The Children’s Museum of Richmond brings play outside its walls with free family field day, I See Me Play in RVA!

The Children’s Museum of Richmond (CMoR) is providing a free day of play and learning to Richmond area children and their caregivers. I See Me Play in RVA! is a brand new event presented by CMoR and will feature exciting hands-on activities, demonstrations by professionals, musical performances, and food trucks. This community event, held at City Stadium, will offer tons of opportunities for families to read, grow, create, and build together in interactive ways that embody a culture of belonging. These four themes were used to design engaging activities and learning experiences for the youth of Richmond.

I See Me Play in RVA! runs from 10am-3pm on April 30, 2023 at City Stadium in Richmond. This event is free, with activities geared toward ages up to 12 years old. Over 1,700 children and adults have pre-registered to attend. To join the fun, please register at www.cmorva.org or walk up and register in person if the pre-registration is full.

Children will start their journey through I See Me Play in RVA! with a storybook handout that will guide them through the four zones (Read, Grow, Create, & Build), and provides extra activities for at home, as well as resources for caregivers.

The Read Zone promotes early literacy with interactive story walks, a glyph craft, the Children’s Museum Book Buggy with free books for attendees, and story times with local children’s authors.

In the Grow Zone, children will learn to “grow” healthy minds, bodies, and communities through seedling planting, cooking with Victoria’s Kitchen, savings bank decorating, and glitter bottle mindfulness play.

The Create Zone is where children can make self-portraits, join in a community weaving project, and create music with City Singers, flexing their imaginations, divergent thinking, and empathy muscles.

In the Build Zone kids will construct a city from boxes and explore CMoR’s newest mobile exhibit BUILD IT! This exhibit features three STEM modules: a PVC Big Build, Tectonic Testers (earthquake tables), and a Three-Sided Vertical Build with a tangram wall, gravity run, and geoboard station.

Throughout the zones, local community professionals will be present to show children how they use these concepts of Read, Grow, Create, and Build in their careers. The Children’s Museum believes that children need to “see it to be it” and will showcase to the kids that they can be anything they want to be. These professionals will bring demos and read their own authored books.

Throughout the day there will be stage performances by Tony Tunes and Jeff Beatman, and bounce houses to round out the fun! City Stadium concession stands will be open, and food trucks from Arroz, Slice It Up RVA, The Local Cup, and sweet treats from King of Pops and Mimi’s Ice N’ Custard will be available for purchase.

A true community endeavor, I See Me Play in RVA! is sponsored by Publix Supermarket Charities, M&T Bank, Hourigan, and Wells Fargo Advisors and is supported by over 100 volunteers.