Community Programs

Making Connections

KidZone Museum’s bilingual staff and our programs and learning experiences offer Tahoe-Truckee families opportunities for early childhood development, education, and parenting support. Our KidsReach initiative and social service partnerships increase our outreach to under-served families in our region. Families from our KidsReach Program visit the museum to play and participate in our enrichment programs. During their visits, families learn about resources in our community and the stages of early childhood development.

Award-winning community programs

Our outreach program to under-served youth, KidsReach, received a Promising Practice Award from Association of Children’s Museum’s and MetLife for our innovative grassroots successful outreach efforts.

We are actively requesting donations for our KidsReach initiative to provide innovative experiences that can bridge the economic, cultural, and educational gaps our families experience. Our focus is to connect with families who are under-served, survivors of domestic violence, and those facing mental health challenges.

Outreach Group Visit Request

Support KidsReach today

Race & Social Justice Resources

Our Programs

Sierra Community House Family Room at the museum

The Sierra Community House Family Room will be held at KidZone Museum Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, 9-10:30 a.m. (on TTUSD school days only).

This bilingual program is designed for children ages 0-4 and their caregivers, offering a fun, interactive space to play, sing, read, and develop early learning skills. For more information, call (530) 414-7374. Programming is free for members.

Apply for a KidZone Museum scholarship or contact Nataly@kidzonemuseum.org for more information.

A heartfelt thank you to our generous partners, Sierra Community House, First 5, Campaign for Community Wellness, and Music Wings.

Science Festival

Thanks to a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the museum is able to bring Science Festivals to 400 children who can learn about science experientially. Thanks to the many volunteers, the Experimental Aircraft Association and Truckee Tahoe Airport for assisting and giving us space.

Science in the Schools

Thanks to Placer County First 5 and IMLS, we provide science in the Family Room in Kings Beach, in preschools and in Kindergartens in our school district. Currently we are finishing up our first pre-school science manual to share with our families and teachers.

Download our Science in the Schools brochure.

Staff Development

To better serve our community we attend conferences that update us on the best child development activities and exhibits for children. We have attended workshops at Lawrence Hall of Science, Exploratorium, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and the annual Children’s Museum Conference. We have toured the Boston Children’s Museum, Chicago Children’s Museum, Bay Area Discovery Museum, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, The Children’s Museum of Sonoma County and Please Touch Philadelphia Children’s Museum. By engaging in these activities, we keep up to date on best practices and find interesting learning tools that we have installed at KidZone museum. We enjoy sharing this knowledge with our visitors and strive for excellence.

Community Partners

We partner with many organizations in our community in an effort to meet the needs of local children and families most efficiently. With one of our partners, the Tahoe Truckee Community Collaborative, we meet twice a month and discuss local happenings and issues with over 40 organizations. This allows us to reach more families across a wider area without duplicating services.

Together with our First 5 Nevada County partners, we plan programs for young children living in Nevada County and also share resources such as event space and staff. We also participate in Communities 4 Kids, formally the Child Abuse Prevention Council. The council produced the annual Kids Day, which was held behind the museum in 2013 and attended by hundreds of local families who were able to learn about local resources and information and enjoy kid-friendly activities.

KidZone provides classes and programs at the Kings Beach Family Room, Truckee and Kings Beach Head Starts and Sierra Community House. With the TTUSD Early Learning program, we partnered for the annual Child Development Conference and helped to support a session with Rusty Keeler – author, natural playscape designer, and advocate of the benefits and beauty of saying ‘yes’ to children’s play.

Free access to the museum is provided to:

Truckee State Preschool
Tahoe Truckee School District Special Education Classrooms
Healthy Babies Home Visiting Program
Sierra Community House Community Engagement & Violence Prevention Education Programs
SOS Outreach Program
Sierra Teen Education and Parenting Program

Through our collaborative networks of social service, education and health agencies, we are able to reach and serve those families that are most in need.