After a year and a half of children participating in distance learning, isolation from other children and an increase in screen time, the Cayton Children’s Museum wants to provide children with the opportunity to remember the joy of discovery-based play.
“Creative classes are particularly important for children, after more than a year of restricted in-person socialization and learning,” Museum Programs Director Angela Reynolds said. “Class participants develop their creativity skills by learning various artistic mediums and processes each week. In addition, they are expanding their social, exploratory and cognitive abilities – many of these skills that were not fostered during the lockdowns.”
The museum now uses a donation model for Los Angeles County residents and offers an annual membership that offers priority access. Non-resident tickets are $16.
In addition to the museum’s new pay-as-you-wish admission model, Cayton will begin a new season of creative children’s programming starting Oct. 15 including arts and crafts, dance, music, storytelling, drama and more.
“This school year families need a little more time to adjust to their back-to-school routines. We knew it would take a few weeks for families to be familiar with their new schedules and comfortable reentering social spaces,” Reynolds said. “We felt by mid-October families would be ready to add a new after-school adventure.”
The mission of Cayton Children’s Museum is to help children return to socializing, learn to explore, problem solve, and be creative.
Cayton Classes are after-school enrichment for kids 3-8 years old, or creative exploration time for toddlers. These classes have been designed to expand a child’s social, problem-solving, creative, and cognitive skills — all while they are immersed in play.
The museum is keeping capacities limited to 8-10 children per class to ensure safe indoor distancing for participants.
As the year fall progresses, there are multiple upcoming events for young residents to take advantage of.
“On Oct. 20, we will be celebrating National Sloth Day at the Cayton,” Reynolds said. “You can join us for a day of sloth activities in the museum and to meet a real sloth from the Wildlife Learning Center at 2:30-4:30 p.m. During the week leading up to this day, we will be having sloth storytime, sloth LEGO making, sloth crafts and more.”
On Oct. 29, the museum will also host a costume party for Cayton members. Looking ahead, the center looks to host another session of Cayton Classes in the new year.
For more information and reservation information visit https://caytonmuseum.org.
daniel@smdp.com
