Skip to main content
search

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH CELEBRATION

OCTOBER 8, 2023 | 10 AM - 4 PM

Visit KID Museum on Sunday, October 8 and join us to honor and celebrate the impact of Hispanic and Latinx #HistoryMakers and communities on STEM, arts, innovation, and creativity. We’re coming together for an engaging celebration featuring local makers, special hands-on activities at, music, and more.

Plus, throughout Hispanic Heritage Month, we’ll be celebrating legendary Latinx changemakers across our social channels and with DIY activities for the whole family.

GET TICKETS

Event Details

Special Activities

10 AM - 4 PM

Discover a world of making, creativity, and cultural exploration with the activities thoughtfully crafted by our educators. Activities include takeovers of our Cardboard and Textile studios with Rhythmic Cardboard Creations and a Cultural Button Collage.

Can’t make it on October 8? These activities will be available throughout Hispanic Heritage Month at KID Museum.

Meet a Maker: Isha Renta

11 AM - 1 PM

Weather a storm of fun with NOAA Meteorologist Isha Renta! She knew her forecast future since she was eight and launches weather balloons, checks data, and helps predict what weather might be coming our way.

Learn about the tools she uses like the anemometer and even make your own to see how much wind it can handle.

Meet a Maker: Dr. Margaret Dominguez

10 AM - 1 PM

Get ready to be amazed by the wonders of space with Dr. Margaret Dominguez, an optical engineer who was born in Mexico and now works with NASA Goddard in Maryland.

She loves creating and working on telescopes that help everyone discover more about the universe. Join her and try on special diffraction glasses and see awesome optical tricks, learning more about optical engineering and how it helps us understand the mysteries of space.

Dutidú's Cultural Adventure: Puzzle & Memory Game

10 AM - 4 PM

Join us for a cultural adventure with Dutidú makers and creators who celebrate Latinx cultures through original games and activities. Piece together a puzzle uncovering the unique customs and traditions that make each culture so special, and test your memory skills with a game that highlights Latin American attire.

Take the fun home with you! The games will be available for sale so you can continue exploring the magic of Latinx cultures wherever you go.

Piñatas by Susi: Engineering Piñatas!

10 AM - 4 PM

Piñatas are the life of the party in Latin American countries and the U.S.

These treasures are handmade and filled with candy, bringing happiness, joy, and celebration. They don’t last forever – but that’s what makes them fun! Meet Susi, the pro piñata maker, and learn the craft to engineering these unique objects.

Bomba with Isha: Bilingual Book & Rhythmic Moves

2 - 4 PM

Isha Renta López is not just a meteorologist but also a Bomba instructor and author.

Join her for a read-aloud of her new bilingual book about Bomba, Puerto Rican music, and dance – where songs become stories.. Learn Bomba concepts, try new instruments, and get ready to transform into an instrument by learning movements that communicate with drums.

Sponsored by

Celebrate all month long

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 – October 15 by visiting KID Museum or checking out DIY activities over at our digital Maker Playground.

VISITING
ARTIST

The newest contributor to KID Museum’s visiting artist program, Yehimi Cambrón, will be unveiling her artwork, “Entre Nuestras Alas / Among Our Wings,” on September 10. The piece will be on display throughout Hispanic Heritage Month.

LEARN MORE

DIY
ACTIVITIES

Celebrate the month at home with DIY activities from our digital Maker Playground. These projects are inspired by Hispanic and Latinx changemakers and designed to spark curiosity in every maker.

GET MAKING

Access for Every Maker

KID Museum is dedicated to expanding access to STEM and maker learning opportunities for all by providing free and reduced-cost opportunities to participate in our programming.

LEARN MORE

María Victoria Abreu Lugar & Marie Claire Velasquez Durán

Founders of Dutidú

In late 2020, local moms María Victoria Abreu Lugar and Marie Claire Vasquez Durán decided they were tired of searching toy aisles for Latino representation without finding anything and decided to do something about it. They soon founded the gaming start-up Dutidú to create fun, engaging ways for the whole family to learn about Latin American culture, choosing the company's name from the sounds children make while playing. As both María and Marie are from the Dominican Republic, they've also used Dutidú as an educational opportunity for themselves, reaching out to friends, family members, and artists from 36 different cultures to help produce their "Atuendos Latinos" memory game.

María Victoria Abreu Lugar
& Marie Claire Velasquez Duran
Founders of Dutidú

Vic Barrett

Youth & Climate Activist

What will you do to fight climate change? Youth activist Vic Barrett first asked himself this after witnessing the effects of Hurricane Sandy on his hometown of White Plains, New York, where power and road outages caused by the weather led to massive changes on local infrastructure. Vic eventually teamed up with Our Children's Trust, a nonprofit organization that helped him sue the U.S. government for better policies on climate change and weather emergencies. Vic has spoken to national and international audiences about the importance of youth advocacy in the face of climate change, and he continues to fight not just for the sake of the planet, but for all of the young people living here.

Vic Barrett
Youth & Climate Activist

Yehimi Cambrón

Artist & Activist

When artist and activist Yehimi Cambrón was seven years old, her family moved all the way from Michoacán, Mexico, to Atlanta, Georgia, where their new status as undocumented immigrants would influence their lives in their new "home.” Yehimi's love for art led her to make murals, and in 2019, she was nationally selected for a public art project leading up to Super Bowl LIII. For her art, Yehimi paints monument-sized portraits of family and community members, making it impossible for Atlantans to move through the city without considering the stories of undocumented neighbors. Yehimi has continued to produce large-scale public murals and indoor installations for museums, including "Entre Nuestras Alas / Among Our Wings," a special installation using butterflies as a symbol of freedom of movement and the power of community, on view in KID Museum’s Maker Playground.

Yehimi Cambrón
Artist & Activist

Dr. Margaret Dominguez

NASA Optical Engineer

If you've ever used a telescope to look at the moon, you've seen something up close that was actually 238,900 miles away. But what if you were an astronomer at NASA, trying to study galaxies over one million miles away from our planet? You'd definitely want a much larger telescope – and that's where optical engineers like Dr. Margaret Dominguez come in. Margaret grew up on a farm in rural Mexico, where her father encouraged her natural curiosity and interest in mathematics from an early age. She went on to study physics in college, and even started an extra-curricular physicists club, where she eventually met the NASA astronomer who would offer Margaret her first position at NASA. Today, Margaret is still asking questions about the universe that only physics can answer, and really is building a telescope that will look at galaxies over a million miles away.

Dr. Margaret Dominguez
NASA Optical Engineer

Guillermo González Camarena

Inventor of Color Television

Did you know that TV shows used to be black-and-white? In 1940, Guillermo González Camarena filed the world's first patent for color television in Mexico. His invention, called a chromoscopic adapter, allowed the black-and-white cameras of the day to capture color, and it was quickly declared the best system in the world for color TV. Guillermo built the device by hand for Latin America's first television station, XE1-GC, and, in 1963, he was able to introduce the Mexican public to an all-color broadcast. We can also thank him for remote learning. As a champion of tele-education, he invented a simpler and more affordable color broadcasting system with educational programming for all Mexicans. As recently as 2020, students in Mexico have used a modern version of Guillermo's system to take virtual classes.

Guillermo González Camarena
Inventor of Color Television

Olga D. González-Sanabria

Chemical Engineer & Aerospace Innovator

Have you ever wondered how the International Space Station (ISS) keeps the lights on? There's no outlet on the moon, so they have to use batteries – but not just any batteries. In the 1980s, while the ISS was being developed, chemical engineer Olga D. González-Sanabria invented the "Long Cycle-Life Nickel-Hydrogen Batteries." Here on earth, we mostly use alkaline batteries that can only be used once. Olga's batteries can be recharged over 2,000 times, meaning they last up to fifteen years – far longer than the average mission to space. Today, Olga is the highest-ranking Latina at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Ohio. The last time the ISS needed to change out Olga's batteries was 2019 – and that was only the third time ever.

Olga D. González-Sanabria
Chemical Engineer & Aerospace Innovator

Jen and Knox White Johnson

Neurodiversity Advocates, Artists, & Activists

When local artist, designer, and activist Jen White-Johnson went looking for resources that would represent her black Autistic son Knox and his experiences, she didn't find anything. But that didn't stop her. Jen worked with her son to make their own book "KnoxRoxs," an advocacy photo zine centered around their story and autism acceptance in families of color. The award-winning zine has allowed Jen and Knox to lead and encourage conversations about accepting Disabled and Neurodivergent children. Today, Jen lives in Baltimore, where her art practice centers on Black disabled joy and futures, while Knox continues collaborating with his mom to produce more zines.

Jen & Knox White Johnson
Neurodiversity Advocates, Artists, & Activists

Armando Lopez-Bircann (Arma Dura)

Artist

Under the name Arma Dura, D.C.-based Latinx artist Armando Lopez-Bircann uses innovative technologies to engineer sculptures that can be worn in both real life and the digital world, letting their Queer Ecofeminist lens and genderfluid expression take center stage as they push the boundaries of what we consider "real." Raised in the Dominican Republic, Armando describes themself as a "digital native," crediting their youthful obsession with anime for their first foray into online communities. They have recently been awarded an Artist Fellowship Grant from the D.C. Commission for the Arts and Humanities.

Armando Lopez-Bircann
Artist

Ellen Ochoa

Astronaut & Optical Systems Analyst

What would you bring on a mission to the stars? Ellen Ochoa, the first Latina woman to visit outer space, brought her flute along when she boarded the Discovery space shuttle in 1993, merging her lifelong loves of music and science as she finally achieved her dream of becoming an astronaut. She and her fellow crew members were researching the earth's ozone layer, and as mission specialist, Ellen was tasked with a crucial job: launching and retrieving a satellite. It was the ultimate test of the systems Ellen had spent years developing – and she passed it perfectly, all while floating in a vacuum. Including her first mission, Ellen has visited space four times, and continued to research better means of interstellar travel. Today, she serves as the chair of the National Science Board.

Ellen Ochoa
Astronaut & Optical Systems Analyst

Isha Renta

Meteorologist & Bomba Instructor

How do we know whether we'll need an umbrella or sunglasses outside? We rely on meteorologists like Isha Renta, a Puerto Rican scientist who lives and works in Baltimore, MD. Isha decided to become a meteorologist when she was only eight years old. From then on, she threw herself into math and science studies, determined to get an internship at the San Juan Weather Forecasting Office to work alongside the only meteorologists she knew. Isha eventually attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., and it was there she fell in love with Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba. Today, Isha doesn't just study the weather – she also dances up a storm with her Bomba group using drums, rhythm, and music to tell the stories of her culture.

Isha Renta
Meteorologist & Bomba Instructor

Antonio Tijerino

Nonprofit Leader & KID Museum Board Member

For José Antonio Tijerino, the president and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF), every day is a new opportunity for empowering and celebrating the diverse communities and individuals identified as "Hispanics" or "Latinos." Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the HHF is a national nonprofit promoting cultural pride, accomplishment, and the power of community through public awareness campaigns, youth leadership programs, and a nationwide network of Hispanic innovators. Antonio has led several projects with HHF, targeting everything from Hispanic representation in the NFL to the multiple migrant families at the U.S. border and undocumented farmworkers during the pandemic. KID Museum is also proud to have Antonio serving on our leadership board, where his years of nonprofit experience and dedication to community empowerment help push our mission forward.

Antonio Tijerino
Nonprofit Leader & KID Museum Board Member

Diana Trujillo

Aerospace Engineer

In 1969, people across America were amazed when they heard an astronaut's voice transmitted from the moon for the first time ever – so amazed that they may have taken for granted that he was speaking English. It was in February 2021 that NASA would provide a Spanish-language version of their interplanetary transmissions for the first time, an event hosted by Columbian-American aerospace engineer Diana Trujillo. As the first-ever Hispanic woman admitted to the NASA academy, Diana faced tough challenges against the STEM world's expectations but refused to back down. Today, she leads the team responsible for the robotic arm of the Perseverance rover mission, which has been exploring Mars since February 2021.

Diana Trujillo
Aerospace Engineer

Laylah Silva Bulman

Developer of Minecraft: LatinExplorers

Even if you don't play video games, you've probably heard of Minecraft, one of the best-selling video games in history. With such an enormous audience playing their game, the team at Minecraft soon decided to create a special educational edition of the game, and, under the direction of Latinx game developer Laylah Silva Bulman, an all-Latinx team of developers created the first-ever Latino-themed Minecraft game. LatinExplorers: A Hispanic Heritage Journey was released during Hispanic Heritage Month 2022 in collaboration with the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. It was designed to educate players on the power of the Hispanic community, and challenge players to complete "stories" focused on climate, community, or culture while meeting digital versions of real-life Latino leaders.

Laylah Silva Bulman
Director of Minecraft Education: LatinExplorers

Close Menu