How can science centres inspire a new generation of scientists? We present three programs that are exposing youth to science, scientists, and research methods and skills: A school-visit program, an intense week of work with scientists, and a yearlong research program. Youth get their hands dirty in ways that most visitors do not, for example, by using real scientific data, methods and tools, which allows them ownership of their work. Each program takes advantage of various institutional resources to go beyond what schools can offer. We will discuss structures and benefits of both short and long programmes along with lessons learned.