Photo courtesy of Kids Science Labs
“What’s inside… nearly everything?” asks the current session of classes at Kids Science Labs, just east of Green Lake. What’s inside Kids Science Labs right now is an enthusiastic staff, two classrooms decorated with massive amounts of multicolored duct tape, and a handmade cardboard model of the Space Needle. It feels a bit like a Magic School Bus book meets an old Bill Nye episode: one glance confirms that science and fun happen here.
KSL offers a variety of afterschool and daytime classes for kids ages 2 to 12, as well as spring break and summer camp options. Families can sign up for either monthly memberships to attend once a week, or single classes (KSL also does private events and birthday parties).
Sessions follow different themes (recently, “Med School for Kids: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”) with classes zeroing in on the kinds of questions that kids always ask and grown-ups can rarely answer, from “Why do I have to pee?” to “What’s inside a cave?” Classes feature hands-on problem-solving exercises and experiments with everyday items like paper cups and plastic bags. Indeed, kids begin every session by checking in at the mobile front desk, which is made of cardboard.
“We want to show how sturdy and useful something so seemingly flimsy can be,” explains Katie Maskel, who moved from Chicago to help open KSL in Seattle (the first of multiple locations across the country if all goes according to plan).
Which presents families with a win-win situation: occupy the kids with a fun, educational class and find a use for all those Amazon boxes lying around at home. 405 NE 71st St., Seattle, kidssciencelabs.com/seattle-greenlake
