There's not a single children's museum in all of Ventura County, but thanks to one mom’s idea, there is one coming soon to Camarillo.

• Children's museum coming to Camarillo will be first in Ventura County
• Project is brainchild of local mom who was frustrated by lack of museums in area
• Museum will offer active learning experiences in subjects like math, engineering, and science

It all started one day when Kristie Akl, a mother of three girls, was on her way back from Pasadena; the location of the closest children’s museum to the family's Camarillo home.  

While heading west on the 101, an idea popped into her head about why there wasn’t a children’s museum closer to home.

"What can I do for my girls? What can I do to make this happen for them?” she said.

That's when she came up with the idea for KidSTREAM to give more families the opportunity to experience a style of learning that her girls have enjoyed for years.

“[It's] really inquiry based where it's not about answers as much as it is about asking the right questions," she said.

The first question she needed an answer for was, where would this museum even go?

“You really have to use your imagination right now in this space," she said, walking through the vacant Camarillo building that will be the museum's home. "It's still a former library, but we're going to be converting it. It has really good bones as a building."

The vision room that is currently on the site of the old library, is in a small space that they rent from the city.

Eventually, they plan to purchase the whole 19,000 square foot facility for nearly $1 million, what initially seemed like quite the uphill battle.

"A friend of mine recently told me a quote and she said if you want there to be a parade, you just need to start marching," said Alk.

That's how the vision room came to life. 

It will have many exhibits that will give kids the opportunity to have active learning experiences in science, technology, reading, engineering and math.