Kidzu wins $91,000 grant to boost its nature and outdoor programs for kids

The Chapel Hill-based museum announced this week that it had won a Museums for America award from The Institute of Museum and Library Services. The institute is an independent federal agency that provides library grants, museum grants, policy development and research.

Kidzu's grant will provide the museum with $91,650 over two years to make updates to its Kidzu Naturalist Project and outdoor learning garden.

The Kidzu Naturalist Project focuses on self-directed learning opportunities for all, including non-English speaking families, according to the museum. The project features multilingual, themed Discovery Packs, Discovery Journals, Discovery Booklets, Outdoor Learning Centers-in-a-Box, Discovery Maps, Family Workshops and Digital Badges.

Since opening Kidzu's Outdoor Learning Garden in summer 2016, the museum has hosted multiple outdoor programs to introduce visitors to local North Carolina plants and animals, so they can understand basic care for gardens and learn how to protect pollinators. The space also encourages parents to continue the conversation at home and spend more time outside. Kidzu’s garden is free and open to the public year round.

“Studies consistently demonstrate benefits associated with time outdoors,” said Melanie Hatz-Levinson, Kidzu's creative director, in a news release. “And overwhelming evidence indicates that time outside boosts creative abilities, improves short term memory, reduces stress and creates connection and empathy toward the natural world. Kidzu’s Naturalist Project recognizes the diverse ways children learn and encourages children and the adults in their lives to get outside together more- enjoying intergenerational learning opportunities centered on sustainability and the beauty of the natural world.”