Normally, as a college student, I welcome any snow day so that I can forget my academic responsibilities, remain in my pajamas, drink hot cocoa, and just enjoy a day’s worth of relaxation. Not so this winter. As the Community Engagement Intern, I found myself wishing that the snow would stop showing up on Tuesdays [...]
Category Archives: Learning through play
Snowflakes and Thought Drops
Also posted in Groups giving back, Guest Blogger, Introducing…, Volunteers Tagged English Language Learner, Portland High School, volunteering, youth development Leave a comment
Creative Kids and Recycled Robots
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 [...]
Also posted in Big (and little) news!, Updates Leave a comment
Putting the brakes on the “summer slide”
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 [...]
Puppets around the world!
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 [...]
Also posted in Theatre Tagged bunraku puppets, children's museum & theatre of maine puppet shows, Kids on the Block, puppet shows maine 2 Comments
How Does it Teach: American Girls Club
I distinctly remember the Christmas I got a cranberry-colored velvet dress with a lace collar. I must have been seven or eight, and it’s not that I was particularly into dresses – but I also received a matching dress (right down to the buttons) for my Samantha doll. My mom had a friend hand-make them [...]
Also posted in How does it teach? Tagged American Girl activities, American Girls, American Girls Club Leave a comment
A simple toy spawns chaos!
This month, for Cool Science, we are playing with magnets and pendulums. A pendulum is simply an object that can swing freely back and forth. An everyday example is a swing on a swing set. By adding a magnet to the bottom of a simple pendulum, and putting magnets on the ground near where it’s [...]
Also posted in How does it teach? Tagged learning with magnets, pendulum, physics for kids, Science education Leave a comment
Tall Tales: Chickens and Dragons and Bears, Oh My!
During Tuesday’s Tall Tales program, I wrote this AWESOME story with four lovely co-authors: Emilia, Beatrice, Maeve and Annie. “The Wizard, the Princess and the Dragon Once upon a time there was a wizard named Owen. And he had a pet dragon named Magic. Rapunzel married Owen! They lived in a castle in the woods. A big bear [...]
Meet Galen Richmond: SmartArtist-in-Residence!
Galen is our artist in residence, and will be spending time weekly at the Museum prototyping and testing out ideas for a series of works that he will be installing in SmartArt, our current science exhibit. He’ll install the first piece today at 4:00. As an artist in residence, he’ll be spending a lot of [...]
Also posted in Introducing… Tagged Artist in Residence, audiovisual art, Computer at Sea, Galen Richmond, local artist, SmartArt Leave a comment
Nigerian Yam Chips!
I get to explore a different country each month for my snack-sampling program, Cultural Cuisine. Nigeria is our featured culture for June – we’re changing up We Are Maine to include Nigerian drums, costumes, masks, groceries, and more! Be sure to check out the changes, as well as family pictures of the Mokemes, our We [...]
Also posted in Exhibits, Taking it home Tagged Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine Nigeria, Museum of African Culture, Nigeria, Oscar Mokeme Leave a comment
A Beast Fable: Birds of Prey
I ran another Tall Tales program this weekend and a young visitor, Alex, knew so much about animal adaptations that we decided to put together this story. I hope you enjoy it. “Once upon a time there was a fox and a turtle. Then two owls appeared and one was a Snowy owl and a [...]
Also posted in Overheard at the Museum & Theatre Leave a comment