The Virgin Islands Children’s Museum will host Teen Time Game Night on Friday, Feb. 27, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Buccaneer Mall, offering adolescents 13 and older and their caregivers a free evening of hands-on activities.
The event will feature “free choice” activities, including logic games such as dominoes, mancala, and backgammon, as well as board games, puzzles, and the museum’s Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts and Humanities, and Mathematics exhibits. Light refreshments will be provided, and the program is designed to give teens and their caregivers a safe, supervised place to spend time together at no cost.
“We’ll have a lot of things available to the visitors, whether they’re teens or the adults,” said Amber McCammon, CEO of the Virgin Islands Children’s Museum. “There’s kind of a little bit of everything, and you get to choose.”
McCammon said feedback from families and community partners suggests many young people feel overlooked by existing youth programs. “There’s a lot of programs for very young children, but not a lot for adolescents, or if there are, it’s very specific,” she said. “There’s a lot of sports programs, and that’s amazing and wonderful. Not everybody is into sports or has the ability to get to do those sports for various reasons. So this is just something that’s kind of open to everybody.”
The evening is intended to be a space specifically for adolescents, who may feel out of place in environments designed for younger children.
“Oftentimes, adolescents will be quite reserved when they come into a space that is labeled for children because they feel like they’re not children anymore,” McCammon said. “But as soon as they’re given a time where they are told it’s just for them, this is your space, your time, you have free choice to choose when and what you want to do. They do it all.”
McCammon said that can mean anything from quiet strategy games to larger group activities. Teens might move from dominoes or mancala to puzzles and board games, explore the museum’s science and math exhibits, or join in group games.
Teen Time began in 2022 as the territory emerged from pandemic restrictions. The program was created through a partnership between the Virgin Islands Children’s Museum, mathematicians from the University of the Virgin Islands, and clinical psychologists. A federal grant funded the pilot, focusing on supporting children who missed classroom instruction and in-person interaction.
However, Teen Time now relies on donor support. McCammon said information about the program, including a donate button and a sponsorship form, is available under the Teen Time section of the museum’s website, and contributions help cover operating costs, staff time, and healthy snacks for participants.
“We’re really relying on this donor support to keep the program alive until more grant funding can come, and we could possibly grow or change the program as needs be,” McCammon said.
“By supporting the Virgin Islands Children’s Museum, you are really supporting people of all ages to engage in and facilitate a love of lifetime learning,” she said. “So the word ‘children’ in our name shouldn’t put you off. Everybody of all ages should continue to play. It is so good for your mental health, your physical health, and we’re here to support that lifetime of learning through play.”
She said the Virgin Islands Children’s Museum aims to hold several Teen Time events each year and would like to offer more sessions if funding allows. “The museum aims to host 4-6 Teen Time Game Nights each year to provide ongoing learning through play and engagement for adolescents,” she wrote in a press release.
Parents, grandparents, and teachers have responded positively to Teen Time. “Their response has been extremely grateful,” McCammon said. “We actually have some teachers that have consistently been the chaperones…they’ve been the ones that have been the facilitators and brought the teens to this event.”
She said many adults feel there are few “wholesome” activities for teens, so they see Teen Time as a valuable outlet for adolescents to socialize, learn, and engage in hands-on activities.
McCammon said the program’s popularity is evident in the teens who return again and again, often bringing friends. “We get teens that come up repeatedly,” she said. “They’ve been before. They love it. They bring their friends next time. We want to keep that momentum up.”
