the BFK is hosting Financial Literacy Free Day sponsored by Money Smart Week Fox Cities. Admission will be FREE all day and we’ll have fun activities centered around financial literacy. Kids will learn about earning, spending, sharing, and saving through a mini economy.
Upon entering the museum, kids will receive a play check which they can use to build, decorate, and sell a house, while also paying the house’s various expenses. In addition, kids can choose what they want to save their money for as well as where they want to share their money. Then, with whatever money they have left, they can buy prizes.
Plus, we’ll host storytimes at 10am and 11:30am. We’ll read “The Berenstain Bears’ Trouble with Money” by Stan and Jan Berenstain. We’ll also be giving out free copies of the book while supplies last.
No pre-registration is required. This event is free for all.
We’re hosting a Breakfast with Curious George event on Saturday, April 2 from 8 – 10am, sponsored by TDS. Check out the list below to learn more about what you can expect during the event:
Storytime: Throughout the morning, we’ll host storytimes, featuring “Curious George Makes Pancakes.”
Breakfast: We’ll have a build-your-own breakfast sandwich buffet provided by Bagelicious. Choose your own bagel, egg, cheese, and meat. Fruit and drinks will also be provided.
Activities: Join us for puffy paint activities in our da Vinci Studio and building activities in our Innovation Lab.
Curious George: Throughout the event, there will be tons of opportunities to meet Curious George and get pictures! Plus, be sure to visit our traveling exhibit, “Curious George: Let’s Get Curious!” The exhibit introduces visitors to Curious George’s world through math and science based activities.
This event is $5 per member and $15 per non-member. Registration closes Wednesday, March 30th at noon.
New traveling exhibit open January 15 – May 8 at the Building for Kids!
Based on the familiar characters in H.A. and Margret Rey’s classic stories, this new traveling exhibit inspires children’s natural curiosity as they explore science, math, and engineering concepts through hands-on, interactive play.
The immersive exhibit environment takes place in the neighborhood where Curious George lives with his friend, The Man in the Yellow Hat. Visitors can build a whirligig at George’s farm, launch in a rocket to outer space, play mini golf at George’s special course and so much more.
“We are so excited to host this nationally traveling exhibit that supports our mission of inspiring discovery,” says Oliver Zornow, Executive Director of the BFK. “By creating an immersive learning environment that leverages kid’s natural curiosity this exhibit introduces important STEM concepts in a fun and engaging way.”
Visitors can also use pulleys to help George climb the fire escape, design and build structures at the construction site, and count and weigh fruit at the produce stand.
Curious George: Let’s Get Curious! will be at the BFK January 15 through May 8, 2022. The exhibit is sponsored locally by the Appleton Noon Optimist Club, Infant Welfare Circle of King’s Daughters Donor Advised Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, and Menasha Corporation Foundation. Additionally, the exhibit is sponsored nationally by PBS Kids and developed by Minnesota Children’s Museum.
On Friday, December 31, the Building for Kids Children’s Museum will be ringing in the New Year from 10am – 6pm with fun family activities planned throughout the day.
The BFK will be doing countdowns, complete with lots of confetti and parades around the museum, at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm.
“New Year’s at the Building for Kids is a great way to welcome 2022 with the whole family,” said Oliver Zornow, Executive Director of the BFK. “If you have kids (or even adults) that won’t quite make it until midnight, we’ve got you covered with all of the fun and excitement of midnight at various times throughout the day.”
In addition, the BFK will be doing New Year’s themed activities throughout the museum. Families can make their own noise makers in da Vinci Studio and can experiment with simple machines while building their own ball drop devices in the Innovation Lab.
Due to limited capacity, visitors are encouraged to register in advance to secure their place.
To celebrate our upcoming traveling exhibit – Curious GeorgeTM: Let’s Get Curious! – we’re offering a special membership sale!
Sign up for an annual membership between November 29 and December 5 and receive a 15% discount on your membership (plus a free book)!
To take advantage of this special offer, click here and be sure to use discount code Curious2021 at checkout.
Get a free Curious George book!
With your purchase of a membership between November 29 and December 5, you receive a FREE Curious George book!
Books will not be mailed. Please pick your book up in-person at our Welcome Desk before December 23. Pick it up the next time you come to play or stop in any time during our regular hours of operation.
The pandemic has been hard on all of us – disrupted routines, stress and mental health challenges, isolation, economic challenges, and so much more. It is important to recognize that missed plans can be rescheduled and relationships with friends and family can be rekindled. However, brain development doesn’t wait and cannot be rescheduled for another time. 90% of brain development occurs within the first five years of a child’s life. Children in this critical stage are facing life-long negative impacts to their development.
The past 18 months, we’ve felt these challenges through conversations with parents, partners, and kids themselves. However, we are now seeing data emerge showing that Growth is at Play in our community. According to the Ages and Stages Screening data in Outagamie and Winnebago Counties, during the first year of the public health crisis, we saw in children under the age of 5: • 46% increase in the rate of fine motor skill delays • 27% increase in the rate of gross motor skill delays
In times like these, we need to focus our investments on insulating children from the long-term impacts of the pandemic through proven, evidence-based interventions. In a two-year longitudinal study, early elementary school children that participated regularly at the Building for Kids demonstrated stronger growth in social self-confidence and improvement in academic performance in science, math, and reading as compared to the control group that did not.
As we look to the future, we need your help to ensure we can continue to present robust engagement opportunities for children in our community. By giving to the Building for Kids, you support evidence-based initiatives that help insulate children from the impacts of this crisis, accelerate their development and academic achievement, and build critical skills of resiliency to help them succeed.
Please consider making a donation today because it is Growth at Play.
STEM Free Day is Saturday, October 23. Join us as we celebrate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math with free admission to the BFK!
Sign up for a FREE 2-hour play session. Spend time exploring all of our exhibits and enjoy some hands-on STEM projects led by local STEM professionals.
6 Teams. 3 Challenges. Who will be the Greatest BFK Maker of all?
You’re invited to tune in for the first annual Great BFK Maker Challenge sponsored by Boldt! Watch as six teams, comprised of kids and their adults, compete in three challenges that will premier on the BFK Facebook page this July.
In this fundraiser, inspired by competition TV shows, teams will need a combination of creativity, skill, and collaboration to succeed. The teams will receive points based on the level of comprehension, quality of their work, and their ability to work together as a team. Teams will also earn a bonus point for every $250 they raise. The two teams with the most points after the first two challenges will face-off in the third and final challenge, with one to be named the Greatest BFK Maker of all!
Starting May 25, the Building for Kids will enter Phase 3 of their phased reopening plan and launch pre-registered play sessions. During a play session, families have access to all museum exhibits and can explore the museum freely during their 3-hour play session. Drop-in programs will open periodically during each session in our da Vinci Studio or Innovation Lab.
“Safety continues to be our priority,” said Oliver Zornow, Executive Director of the BFK. “We have worked closely with our local public health officials to design innovative operating modes and to assess what is safe for our community at this time. Now, with the disease burden rate decreasing in the Fox Valley, we are excited to take this next step and continue to provide families with in-person, engagement opportunities.”
Based on the current virus activity in our community, each 3-hour play session will be limited to 50 people per session. The BFK will continue to require masks for all visitors 3 and up and social distancing will continue to be observed.
All families must register before their visit on our website. Registration opens Thursday, May 20 at 10 am for members and 3 pm for the general public.
The Building for Kids Children’s Museum joins many throughout our community in acknowledging and validating the experiences that local Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community members have faced in recent months. We are concerned by the impact that the delay to consider Resolution #6-R-21 condemning xenophobia, racism, and anti-Asian violence has had on amplifying feelings of concern, insecurity, and fear among the AAPI community.
We do not believe any debate should be necessary to, as the resolution seeks, condemn all acts of violence, racism, xenophobia, sexism, gender-based violence, discrimination, anti-Asian bias, scapegoating, and ethnic or religious intolerance. The existence of these behaviors in Appleton stand clearly in the way of us realizing our organization’s vision of an energized community that is thriving, welcoming, and connected.
The Building for Kids is a safe place for kids and grown-ups of all backgrounds to learn and play together. Children look to adults as examples and to understand the types of behavior that are acceptable and how to respond to the choices of others.
As we seek to live and impart our core value of inclusion, the BFK encourages all parents to engage in age-appropriate conversations and explore resources to help children understand the impacts of racism in our community and all of our responsibility to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect.
