Room to Grow
Kids Innovation Playground is continuing to provide valuable art and science learning to area children at a time when they need it most.
Lorraine Shaffer, owner and principal educator at the nonprofit she founded, said her mission to provide unique educational experiences to children in the county's rural areas is only growing despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Shaffer began her quest in 2018 to ingrain in young students that mistakes are a part of learning, especially in science.
The arrival of the pandemic coincided with Shaffer's realization that her building on Centreville Pike in Slippery Rock was too small.
So Shaffer, who retired at age 55 after 22 years of teaching at Moniteau School District to start her nonprofit, began offering classes in June at the Slippery Rock Community Center on Branchton Road, a ceramics class in a space at Clearview Mall, and engineering classes at Butler Catholic School, all while masking, sanitizing and social distancing.
“We just go wherever the people want us to go,” Shaffer said.
She also partners with Sky's The Limit home schooling co-op to offer students fun and educational arts and science projects.
Shaffer taught 17 students at her former building when that program ended in March.
She had 20 students over the summer and has about 20 students now taking classes.
All students, who are in kindergarten through eighth-grade, must take her introductory class, where they learn that making mistakes is an integral part of learning and growing.
“Once kids get the intro class, they can come back and do the themed classes,” Shaffer said.
She offered four different types of engineering classes throughout the summer at the Slippery Rock Community Center, where older students spent Fridays making helmets and learning about concussions or engineering a bubble wand that makes the biggest, most long-lasting bubbles for the younger students.One class just completed at the community center is Haunted Houses, and an upcoming offering will involve students in grades three through five making gingerbread houses and those in grades five through eight making parade float models with lights and motors, censors and wheels that will allow them to move and spin.“They'll code all that themselves,” Shaffer said.Classes at Crestfield Camp and Conference Center in Slippery Rock recently involved students in kindergarten through second-grade engaging in the Tech Tinkering class while those in grades three through eight enjoyed Intro to Arts and Bots.She is now preparing for four more classes at Crestfield in the coming months. Two are for the home schooling co-op and two are open to any children in the community.Kids Innovation Playground was able to become successful due to a grant from the Grable Foundation, which was the foundation's first awarded in Butler County.The grant paid for Chromebooks, Shaffer's salary for robotics classes and an assistant.“They believed in us and we were able to do it,” she said.Most of Shaffer's time working is gratis, whether it's preparing for and leading classes, writing grants or crunching numbers.“The most important thing is that we are able to bring the program to kids,” she said.Kids Innovation Playground is also a boon for overwhelmed teachers who are trying to keep at-home learners educated as they also teach in class.
Shaffer said because they must prioritize safety and maintain state and federal standards in math and reading, teachers cannot add robotics or other innovative programs to their curriculum right now.“It takes the burden off the teachers,” Shaffer said of her program.Carrie Morgan-Davis, principal at McQuistion Elementary in the Butler Area School District and KIP board member, said her three children greatly enjoy taking classes from Shaffer.Her two young daughters completed hummingbird kits in a KIP class.“She tied their interest in art to the coding and programming piece of it,” Morgan-Davis said.In addition to making a moving hummingbird, students — no matter how young — must also be able to explain the project to others as part of the class.“My daughters are very quiet, but they just gained this confidence,” Morgan-Davis said.She said KIP is important in Butler County because it offers students programs that are now only offered in Pittsburgh.The coding, programming and robotics portion also reinforces students' science lessons at school by providing a hands-on application of concepts.In addition, it could encourage students to pursue a career in the field.“It's a grassroots effort to get the kids engaged in something that could help the community in the long run,” Morgan-Davis said.She said she hopes Shaffer's programs continue to grow in popularity in Butler County.“I truly appreciate Lorraine's efforts,” Morgan-Davis said. “I don't think she realizes the impact she has on kids.”More information on Kids Innovation Playground is available at kidsinnovationplayground.com or on Facebook.Classes are affordable and grants are available for underprivileged children.
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