Nurturing Numeracy Skills & Math Literacy in Children’s Museums

The impact of early math literacy is crucial for supporting children’s development and setting them up for a bright future. By starting early, making math fun, and including parents/caregivers—all areas in which children’s museums excel—we can create a world where everyone feels confidence in their abilities to do math.

Nurturing Numeracy Skills and Math Literacy in Children’s Museums aims to support caregivers and children in their math confidence and math skills through experiences at children’s museums. ACM, through a grant from Simons Foundation International administered by the Simons Foundation’s Science, Society & Culture division, is pleased to announce the cohort of twenty museums to participate in this program and develop engaging and effective interventions to achieve this goal.

“The innovation and unique perspectives of small children’s museums serve as inclusive models for building experiences and building relationships to the communities we serve.”

Arthur G. Affleck, III, Executive Director, ACM

Cohort 2 Applications Now Open

After a successful inaugural cohort, we are thrilled to announce a second opportunity to participate in this program!

Applications will be open until May 14, 2026.

This is an opportunity for US-based, smaller children’s museums with an annual operating budget of $1 million or less. Click HERE for a full list of eligibility information.

Apply Here!
Cohort 1 Participating Children’s Museums:

Above & Beyond Children’s Museum, Sheboygan, WI
Buell Children’s Museum, Pueblo, CO
Cape Cod Children’s Museum, Mashpee, MA
Chesapeake Children’s Museum, Annapolis, MD
Children’s Museum of Illinois, Decatur, IL
Discovery Place Kids – Rockingham, Rockingham, NC
Duluth Children’s Museum, Duluth, MN
Fairbanks Children’s Museum, Fairbanks, AK
Kids Discovery Station, Merced, CA
North Country Children’s Museum, Potsdam, NY

Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum, Peoria, IL
Santa Cruz Children’s Museum of Discovery, Capitola, CA
Terre Haute Children’s Museum, Terre Haute, IN
The Children’s Museum of Green Bay, Green Bay, WI
The Virgin Islands Children’s Museum, St. Thomas, VI
Wise Wonders Science and Discovery Museum, Billings, MT
Wonderfeet Kids’ Museum, Rutland, VT
The Children’s Museum at Saratoga, Saratoga Springs, NY
Zing Zumm Children’s Museum of Jacksonville, Jacksonville, NC
WOW! Children’s Museum, Lafayette, CO

Webinars:

Amplifying Math Engagement Experiences in Children’s Museums

Monday, March 16 2026

Join us as we share progress on our strategic initiative, Nurturing Numeracy Skills & Math Literacy in Children’s Museums, and learn about math engagement experiences that museums in this cohort have been creating. Attendees will hear from a panel of Project Leads who have been prototyping, developing, and evaluating a range of approaches as a response to listening sessions conducted with parents and caregivers from their communities. This panel will share helpful insights and successful tactics for boosting math engagement and building confidence among children and their caregivers.

Watch the recording

Creating Math Engagement Experiences in Children’s Museums

Thursday, September 25 2025

Join us as we share progress on our special initiative, Nurturing Numeracy Skills & Math Literacy in Children’s Museums, and learn about some math engagement ideas and experiences that members of this cohort have been developing. Attendees will hear from a panel of Project Leads who have been prototyping ideas as a response to listening sessions conducted with parents and caregivers from their communities. This panel will share helpful insights to planning, creating, and evaluating math engagement and confidence-building approaches. 

Watch the recording

Conducting Listening Sessions: Assessing Caregiver Confidence in Math

This webinar provided an overview of our special initiative, Nurturing Numeracy Skills & Math Literacy in Children’s Museums, as well as a deep dive into the processes and experiences of this cohort in conducting listening sessions with parents and caregivers from their communities. Attendees heard from members of this inaugural cohort and learned about helpful insights to planning and evaluating listening sessions, through a lens of math engagement and confidence-building practices.

Watch the recording

The Nurturing Numeracy Skills & Math Literacy in Children’s Museums cohort will convene a diverse group of smaller museum professionals for collaborative learning, idea generation, and engagement. It is our aim to assemble a learning community of participating museums that represent the field at large by considering factors such as geographical location, community size, museum size, visitor demographics, and prior experience with relevant topics.

Eligibility Criterion:

Participating museums must have an annual operating budget of $1 million or less, be US-based institutions, and offer a financial accessibility program for their visitors.

FAQ:

My museum does not currently have a focus on math or offer math engagement experiences for our guests. Can I still apply?
Yes! Having prior experiences that focus on math is not a requirement for participation.

My museum is not eligible for participation in this program. Are there other ways I can get involved?
Certainly! You can view previous webinars about the work and process of Cohort 1 and stay tuned for webinars from Cohort 2. We will also be sharing resources with the field as we work with both Cohorts to develop them. Finally, if you are able to join us for InterActivity, you can learn more about this work at our table in the MarketPlace and from our presenter sessions. If you have any other questions about getting involved, please reach out to Savita Madan at Savita.Madan@ChildrensMuseums.org.

What does participating in this program entail if my application is selected?
Participating museums will:
• identify specific parent/caregiver group(s) in their community and then conduct learning and listening sessions to better
understand the needs of this audience related to supporting their child’s math literacy;
• participate in an active community of practice to network and share information and ideas
which includes monthly virtual meetings and in-person gatherings and workshops at InterActivity in 2027 and 2028;
• develop and pilot initial programs, experiences, activities, and/or event ideas that are not centered on exhibitions;
• create methods and/or resources for reaching and supporting parents/caregivers;• participate in sharing the work of the cohort via webinars, conference sessions at InterActivity, and the curation of digital resources for the field.

How long is this program?
Accepted applicants will receive notice in mid-June 2026 and will attend a kick-off virtual meeting shortly thereafter. The program concludes in August 2028.

Do selected museums get any type of funding for this program?
Yes, selected museums will receive a stipend of $15,000 to offset expenses related to work in this project, including attending InterActivity in 2027 & 2028.

For all other questions, please contact Savita Madan at Savita.Madan@ChildrensMuseums.org.

The Nurturing Numeracy Skills & Math Literacy in Children’s Museums cohort will convene a diverse group of smaller museum professionals for collaborative learning, idea generation, and engagement.

PHASE 1: Gathering and Learning (September 2024-March 2025)

The application period will open September 20, 2024 and run through October 24, 2024. Application review will take place through November, with decisions and notifications going out the week of November 25.

ACM will support the cohort of 20 museums starting in December 2024, with a virtual kick-off meeting December 12 (11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. ET) and a second virtual meeting in early/mid January 2025 to dive into how ACM can best support the cohort in planning for and conducting parent learning/listening sessions.

Cohort museums will visit the Simons Foundation in New York City at the end of February 2025. This visit will center math engagement, and potentially include a visit/conversation with program staff from the National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath).

In addition, in February and March,  museums will conduct parent/caregiver learning and listening sessions in their community and ACM will develop and implement a community of practice for cohort museums to network and share information.

PHASE 2: Development & Implementation (April 2025-May 2026)

Cohort museums will develop their initial program/activity ideas, as well as methods and resources for reaching and supporting parents/caregivers once they have completed their listening work – most likely starting in late March/early April and running through end of May. We anticipate that participating museums will pilot programs, activities and resources with children and parents starting Summer 2025 and will continue to revise offerings, and add new aspects and resources through at least March 2026.

During this Phase, ACM will host regular virtual meetings for the cohort to share updates, successes, challenges, explore new opportunities, and connect them with additional content specialists as needed or desired. There will also be an in-person gathering and workshop at InterActivity in 2025 and 2026.

PHASE 3: Sharing Findings, Outcomes, and Resources

As the project winds down, ACM will share information about individual museum projects and the overall learnings and impacts to the field and the children and families we serve.

The Nurturing Numeracy Skills & Math Literacy in Children’s Museums Cohort 2 will convene a diverse group of smaller museum professionals for collaborative learning, idea generation, and engagement. 

PHASE 1: Gathering and Learning (April 2026-Janaury 2027) 

  • The application period will open April 16 and run through May 14. Application review will take place May-June, with decisions and notifications going out the week of June 15. 
  • ACM will support the cohort of 25 museums starting in July, with a virtual kick-off meeting in July 2026 and a second virtual meeting in August to help the ACM team and cohort museums to understand the experiences we each bring to our work together and what supports are needed over the next 2 years.  
  • There will be a September virtual meeting to dive into how ACM can best support the cohort in planning for and conducting parent/caregiver learning/listening sessions. 
  • We are working on an in-person meeting of the cohort museums in October, but this is not yet confirmed. If we do gather together, the monthly cadence of virtual meetings will start in November. If we do not; they will begin in October.  
  • Between August and November 2026, cohort museums receive training, resources and support for gathering input from parents/caregivers.  
  • Cohort museums will conduct parent/caregiver learning and listening sessions in their community starting in November 2026 and running through mid/late January 2027. 

PHASE 2: Development & Implementation (February 2027 – February 2028)  

  • Cohort museums will develop their initial program/activity ideas, as well as methods and resources for reaching and supporting parents/caregivers, once they have completed their listening work –most likely starting in early February and running through end of April. We anticipate that participating museums will pilot programs, activities and resources with children and parents starting May 2027 and will continue to revise offerings, and add new aspects and resources through at least February 2028. 
  • During this Phase, ACM will host regular virtual meetings for the cohort to share updates, successes, challenges, explore new opportunities, and connect them with additional content specialists as needed or desired. There will also be an in-person gathering and workshop at InterActivity in 2027. 

PHASE 3: Sharing Findings, Outcomes, and Resources (March 2028-August 2028) 

  • As the project winds down, ACM will share information about individual museum projects and the overall learnings and impacts to the field and the children and families we serve. 
  • Cohort Museums will continue to meet virtually monthly, and will gather for a workshop at InterActivity 2028.