Children get a ‘snow day’ at Hands On Children’s Museum

The Hands On Children’s Museum wrapped up its “snow days” event Sunday, attracting more than 1,000 to the museum during the weekend, many of whom decided to play outdoors in the snow.

If you’re scratching your head, wondering when it snowed Saturday and Sunday, it didn’t.

But that didn’t stop museum organizers from getting a truck full of snow straight from the Crystal Mountain resort and dumping it on museum grounds. The museum got a delivery of snow on Saturday and Sunday, courtesy of OSG Dozing of Olympia, said Adrienne Testa, visitor engagement coordinator for the museum.

And the museum put that snow to work by setting up various activities for children to try. Some strapped on snowshoes and walked across a section of the snow. Some threw snowballs at a target or simply played in the snow with toys and other objects.

This was the second year of snow days, Testa said. About 1,300 passed through the museum on Saturday, and nearly 500 had visited the museum by noon Sunday. The final day of snow days last year attracted 700 people, but Testa expected the museum to top that figure by the close of business Sunday.

Testa described snow days as one of the museum’s “minievents,” compared to Noon Year’s Eve or Boo Bash, two of the museum’s biggest gatherings of the year.

Testa has been with the museum since it moved and opened its new location on East Bay. She said museum attendance continues to grow. In 2016, more than 300,000 people passed through its doors.

The Hands On Children’s Museum is in Olympia at 414 Jefferson St. NE.

This story was originally published January 22, 2017 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Children get a ‘snow day’ at Hands On Children’s Museum."