The Works Museum in Bloomington offering volunteer opportunities for Xcel Energy's Day of Service

The Works Museum in Bloomington is one of many offering volunteer opportunities for Xcel Energy's Day of Service.

Since 1995, it's been a hands-on engineering learning center near 35W and West 98th.

"We have exhibits that range from building a paper airplane to looking through a giant kaleidoscope," said Leah Nelson of The Works Museum.

The museum's 10 full-time staffers served over 63,000 visitors last year alone.

"Exhibits are geared towards 5 to 12 [year-olds], more on the elementary range, but younger and older siblings also have fun here," said Nelson.

"What students do is they get to learn structural engineering by using a glue gun," said Sarah Kamstra of The Works Museum.

In order to keep its lights on, the non-profit relies on donors and volunteers helping prepare for the mass quantity coming to soak it all in.

"It would be a lot of work for us to get it done on our own, a lot of our educators as well as visitor experience staff would spend a lot of hours preparing materials if we don't get the right amount of volunteers to prep it," said Kamstra.

Volunteers with Xcel Energy's Day of Service will also help clean the museum helping the spot transition from summertime programming to the normal school-year kind.

"We could not operate without volunteers" said Nelson.

The Works Museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays through September. Volunteer opportunities are available year-round.

You can sign up to volunteer for Xcel Energy's Day of Service.