What is David Champlain’s Favorite Creature?

By Jamie | Published: August 26, 2010
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David Champlain is a guest artist leading our “Amazing Metamorphosis!” program at the Museum & Theatre. I asked him to share some interesting facts about the creature he will share with Museum & Theatre visitors!

“At the Children’s Museum & Theatre, we studied the tiny eggs of my favorite creature and the tiny babies that hatch from them after three days of incubation.  The babies were too small to hold but we could hold those that were a few days older because they grow fast.  In just ten days, their weight increases 10,000 fold.  If a newborn human grew that fast, their crib would explode on the first day and by the tenth day the baby would weigh as much as six full grown elephants!

David Champlain, a professor at the University of Southern Maine, is coming to the Museum & Theatre with a fascinating little friend!

When it finishes growing, my favorite creature turns into something that looks like a piece of beautifully carved wood.  Three weeks later a beautiful moth emerges.  At the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine, in addition to holding caterpillars, we got to hold pupae and moths too.  The pupae and moths were alive but didn’t move very much because the pupae were undergoing metamorphosis and the moths rest during the day and then wake up to fly in the evening to find nectar in flowers and a mate.  Animals that are awake at night are nocturnal.  Animals that are awake during the day are diurnal.  Animals like my moth that are awake in the evening are said to be crepuscular. If you see a hummingbird feeding on the nectar in flowers at twilight it might actually be a moth because they hover while feeding just like a hummingbird.  The moth uncoils its proboscis, a long drinking straw, and sips nectar from deep-throated flowers.  The drinking straw on my favorite creature is over three inches long!  Charles Darwin described an orchid on the island of Madagascar the throat of whose flower was nearly a foot deep.  Darwin predicted a corresponding moth would be discovered with a foot long proboscis!  The moth was found and when tucked away during flight, its proboscis is coiled around and around more than twenty times.  Insects are amazing!”

David's favorite creature is the Manduca Sexta, otherwise known as the Tobacco Hornworm!


David will be back at the Museum & Theatre with his favorite insect on Sunday, September 12 at 1:30pm. Join us to examine, touch, and learn about each life stage of this beautiful moth from its bright green caterpillar phase to winged adulthood.

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We’ve Got Milk!

By Lucy | Published: August 18, 2010

I knew the Got Milk? tour was coming to visit the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine today, but I didn’t know they’d create such a fun atmosphere! The shipyard had music, games, giveaways and milkshakes – quite a party! I’m psyched that they’ll be back tomorrow (Thursday, 9/19) from 10:30-12:30 to do it all again.

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Electricity to Sound to Art

By Chris S. | Published: August 18, 2010
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The latest addition to Galen Richmond’s evolving sound sculpture was installed this month. Coming to visual art from a background in music, his work frequently involves sound sculptures built from discarded electronic parts.  This work is an interactive experiment in the transformation of electricity to sound and a look at how different electronic components shape and augment what sound is produced.

A young visitor helps Galen put the finishing touches on his new SmartArt component.

The science: the work is that it functions as a large model of a primitive circuit board synthesizer complete with oversized replicas of resistors, diodes, and switches. Inside, the work’s low voltage power is continuously running through an incomplete circuit board to a speaker (transistor) underneath the unit. Visitors can then add jumpers and electronic components to complete the circuit and create or change the sound. The sound produced is the result of the sum and order of the electronic components. This makes the work very open-ended and visitors can turn switches or change and remove parts to experiment and create a variety of different sounds.

The finished product! The signs help visitors understand how to turn electricity into sound!

The art: the music being produced is the metaphor that comes out of the explorative process that Galen provides the visitor. The art works by completing a circuit through experimental connections. This act of bridging or making parallel connections to create a new experience functions as a tangible metaphor for the modern artist. This relates back to the exhibition as a whole and the bridges that all of the featured artists are making between science and art.

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Galen is our SmartArtist-in-Residence, and will be spending time weekly at the Museum prototyping and testing out ideas for a series of works that he will install in SmartArt, our current science/art exhibit. The SmartArtist-in-Residence program was established as a way to provide the Museum & Theatre’s young visitors with an ongoing collaborative art experience that connects them with a local science-based artist and enhances our SmartArt exhibit. The program will run throughout the SmartArt exhibition and Galen will be on site creating work and hosting workshops at select times through December 2010. Click here for upcoming SmartArt programs.

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Creative Kids and Recycled Robots

By Louisa | Published: August 16, 2010
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What do trash robots, snake sculptures and shaving cream paper marbling all have in common? Besides being super fun, they are all educational (and messy) projects from last week’s camp, Creative Kids!

We delved into art making on Monday and didn’t stop! Friday marked the conclusion, in which our camp room turned into an art gallery. We invited all our friends and families to show off our impressive work.

What were we so busy doing, anyway? Between silly games such as acting like a certain color and trips to our neighbors, the Portland Museum of Art, campers learned about different styles of lines through the theme of ‘snakes.’ We tried sculpture, printmaking and drawing to explore straight, zigzag and curvy lines that real snakes would be shaped like or how they’d move. Our most involved piece of the week was the snake sculpture we worked on a little bit EVERY day. We first made the shape with tinfoil, and then covered it with plaster strips (the same kind used when you get a cast for a broken bone at the hospital!). Once they were dry we used masking tape to tape off lines so our stripes would be  nice and neat. We gessoed them as a final touch, so now they are super shiny like real snakes.

Another project we’re proud of is named Auto. He’s our giant trash robot! Take a look in the SmartArt exhibit and you’ll notice this friendly creature created all out of trash. It’s amazing what a little silver paint can do! Be on the look out this fall for my “Recycled Robots” program, where you’ll have a chance to make your own version and add it to our exhibit.

The campers are gone but the art lives on. If you enjoyed camp this summer, or haven’t had a chance to yet, there are still a few openings for Amazing Animal Journeys camp with Hannah. Check in at the front desk!

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Recommended reading and inspiration for our colorful snakes: Verdi, by Janell Cannon (creator of Stellaluna).
Our favorite way of learning about lines: The Adventures of Harold and the Purple Crayon. Written and illustrated by Crockett Johnson

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Sowing Seeds, Plant Play and Nature Treasures!

By admin | Published: August 13, 2010
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A few weeks ago, I lead an impromptu gardening program in our Shipyard. I had some beautiful cucumber plants that needed a home, so I thought – what better place than the empty planters outside? I had lots of eager visitors help me with the digging, planting and watering!

We hold a lot of gardening and nature programs at the Museum & Theatre. You can learn about foods that come from plants (like our cucumbers) during Sowing Seeds: Farmer’s Market and Harvest Time. Plant Play teaches our visitors how plants grow and thrive, you’ll even go home with your very own leaf rubbing! Nature Treasure Box is one of my favorites,  I find treasures from the outdoors or the Museum collection and share them with visitors – it’s a surprise every time!

We hope to see you at one of our many nature programs at the Museum & Theatre. Here are photos from the cucumber planting!

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Putting the brakes on the “summer slide”

By Lucy | Published: August 3, 2010
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Early this summer I was invited to attend a PTO meeting at Plummer Motz Elementary School (my alma mater!) in Falmouth. The topic of discussion was the dreaded “summer slide” – learning losses that children may suffer if they’re not getting any intellectual stimulation during the summer months. The room was packed – clearly this was a topic of great concern to parents. I, along with a panel of teachers, education experts, and librarians, were there to offer tips and suggestions as the parents took diligent notes. I know that everyone left that meeting with every intention of maintaining a rigorous academic regimen for the next ten weeks… then there was camp. And playdates. And the week at grandma’s. And visiting relatives. And summer soccer league. And suddenly a back to school commercial popped up during “America’s Got Talent” and it was already [gulp]… August?!

Playing pretend is a great way to develop problem solving skills.

The good news is, your summer activities have probably already provided your children with a lot of the stimulation they need to keep their young minds alert and growing. Summer learning doesn’t require stacks of flash cards or work books full of word problems – a lot of the things you do every day keep young minds active and engaged. The Museum & Theatre’s philosophy (backed up by volumes of educational research) is that unstructured play is a vital component of learning. Whether it’s a board game, a tree fort, or just a game of “let’s pretend,” the activities children choose during their free play time are helping them learn essential life skills.

Here are a few suggestions for increasing the educational impact of your summer fun. Try incorporating a few of these strategies before school starts up in a few weeks!

Fun (and free!) learning opportunities are right in our backyard!

Plan it! Whether it’s a trip into town for the afternoon or a cross-country plane trip to a new city, planning any sort of voyage engages a broad spectrum of skills. Mapping a route, working within a budget, and scheduling activities are tasks children of all ages can participate in with the appropriate amount of guidance. Set parameters and challenges for a child to work with. Try planning a green day trip that uses public transportation, bikes, or pedestrian routes; set a tiny per-person budget and find out how many low- or no-cost activities you can find in a weekend; plan a “locovore” day, visiting only locally owned businesses and eateries (use Portland Buy Local for ideas). Giving a child ownership of an activity can inspire amazing creativity – and lead your family on new adventures!

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Puppets around the world!

By Kathryn | Published: July 27, 2010
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I think my love of puppets started with watching Fraggle Rock with my dad every week. From there I couldn’t get enough! I even had a portable puppet theatre that was designed to fit in any doorway, so I could trap my parents in their room as I put on a show for them.

I was able to see a completely different type of puppeteering during my residency in Japan two summers ago. On a day off from kyogen rehearsals, our professor took us to see a bunraku performance. I knew bunraku was a Japanese puppet show, but I didn’t know much else. I was excited to find out that we had tickets for a special learning performance designed for Japanese students! The performance started with a scene from a bunraku play complete with puppeteers, shamisen players and narrators.

Diagram 1. Click to enlarge!

The performers then stopped and started explaining (in Japanese) the mechanics of bunraku. While we were given short English explanations, it was much more fascinating to watch the puppeteers explain how a puppet was operated, even if I couldn’t understand everything they were saying.

Here you can see the head puppeteer's special kimono, hakama (wide-legged pants he wears over the kimono) and elevated shoes.

In bunraku, most puppets have three puppeteers (except for minor puppets, which can be operated by one person). The head and right-hand puppeteer (omo-zukai), the left-handed puppeteer (hidari-zukai) and the feet puppeteer (ashi-zukai). Their duties are described in this diagram (see Diagram 1). As with all Japanese performance, an actor has to spend years of his life perfecting the art. For bunraku, training begins with the feet, then the left hand and the final stage is to master the head and right hand. These levels of training are also denoted by what the puppeteers wear. The foot and left hand puppeteers are dressed in kurogo, or black robes and head coverings. The head and right hand puppeteer wears a traditional kimono, hakama and elevated shoes, so he is very clearly seen.

The fact that the head puppeteer does not wear black is an interesting aspect of Japanese theatre that I noticed during my studies. While character performance ishighly revered in Japan, the audience still expects to see traces of the actor. For instance, sometimes famous kabuki actors will ad-lib during performances with lines from previous plays they have done and audience members will frequently shout out actors’ names during short pauses in the performance. This is also true in bunraku, the audience wants to see the master behind the movements, but also wants to be given the opportunity to completely focus on the puppet.

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The Market has a new look!

By Kathryn | Published: July 26, 2010
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If you’ve been in our Market lately, you’ve probably noticed some changes – new colors, new signs, new food! Beginning this month, Whole Foods Market is sponsoring The Market, and they have lots of great plans for making this Museum favorite feel brand new! While all the changes won’t be done until the beginning of October, over the next few months you’ll begin to see the space transform (but don’t worry, it will still be open for play!).

The focus of this renovation is on healthy New England foods – many of the products you’ll find in The Market are brands made right here in Maine! While you can still shop for products and bring them to the register, the exhibit will also have recipes and puzzles (what do you need to make spaghetti?) that will turn choosing items into a fun game. Figuring out which foods go into healthy meals adds an additional interactive element to The Market and will give families an opportunity to take home what they learned from this game and discuss it during mealtimes!

In addition to healthy eating habits, The Market will also be a space to discover multicultural foods. Local fruits and vegetables will be the focus in the renovated produce section, with signage as to where you can find this particular tomato or that ear of corn. Breads from across the globe will be featured in the bakery and ingredients needed to make many multicultural dishes will be on the new shelves and inside the new refrigerator.

The blackboards and food graphics will be familiar to regular Whole Foods Market shoppers. The blackboards are another great way to convey the emphasis on local and healthy foods as the messages will change throughout the year. Aprons and baskets will still be available for all the little shoppers! We’ve already added a feature the parents will be excited about: a bench in The Market which serves as a little rest area. As we all know, The Market (like any grocery store) can get pretty crowded!

I am really excited about these new changes and updates to The Market. It will be fun to see them happen throughout the summer. I am sad that my AmeriCorps term will end before The Market will be fully complete, but I’ll be sure to keep an eye on the blog for updates and the final product!

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Join us on the Green!

By Cathy | Published: July 22, 2010
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Practing for the putting contest!

Please join us at the beautiful Nonesuch River Golf Club on September 20 for our 5th Annual Golf Tournament! A fun day for golfers of all levels, the tournament will be an 18-hole scramble with a shotgun start at 9:00 am. There will be many contests with prizes, including a hole-in-one, closest-to-pin, longest drive, putting, and of course the winning team! During lunch there will be a silent auction and we will also be raffling off four tickets to Boston College’s November 20th football game against the University of Virginia.

Nonesuch River Golf Club Course

The fee for the tournament is $150 per person or $525 per foursome (save $75!), and includes continental breakfast, a barbeque lunch, snacks, golf carts and a goody bag for each golfer! There will also be a beverage cart out on the course and a cash bar available throughout the day. To register for the tournament, or for more information contact Alicia at 828-1234, x242 or alicia@kitetails.org.

You can also register online at http://www.kitetails.org/support/fundraising-events/golf/

Gather your friends and Join us on the Green! Hope to see you there!

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Interview With “Pinocchio” Cast Members

By Reba | Published: July 21, 2010
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As the dates of our preview and opening performances draws nearer, I asked five members of the cast of Pinocchio to share their experiences so far. Here is what Claire, Eden, Kaleigh, Michela and Bianca had to say:

Claire Devlin is playing Geppetta the Woodcarver.

1. Why did you decide to do Theatre at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine this summer?


CLAIRE: I missed the last show due to a school trip and I missed performing!
EDEN: It sounded like a lot of fun.
KALEIGH: I decided to do theatre at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine this summer because I was looking for a new adventure and a fun time, a way to occupy my time this summer.
MICHELA: Because it’s awesome here!  This place is my second home.  I love the atmosphere here and all the people too!
BIANCA:  Because I wanted to keep busy, and it’s really fun. I made the mistake of not doing Tomato Plant Girl last summer due to one week of church summer camp and I regretted it. I didn’t want to make that mistake again!

2. What is your favorite warm-up game?  How do you play it?

Eden Dyer is playing Fox the Count.

CLAIRE: I really love the game What Are You Doing? Someone goes onstage and does a gesture, then the second person asks what they’re doing.  The first player says something different than what they’re doing.  Player B has to do that gesture and then player C enters and repeats the game with different gestures.
EDEN: The Park Bench.  You sit next to somebody waiting for the bus and talk to them in character.
KALEIGH: What Are You Doing?
MICHELA:  I like Bus Stop because it gets your brain working.  One person sits at the bus stop, neutral while another person comes up and starts the scene.  As the scene progresses, the neutral actor must come up with an excuse for leaving. Once they leave the actor left will become neutral and a new scene will start.
BIANCA: What Are You Doing? It’s so much fun!

Kaleigh Colson is playing Master Antonio and The Coachman.

3. What is your favorite moment in the play so far?


CLAIRE: I really like the moment when the blue fairy (Bianca Brown) says “Mastroni thows puppets in the fire!” and she says it in funniest way.  It really cracks me up!
EDEN: When Reed attacks the cabinet.
KALEIGH: My favorite moment was when I had to miss a few rehearsals and when I came back everyone was welcoming and happy to see me.
MICHELA: I think when Pinocchio tells the blue fairy about the silver tree in the field of miracles.
BIANCA: Finding out I got to play the blue fairy.  It was good for me, but bad for the actress originally cast in her role. She got sick and I took her place!

4. What is the craziest thing your character does in the play?

Michela Micalizio is playing Mastroni the Puppet Master.

CLAIRE: At one point in the play, I get swallowed by a giant fish.  I’d probably say the part where I build a fire to make the fish sneeze and let us out is pretty crazy.  I do that part with my cast mate, Reed Foehl, who plays Pinocchio.
EDEN: [picks up some bubblegum off the ground]
KALEIGH: I have two roles.  As Master Antonio I think the craziest thing is finding a talking piece of wood.  As the coachman the craziest thing is turning young boys into donkeys.
MICHELA: Everything!  Well, maybe not everything, but he’s a crazy guy!  I think the craziest thing he does is have the sock puppets on all the time.
BIANCA: Talk in baby talk.  All the time!

5. Why do you think people should come see Pinocchio?  What makes it a great show?
CLAIRE: There are a lot of really talented people in this show, which makes it really fun and interesting.  Also, it’s unpredictable, which makes it a fun show to watch.

Bianca Brown is playing Glissandra the Blue Fairy.


EDEN: We’ve worked hard on it and the plotline is pretty good.
KALEIGH: I think you should come to Pinocchio because it’s funny and very family friendly.  What makes the show great is the fact that there is something for everyone from younger to older.  You can’t help but LOVE it!
MICHELA: I think people should come see Pinocchio because of the fun cast and the great story, which make it a FANTASTIC show!
BIANCA: There’s a surprise around every corner.  There’s a great message for kids and humor for everyone.  The cast works really well together and that makes for a great show.

See Claire, Eden, Kaleigh, Michela, Bianca and the rest of the cast of Pinocchio on opening night, Friday, July 23 at 4pm. For tickets visit our website, call 828-1234 x231 or stop by the front desk!

If you’d like to make new friends and have fun in the theatre like these five girls, audition for Beauty and the Beast! Auditions are Monday, August 30 from 3-5pm. We are also offering a free audition workshop on Wednesday, August 25 at 2:30pm so you can prepare! To register for the workshop call 828-1234 x247 or email reba@kitetails.org.

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