Valley Children's Museum (VCM) offers play-based education for children up to age 10, partners with schools to supplement their classroom curriculum, and provides an inviting and safe gathering place for the community. The nonprofit is now asking the community for donations to help it raise the funds needed for a permanent home.

Currently VCM serves approximately 3,000 children and their families every year, on a part-time basis, at the museum's temporary mobile location at the City of Dublin's Emerald Glen Park. A permanent home would allow VCM to expand its hours, serve many more visitors, and create a "crown jewel" for the community, according to supporters.

The research and concept development behind Valley Children's Museum has been ongoing and extensive since early 2000, when VCM was founded as a nonprofit organization. The rich history and unique character of the region will define the thematic concept of Valley Children's Museum, which will be a distinctive set of buildings of up to 25,000 square feet, with at least 15,600 square feet of exhibit space to accommodate approximately 170,000 visitors per year.

"Our mission directly addresses the need for play-based educational programs in our region," note Linda Spencer, VCM Volunteer Coordinator and Mobile Museum Program Manager, and Marion Thatch, Interim Executive Director and VCM Board Member.

One day each month Valley Children's Museum offers a themed, Super Saturday event for children up to 10 at VCM's temporary location. The new building will allow the VCM to do much more to provide fun, educational, and meaningful interactions for children and their friends, adults, schools, and community.

"No other organization in our region addresses this need," say Spencer and Thatch. "Valley Children's Museum provides opportunities for educational play for children, families, and school groups through fun, interactive exhibits and programs. Designed as a child-friendly community with themes that reflect the Tri-Valley and our local communities, the museum will stimulate curiosity, creativity, imagination, and learning through exploration of the natural world, the sciences, the arts, and social role-playing."

Building a permanent home for Valley Children's Museum will provide a bounty of benefits to the community, according to Spencer and Thatch. Those benefits include opportunities for visitors to learn about themselves and the world around them in a creative, interactive environment. They also include easy access to all children, families, and childcare providers regardless of ethnicity, disability, or economic status as well as community volunteer opportunities for both teens and seniors.

The new VCM facility is planned for the City of Dublin at a location across from the East Dublin/Pleasanton BART station in Hacienda, which would create easy access for Tri-Valley residents who use public transit.

Hands-on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) activities are the theme for VCM's next Super Saturday event, which is scheduled for October 20 at 11 am. There is no fee to attend but donations are welcome.

For more information about the Valley Children's Museum, please visit www.valleychildrensmuseum.org or its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ValleyChildrensMuseum.