Program areas at Santa Fe Children's Museum
Santa Fe Children's Museum (sfcm), a non-profit cultural institution, helps to discover the joys of learning, play, and community. For 36 years our innovative bilingual programs and exhibits have provided the opportunity for hands-on exploration and informal education. Sfcm was incorporated in 1985 as the first Children's Museum in the state of new mexico. Located on the historic armory for the arts campus in Santa Fe, the building was originally constructed in the 1930s. Today, sfcm remains the only organization of its kind in the region serving 60,000 children and families on an annual basis through dynamic exhibits, programs, and cultural events. A key focus is to ensure "access for all", reducing barriers as we honor, celebrate and interweave the multicultural heritage so unique to new mexico.
For years Children's Museum has been presenting the best camps in town, teaching stem and art concepts, as well as practical skills ranging from soldering to coding to carpentry. As soon as health orders allowed, we opened our camps to serve children ages 3-8 years, following all together new mexico covid safe practices, as developed by the state.
Since its launch in 2018, stargazer, our portable planetarium, has taken innovative stem learning to 22,739 kids in northern new mexico counties. When the pandemic demanded change, we transformed the stargazer curricula in just a few weeks, presenting "virtual field trips" to take its place. First, lesson plans were quickly developed to assist teachers who were learning their way around the virtual classroom. Next, slide shows were created to provide an outline for the presentation, together with internet links for further explorations. "fun in space and "plants and animals" were developed for each grade (k -6), incorporating stem ready state science standards for that age. Culturally and linguistically responsive threads are woven in, and all are presented in english, spanish, or bilingually, according to the teacher's guidance