ROANOKE, Va. – Pick up free, but fun, educational activities for your young scientist this weekend at Sidewalk Social. It’s a new event the Science Museum of Western Virginia is hosting Saturday, July 11.
The idea behind this event came from spring cleaning. While the museum was closed for the last several months they were sorting through 50 years worth of science-related educational material.
They discovered puzzles, games, books, rocks, fossils, really anything you could imagine. Some of the items they decided to keep while the rest they decided to give to the community.
Saturday they are laying those items out at the Downtown Roanoke market from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
They just ask you to bring your own mask and bag.
“We miss our visitors, we miss our members. We want a way to connect with them again so if we could meet they can take away one of the items or two items or however many they want and they take a piece of the science museum with them,” said Koren Smith, director of marketing at the science museum.
The purpose is to not only giveaway these items and get to connect back with the community but to also show kids learning about science can be fun even if it’s not coming from a computer, phone or iPad.
“It’s been really hard for kids to be out of formal education. Parents I know are trying to find ways to keep kids engaged and learning and so if we can make it fun we that’s what we want to do,” said Smith.
The Science Museum of Western Virginia is also renovating its food science and plant exhibit, Hidden Garden. Staff dug up some plants and will be giving those away at Sidewalk Social too.