Mountain Top – Thinking Outside the Box
“If we experienced life through the eyes of a child, everything would be magical and extraordinary.
Let our curiosity, adventure and wonder of life never end.”
Despite the pandemic forcing businesses to pivot, innovate and experiment with new business models, nonprofit organizations such as Mountain Top (formally Mountain Top Children’s Museum) found creative ways to provide engaging content in an educational environment for children ages 4 – 14. After temporarily closing their children’s museum of 17 years, Mountain Top quickly shifted programming to offer a safe, nurturing learning space and childcare option for local families while the organization searches for their forever home.
In the initial shutdown in March 2020, Mountain Top (MT) wanted to offer engaging content for children safely from their home. Partnering with The Frosted Flamingo, MT offered weekly Creation Station Workshops online for ages 3 and up, combining science and art to create educational and fun activities for kids. “As we were all going a little stir crazy, I knew my friends with kids were feeling it even more”, said Becca Spiro, owner of The Frosted Flamingo and MT board member. “When Mountain Top approached me with this idea, I knew I wanted to be involved.” In addition to free online workshops, MT started an educational YouTube channel for kids to conduct their own experiments at home.
Mountain Top has offered school-age programs with a focus on science, art and nature for guests and local families since 2002. Their mission of building authentic connections between a child and their world is evident in the educational and engaging content provided through camps and enrichment programs. After the world slowly opened back up, Mountain Top offered their Summer Day Camp program with engaging science and nature-based activities all while maintaining COVID-19 protocols. Once the school year started, with the support of the Summit County South Branch Library, MT offered low-cost options for students to continue learning when in-person school was not possible. Current winter programs include After-School, School-Break, and Distance Learning Camps (ages 5-12) enabling parents to work full-time while their children receive educational support, one-on-one tutoring services, STEM challenges, art and outdoor focused activities such as local hikes.
Over the past two decades, Breckenridge has been home to the Mountain Top children’s museum, providing a hands-on environment for guests and locals alike. “The number of children living and visiting this community is increasing rapidly,” said Laura Horvath, founder and current board member of MT. “With the amount of daily screen time in our current world, it’s important to provide a space where parents and caregivers have opportunities to interact and make authentic connections.” While building your own robot, exploring the science of light and discovering the natural engineering of avalanches, the STEM Lab was a place for creation, collaboration and innovation. Kids stayed busy in the Kidstruction Zone building a Rigamajig and designing a gravity-powered ball chute. However families wanted to get creative and Mountain Top supplements a child’s imagination and wonderment.
The pandemic has kept Mountain Top from opening another children’s museum due to the hands-on nature of the exhibits. As restrictions ease up, MT invites you to participate in their first ever virtual fundraiser to restart their capital campaign for a forever home. On April 10th, join Mountain Top for a night of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) from your own living room. Tickets include admission to the virtual event and a party box including party favors, arts and crafts, science experiment materials and more. The virtual event will include step-by-step STEAM activities, a dance party and a guest appearance from best-selling author, STEM influencer and Hall of Fame keynote speaker Steve Spangler to conduct amazing science experiments. Tickets and more information can be found on the Mountain Top website at www.mountaintopbreck.org/spring-fling.
Mountain Top believes play is essential to the lifelong learning and development of the whole person. In true play, children are so fully engaged that they lose awareness of their surroundings, time and space. With your support, Mountain Top’s forever home will provide our mountain community with a new children’s museum and a place for year-round school-age programs such as After-School, School-Break Camps, Space Club, Kid’s Night Out, Outreach Workshops, Family Science Nights and more. To learn more about Mountain Top’s Capital Campaign including their vision and how to get involved, visit www.helpmountaintop.org.
