Families who live in Florida’s Gulf Coast region will have nearly 400 hands-on learning events to choose from during the Suncoast Remake Learning Days festival, happening this year on April 19 through May 3.
The global Remake Learning Days festival, the world’s largest open house for joyful hands-on learning, is all about giving children and their caregivers a chance to learn alongside each other, sharing in the wonder and fun of discovery. In the process, the festival introduces families to the many learning opportunities that exist both within and far beyond the walls of the K-12 schools in their community.
This is the fourth year that the Gulf Coast region has hosted Remake Learning Days and the response has been tremendous.
“We started in 2022 with 150 events and about 10,000 people in attendance,” says Beth Duda, director of the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading and an organizer of the festival. “Last year, we had 304 events with 36,500 people in attendance, and this year we’ve experienced a 25% increase.”
Event topics include art, science, technology, outdoor learning and youth voice.
Some events put a spotlight on the incredible landscape that the Gulf Coast is known for:
- For the Ocean Odyssey event, Mote Marine Laboratories and Aquariums is partnering with a local university on an event that invites families to wade out into Tampa Bay and scoop up wildlife with nets to identify what they find and learn why it’s important to the Gulf Coast ecosystem. It’s a wonderful way for families to experience Florida through the lens of ecology, the scientific process and protecting wildlife, Duda says.
- Crystal Classic Sand Sculpting Lesson Day takes place during the world-famous Crystal Classic competition, a Remake Learning Days event will introduce families to a sand sculpting artist, so they can learn to do sand sculptures. Families will not only experience this popular event, but will actually learn to practice this nature-fueled art form.
As popular as those beach events will likely be, the organizers are expecting the biggest crowds at the festival’s annual Big Truck Day, which drew more than 5,000 people last year. Big Truck Day brings together hundreds of trucks — from fire trucks and SWAT vehicles, to garbage trucks, school buses and many more — and children are allowed to climb inside them. Kids can also build and race their own trucks as a craft project.
“It’s the loudest event I’ve ever been to in my life, because they let the kids into the cabs of the trucks. They can blare the sirens. They can pull the horn. They do all of that, and the joy on the face of the kids — most importantly, the dads — is incredible. It’s like they’re all stepping back to being 10 years old again,” Duda says.
“I’m excited for all of the events that our partners are putting forth,” she says. “but I’m especially proud of this community that’s being built — all of the providers who are stepping forward to be a part of Remake Learning Days, and the sense of ownership that they have over the festival and the way that it really focuses this large group of people on our shared aspiration of the success of children and families in our region.”
It really is incredible, says festival co-organizer and artist Leah Verier-Dunn, “to see the wonder and curiosity just get completely ignited in parents and children,” says festival co-organizer and artist Leah Verier-Dunn. “It could have been years since the last time they tapped into that.”
During the festival, “this is happening all over the world, and there’s this dedicated energy towards creating this space for people to be human and experience it together with their whole family unit,” Verier-Dunn says. “The 10 years of Remake Learning Days already demonstrates what can come from that.”
Families can explore a digital guide to Suncoast Remake Learning Days or download the SRLD 2025 app, available in English and Spanish, at the Google Play store or Apple app store.