Our Mission:
Making learning fun for kids by providing hands-on science enrichment programs to children ages 3 through 10.
What Matters For Kids® is an enrichment company founded on the belief that children are inherently curious and learn by doing. Therefore, our lessons are unique and hands-on, taught using a multi-sensory philosophy. Students get up and jump around, stick their hands in goop, smell the stink of a chemical reaction, hear the thud of gravity and even see color changes in some experiments!
Read what teachers, directors, and parents have to say about the Science Matters For Kids™ program: WMFK Testimonials
Our Founders:
As both teachers and parents, we feel scientific concepts are the building blocks of all discovery and logical thinking. We were inspired to bring the scientific process into the young child’s world when we observed a lack of science enrichment programs available at this level. We feel these ideas should be taught and experienced early in order to encourage the development of inquisitiveness and to facilitate a love of learning.
Carleen Barra has always had a passion for asking questions and learning more. While studying for her degree in Elementary Education at Louisiana State University, Carleen interned at The Museum of Natural Science and fell in love with teaching science! After college, Carleen worked in the IT field, but in 2008, decided it was time to follow her passion and she set out to create a hands-on science enrichment program for kids. Carleen is a science entrepreneur as the founder of What Matters For Kids® and co-creator of the Science Matters For Kids program!
Julie Wagner wanted to be a 
teacher for as long as she could remember and, as such, pursued a teaching degree from Augustana College in SD. Leaving SD and heading to the East Coast, Julie worked with kids in early childhood settings in NJ before taking a job teaching technology education for grades K-8. Leaving the classroom to stay home with her two children, Julie missed working with groups of kids and partnered with Carleen Barra to co-create the Science Matters For Kids™ program.
Our Philosophy:
Our lessons aren’t only about the Bang, Pop, Wow (although we do have fun with that stuff); they focus on why, what, and how does it pertain to the kids and their lives. We make science part of each student’s real and everyday life which allows them to extrapolate the concepts from what we do and apply them to other life learning activities. Students learn that the scientific process applies to all subjects.
Formulate a question, take a guess at the answer (hypothesis), experiment to see if it is correct, change your answer if it isn’t, and try again to draw a conclusion. Along the way, we discover and experiment with everyday items to reinforce the understanding that science isn’t just in test tubes and beakers, it is in everything we see and touch on a daily basis. Our goal is to facilitate that understanding for the students to allow them to apply what they’ve experienced into their lives beyond the classroom.
Science Matters For Kids™ is Your Premier Hands-On
Science Enrichment Program!
“Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.” ~ Chinese Proverb