Wonder Clubs - DuPage Children's Museum

DCM Wonder Clubs

Spark children’s curiosity and open up a world of wonder! DuPage Children’s Museum will collaborate with your organization to provide the tools and resources to help you facilitate hands-on STEAM learning experiences for your school-aged children with easy-to-implement lessons.

Research shows that out-of-school time is a critical space for children to explore their curiosities (Children spend 95% of their lives outside of school!), but not all children have access to high quality STEAM learning opportunities. Through partnership, DCM can support organizations in building their own internal capacity to reach students where they are (at organizations!) through hands-on, student-driven learning, providing children with an opportunity to wonder and explore.

At A Glance

Who: Wonder Clubs are for any organization that provides programming for school-aged children, PreK – Grade 5, outside of school hours.

Where: Wonder Clubs take place at your organization.

When: These clubs are intended to take place anytime outside of school hours including after school, weekends, and summer.

How: DuPage Children’s Museum provides the materials and supports your organization to lead engaging hands-on curriculum.

Your Role

Partners will Provide:

General support including recruitment, record keeping, and communication with families
Dedicated time to run the program
Space to facilitate the program
Staff

Explore Curiosity

Wonder Club Curriculum

Come one, come all! Provide children with the opportunity to engage in STEAM learning through the exploration of amusement parks, carnivals, and fairs. DCM Wonder Club lessons center around science, art, and math content as well as social emotional practices like collaboration, self-identity, and resilience.

DCM Wonder Clubs curriculum “STEAM Park” invites participating students to play like engineers as they build amusement park rides, engage as scientists as they observe color patterns and optical illusions, and celebrate their inner artist in becoming jugglers and parade float designers.

DCM Wonder Clubs lessons are created for three grade-bands (PreK-K, Grades 1-3, and Grades 4-5) with developmentally appropriate learning experiences that build on similar STEAM concepts across the grades. Each Wonder Club grade-band consists of eight 45-minute lessons with suggested book connections and learning extensions to provide additional opportunities for children to discover, explore, and wonder.