FINDLAY, OH (WLIO) - The University of Findlay's Mazza Museum combined art, STEM, and magic to encourage curiosity in young kids.
This month's session of the free Sunday Funday program, Wizardly Christmas, had over 20 different educational crafts and activities inspired by Harry Potter. Kids could make magic wands, learn about shadows, and experience virtual reality. There were also ballet performances that taught fun facts about other cultures around the world. Each Sunday Funday only lasts a couple of hours, but that's more than enough time for the kids to learn a couple of new things without even noticing.
"I think any time you can have a child have those experiences, they go home and they remember more, right? So they sit at the table and go, 'Oh, and I saw this,' but it triggers 'Oh, but there was art there, did you see the art?' Any of those connections that we can make as families, even if it's a short window, I think is important and I think this is one of the last places that can give that to you," said Heather Sensel, the education manager of the STEAM Center and Mazza Museum.
For Wizardly Christmas, the Laiho Gallery was transformed into the location Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter series. The goal is to introduce kids to professional art by connecting it to something that they might already be interested in.
"We get a lot of people that come to the museum that love art and love to read. But those two topics can be daunting sometimes, especially to students. The idea here is to create this immersive world, that when they step in, they don't realize yet that they love to read and they love artwork. We're trying to provoke curiosity and inspire the imagination," explained Dan Chudzinksi, the director of curation and exhibition for the Mazza Museum.
The next Sunday Funday will be held on January 7th and will be based on Lego activities.
