KidZone Museum, a local nonprofit children’s museum, reopened for indoor creative play on Sept. 22.

“We are thrilled to welcome back families who are in real need of community connections,” said Carol Meagher, KidZone Museum Executive Director. “As cooler weather approaches, our indoor play, art, and science areas offer a place for young children to explore and discover.”

In the phased reopening, the Museum will be open to members three days a week (Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays) through October. Pre-pandemic memberships will be reactivated when families visit again and new memberships are available for purchase online. Everyone will pre-register to play.

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For everyone’s health and safety, proof of COVID vaccination (age 12+) and masks (age 3+) are required for all visitors.

See https://kidzonemuseum.org/reopening/ to book reservations, purchase a membership, and review policies.

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The Museum will be open for special programs, school field trips, and vulnerable populations on separate days of the week. It will close for deep sanitizing on Sundays and Mondays.

In November, staff will reevaluate these policies and open to the maximum capacity allowed by county and federal guidelines, and as determined by our COVID review team, staff and Board of Directors.

“I’m just excited for families to return to KidZone!” said Donor Relations and Education Director Jen Parker. “I go in and see our fabulous hand-crafted exhibits and murals, and I just can’t wait to see the families back in there, interacting, playing and learning.”

Although the doors to the Museum have been closed since March 2020, staff and volunteers have been keeping the mission — to inspire creative play and discovery – strong through a variety of community efforts.

“We’ve been able to do outreach even though our doors have been closed. We’ve been able to connect with kids and families,” said Bilingual Community Advocate Nataly Zarate. “My favorite thing was the virtual events because I got to see them and they got to see inside the KidZone.”

KidZone Museum provided supplies to families in advance of virtual programming, so that kids could benefit from live activities in real-time.

Meanwhile, KidZone Museum community members came together to create a parenting podcast called Small Talk Tahoe.

Earlier this year, the Museum opened its outdoor creative play area to partner cohorts including the Sierra Teen Education and Parenting Program, State Preschool at Truckee Elementary, and Tahoe Truckee Unified School District.

KidZone Museum is a nonprofit children’s museum in Truckee. While current programs primarily serve children to age 7, our new museum will have expanded space and activities for children ages 0 to 110. Listen to our Small Talk Tahoe podcast at http://www.smalltalktahoe.com and connect with us at KidZoneMuseum.org.

Source: KidZone Museum