| Ashburn
'Curiosity Zone' Offers Creative Activities for Children |
By Erin E. Fogg 
Observer Staff Writer |
| Parents who yearn for their children to have an alternative
to video games, television, and movies, something fun but
a bit more intellectually stimulating, can find an answer
in the newly opened Curiosity Zone in Ashburn. |
| From ages 1 to 12, this science and technology enrichment
center can offer children an exciting learning experience
that parallels a children's science museum, but is much more
accessible for everyday visits. Located in the Broadlands
Village Shopping Center, the center holds a toy store, a science
lab and a birthday party room. |
| The Curiosity Zone held its grand opening Jan. 8, for a
crowd topping out around 1,200. Toddlers clutched bright balloons,while
older children created fish in a virtual aquarium, folded
origami cranes, and squished their hands in a pool filled
with slimy green goo called "oobleck." |
| Mary Porter, founder and president of the Curiosity Zone,
said her creation is unlike anything else offered in Loudoun
or across the country. |
| "This hybrid of science lab and toy store doesn't exist
anywhere else," she said. |
| Porter started out in a career as an attorney, where she
went on to work for a small, brand new Internet company. She
said as she watched the company grow to 500 employees, she
became hooked on the entrepreneurial spirit that kept it going. |
| That fascination with creating her own business combined
with her childhood love of science, and the idea for the Curiosity
Zone was born. |
| In creating the actual center, Porter said she enlisted
the support of five advisory boards: the Kid, Parent, Teacher,
Business, and Technology Advisory Boards. Once designs for
a center were completed and she had a basic curriculum laid
out, she looked for a place to put her business. Many things
about Ashburn made it the ideal location. |
| "There are so many children here and parents who are interested
in learning," she said. "And because of the growth in the
area, it is a terribly underserved community." |
| Porter's mission for the Curiosity Zone came out of a desire
to "re-brand" science. She wanted to defy evidence that suggests
children at a very young age begin to view science as "scary,
hard or boring." To make her curriculum fun and accessible,
she said teachers aim to take things that children already
do and see and point out the science in them. |
| The Curiosity Zone is staffed by teachers and teacher's
assistants who will conduct classes of varying subject matter
for 10-week periods, beginning with Creative Chemistry on
Jan. 17 and Fabulous Physics on April 11, Porter said. The
curriculum moves in two-year cycles so that children are constantly
challenged with new experiments and projects. |
| Porter said she is already forming ideas for group programming
and one-time only workshops to be incorporated into the curriculum.
Her staff is also working on options for summer camps, which
will include a mix of science subjects as well lessons to
facilitate children's invention and entrepreneurial skills. |
| In addition to classes, the Curiosity Zone features a toy
store filled with gadgets and kits that correspond to whatever
subject is currently being taught in the labs, she said. The
toys will help inspire children to bring the joy of science
home with them. |
| Birthday parties are also a popular aspect of the business,
Porter said. The Curiosity Zone is already booked every weekend
through May for afternoon parties, so she is currently working
out how to expand her party hours. |
| Laura Kendall said a friend from Loudoun County told her
about the Curiosity Zone and persuaded her to make the one-hour
drive out to Ashburn with her sons, Harry, 4, and James, 19
months. |
| "This is pretty neat," she said. "It's a lot of fun and
I wish I had something like that closer to us. But I'd consider
driving out here for a class every once in a while." |
| Michelle Lopresti of Ashburn said she found out about the
grand opening from the Reston Chamber of Commerce. She and
her husband brought along their son Dylan, 20 months. |
| Although Dylan is a bit too young to appreciate everything
the center had to offer, Lopresti said she is excited to have
a fun place to bring her son as he gets older. |
| "There's a need here," she said. "For people who live out
in Loudoun, to do kid and family friendly type things you
have to go to D.C. or Baltimore. It's going to be nice to
have something so close." |
| Porter said interest in the Curiosity Zone has taken off
far beyond her expectations. Not only is her staff excited
to be a part of the center, but parents are booking parties,
classes are filled, and hundreds of people attended the grand
opening. |
| Another aspect of the business that has received attention
is the potential of turning Curiosity Zone into a franchise,
she said. "I have received requests from all over the country,"
Porter said. From Oregon, to California, from Texas to Connecticut,
interest in the science enrichment center is widespread. |
| Visit www.curiosityzone.com or call 703-723-9949. |
