Including adults as learning partners is a key component of RTL’s strategy to ensure all children are given the opportunity to be successful in school and life. By combining storybooks, PBS KIDS educational media and hands-on activities, our family engagement workshops provide grown-ups with tools and experiences that they can use to support their children’s learning. New books are distributed after the workshop to extend learning into the home.
Our core workshop topics are:
We also offer PBS KIDS Family and Community Learning (FCL), a series of multi-session workshops that engage families in science and engineering concepts through play and child-led projects.
Vegas PBS is thrilled to partner with the CCSD Family Engagement Department for the next Family Academy on Saturday, February 28, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. to noon at J.D. Smith Middle School. The theme is hands-on learning across all topics!
“I like these workshops because they give me ideas of how to involve my daughter in different activities that help her to continue learning.” — Parent, Cortez Elementary School
“Always amazing. Families were actively engaged. Kids had fun learning.Ideas we can use in the classroom too.” — Teacher, Lunt Elementary School
“As a first-time mom, this made me so excited to be part of my daughter’s learning.” — Parent, Crestwood Elementary School
Vegas PBS STEAM Camp is a web series for families with children in elementary school, designed to bring STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) concepts to life by transporting kids directly to where STEAM is happening in Southern Nevada. A phenomenon-based question drives each episode’s exploration and the program utilizes community experts, interactive hands-on STEAM challenges (using everyday items) and literacy extensions to support inquiry-based learning and the engineering design process.
Ready Jet Go! is a PBS KIDS animated media property designed to help kids ages 5-8 learn about space, Earth science and technology. The Family and Community Learning (FCL) engages families in topics such as navigation, engineering, force and motion, wheels and axles, and problem solving.
Designed by Vegas PBS Ready To Learn staff, The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! FCL introduces families to science inquiry and engineering (STEM) concepts. Through simple and fun hands-on and digital activities that grown-ups and kids do together, families learn how to extend the STEM fun to home using everyday materials. This series helps kids ages 3-5 learn about bridges, pitch, sorting, and the properties of balls.
Designed for families with kids ages 4-8, the Molly of Denali Family and Community Learning (FCL) supports literacy and informational text — text whose main purpose is to convey information. During the workshops, families create artifacts to represent their family and community.
Perfect for curious little minds, the PBS Parents Play and Learn Science FCL helps kids ages 3-5 understand the basics of light & shadows, gravity & friction along, temperature and season (and how to dress for them). In this FCL, families extend the learning from this app through hands-on activities and related books.
PBS KIDS ScratchJr FCL uses the free mobile app, developed in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab and Tufts University’s DevTech Research Group, to help kids ages 5-8 learn coding concepts. As families snap together colorful programming blocks, they learn to solve problems, design projects and express themselves creatively.
The Ruff Ruffman FCL is designed to help kids ages 5-8 learn core science concepts through videos, game-play and hands-on activities. The FCL addresses mixtures, material science, force and motion, and structures.
