Ciara Parizek/MDN Quentin Guitian, left, Jackson McKnight, Madison McKnight and Avacyn Guitian gather in the treehouse during Sensory-Friendly Night at the Magic City Discovery Center on Tuesday.

The Magic City Discovery Center has started offering Sensory-Friendly Night one night a month for kids who may need a quieter or less busy environment to play comfortably.

Tessia Samuelson, an educator that is part of community outreach at the Magic City Discovery Center, said a mother called who had been working with a pool in Bismarck for her child who does not do well with large crowds of other kids. The mother asked Samuelson if they would be interested in hosting a Sensory-Friendly Night for other kids that prefer a quieter environment.

“We jumped right on it,” Samuelson said. “We thought it was a great idea.”

She worked with their education director and marketing director to see if that would be feasible.

It turned out to be a success, being scheduled the third Tuesday of each month.

At first, there was a $5 fee to be paid for the kids to explore, but some sponsors came forward and donated funds to the MCDC, making it free for families to attend.

Sometimes the discovery center gets so busy on a daily basis that there could be up to 200 people in the building at a time, and some kids might find that overwhelming. They may not be able to fully enjoy their experience with so many sounds happening at the same time, kids running in multiple different directions, kids screaming with laughter, parents puttering about to keep an eye on their littles and many other stimuli.

“Families can’t stay because they’re just so overwhelmed by how many people are around, but these [nights], there [are] less people so it’s less of that chaos going on,” Samuelson said.

The sensory nights are held later in the afternoon, usually starting around 4 p.m. By that time of day, most everyone has already come and gone for the day.

The museum is completely open to families, allowing them to go to any of the three levels.

Samuelson sets up a different sensory-related activity in the Spark Lab area on the main level. Sometimes, the kids can play with Kinetic Sand, Orbeez and on rare occasions, she sets out supplies for the kids to make slime.

The MCDC also has a quiet room on each floor for families to use if things get too loud or overstimulating.

During the Sensory-Friendly Nights, Samuelson noticed some families that had tried to come in during their normal weekday hours were actually able to stay and enjoy the full hour-and-a-half they are given.

Kids are able to explore everything at their own pace and do whatever activities they would like.

Samuelson is hoping they are will be able to continue to offer these nights every month for children who do not enjoy large crowds, giving everyone the equal opportunity to play.