Not many 5-year-olds spend their Saturday afternoons performing dentistry on a great white shark.
But when Moleno Colon saw the sea beast’s gaping jaws, he couldn’t help but dive in, excitedly rearranging the shark’s many rows of teeth.
His dad, Malcolm White, said Colon had been having a blast exploring everything the museum had to offer Saturday — which was quite a bit, thanks to Pennon Education and WITF.
Pennon, based in Harrisburg, partnered with the museum to host Ready, Set, Explore! STEM & Media.
“I was an animal science major in college,” White said. “I love this, it’s really nice. Gives us something to do outside of the house, especially when it’s so cold and nobody wants to be outside.”
Pennon said the STEM & Media event — the first of its kind in Reading in 10 years — aimed to offer kids a lighthearted introduction to coding, AI and other increasingly relevant technologies and tools.
Tickets to the event included free admission to the museum and all of its exhibits, including interactive activities based on Wild Kratts, a popular PBS Kids cartoon.
Jennifer Eley, director of education at Pennon, said the event featured Tia Flora, a bilingual character, who guided kids through some of the event’s 14 activities.
One activity, Bee Bots to Butterflies, saw kids use basic coding strategies to help digital bees guide Tia around her city.
“I liked the bee bots,” said Brantly Wroble, 9, “I liked everything!”
Eley said the activities were geared toward kids ages 3 to 14, and offered varying levels of challenge.
“We want to provide something that sparks their curiosity and engages them with the topic,” Eley said. “The bee bots are very simplistic coding, but right next to the bee bots is a block coding station, with more advanced coding.”
On the museum’s upper floor, about a dozen kids were sprawled next to piles of Legos, connecting and crafting to their hearts content.
The Legos — part of the Ready Set Explore’s “Build Your Own Bodega” exhibit — were a popular item, especially for Michael Uniacke, 6.
Uniacke’s dad, also Michael Unaicke, said he’s taken his son to multiple Ready Set Explore events, and they always come away learning something.
“I’m a microbiologist, we’re a STEM focused family,” Uniacke said with a laugh.
Jennifer Heller of Hamburg, grandmother to Brantly Wroble, as well as Victoria Roble, 6, Levi Wroble, 10, and Landon Brown, said the kids were thrilled with the exhibits.
Victoria Roble said she couldn’t get enough of the spider monkey section of the Wild Kratts exhibit, where kids got to swing and sneak through the jungle.
Heller said she and her clan are seasoned museum-goers, and swing by the Reading Museum whenever they get a chance.
Other activities included creating a personalized GIF, or moving image, of Tia Flora using green screens, and a “photo detective” booth where kids learned to spot the difference between AI and fake images.
For Tiral Fernando and his daughter Eleeza Fernando, 7, the day was a boat load of fun — and fish: Eleeza said she liked learning about sea creatures in the Wild Kratts aquatic themed exhibit.
As to whether the day had convinced Eleeza Fernando to become a scientist when she gets older, the answer was a very enthusiastic, “Maybe.”
White said he was grateful for the event and the chance to teach kids more about subjects that aren’t necessarily covered very deeply at a young age.
“A lot of school activities were limited because of COVID and stuff like that,” White said. “So when (kids) get an opportunity to congregate in a museum, it’s always a fun experience.”
The Ready Set Stem event was Saturday only, but Eley noted that Pennon is looking to potentially bring other events to the Reading area.
The Wild Kratts exhibits will remain at the Reading Museum until May 11.
Source: Berkshire mont
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