Give the Gift of Play

During this season of giving, please help Providence Children's Museum give the gift of inspiring, joy-filled play and learning to children and families who need it most.

Why do we need YOUR help? Did you know that each year ...

• 40 percent of the Museum's operating budget goes toward serving children and families in need.

• 36 percent of visitors come free, including 1,250 Head Start children and caregivers offered free year-long admission passes.

• 500 kids from inner-city community centers participate in engaging out-of-school time activities, facilitated by the Museum's AmeriCorps members.

• 170 court-separated families come together for therapeutic visits with the Museum's team of family therapists.

Your donation of any amount helps us continue to provide these important services to children and families who truly need them.

And if you're not able to make a financial contribution, we're also collecting toys for the children served by Families Together – the Museum's visitation program for court-separated families. Look for the collection box in our Gift Shop.

In whatever way you can, please play a part!

Thank you for your support, and we wish you a joyful, playFULL holiday season!

To learn more about Providence Children's Museum and our work serving children and families in need, visit www.childrenmuseum.org.

Talking Back - Play Spaces

Our most recent question on the Talk Back board in Play Power has encouraged a flurry of responses – and we're excited to see that includes many kids (and grown-ups!) commenting on their favorite Museum play spaces.

Here's a sampling of what they have to say:

Where is/was YOUR favorite place to play – at the Museum or otherwise?

Drawing Conclusions

This post is by Megan Fischer, Marketing & Public Relations Manager.

Lately I’ve seen a barrage of commercials for the new Wii drawing tablet and am astounded. The concept: kids use a stylus to “draw” on a tablet connected to their television and the images they create appear on the screen. It comes with a game of Pictionary the family can play together.

Really?!? Why?

What about drawing with REAL paper and pencils, crayons or markers?

What happened to families sitting around a table playing board games together?

What about the fact that our kids are already oversaturated with screen time? (According to the Alliance for Childhood, children in the U.S. between the ages of 8 and 18 now spend over 7 hours per day in front of screens with very little time spent outdoors.)

I’ve written before about the importance of kids having authentic experiences with real things, and that certainly applies here. It’s not just about the motor skills and hand-eye coordination children develop when they move pen over paper, learning how to hold and manipulate tools. And it’s not just about the acquisition of artistic skills.
I believe there’s also something incredibly important about the physical process of creation and of having authentic creative experiences. Approaching a blank page with nothing to structure the experience besides one’s imagination. The feeling of markers on paper, paint on fingers. The smell of crayons and freshly sharpened pencils. The sense of accomplishment in seeing something you’ve created, that flowed from your hands to your canvas. Doodling, dipping into paint, digging into clay, building with blocks, maybe even making messes…all in the act of creating.
For all of us, drawing and other forms of creative expression can provide a way to perceive and think about the world around us and communicate our ideas – especially important for kids. Plus the process of creation requires active engagement and can inspire imagination as well as concentration and persistence.

I know there are arguments about the need for children to acquire skills applicable to new technologies, about technical or digital literacy. But as I see it, many kids today are practically saturated with electronics and have plenty of opportunities to develop these proficiencies. The digital divide is no longer an issue. Instead, helping kids manage the onslaught of technology and digital media is a growing concern.
I’m reminded of a recent screening of "Library of the Early Mind," a wonderful documentary in which 40 renowned children’s book authors and illustrators reflect on their childhood memories and inspiration. Many of them speak about creating their own worlds as children and about the powerful impact of their early creative experiences on their work and process. It’s interesting to think about what might have been if they weren’t allowed opportunities to create, explore and discover as children. (Also consider what the children’s literature landscape would look like if given over to the electronic book. Imagine story time with a screen, not giving a child the physical experience of turning the pages, of engaging with the story and the artwork.)
Our world is changing rapidly. Being immersed in digital communications for the Museum, I’m faced with that everyday. I’m not arguing that we should turn our backs on technology – there’s a time and place for it, and it’s certainly not going away. And there are many great examples of ways kids and families are using technology in creative, even physical ways – to go geocaching or design their own games.

But we need to think carefully about what we’re at risk of losing and stand up for what’s important. To make sure our children have opportunities for active, authentic creative experiences and not give everything meaningful over to screens and electronics.

Maybe there’s something I’m missing and, if so, please comment. But I’d really like to hear YOUR thoughts about navigating the incredible changes we’re faced with and what we – and our kids – might be losing in the process.

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This article was subsequently posted on Kidoinfo.com and there were A LOT of interesting comments. Check out the conversation here.

Thank YOU!

For helping the Museum serve our mission to inspire and celebrate learning through active play and exploration.

For enabling us to provide joy-filled, engaging play and learning experiences to a growing number of children and families, including those who wouldn’t otherwise have access.

For supporting our work and helping us create two amazing new outdoor play spaces.

For valuing the vital role of play in children's learning and development.

For truly caring about the well being of children and families.

But really, the kids say it best:

In this season of gratitude, many, many thanks!

Bringing Families Together

This post was contributed by Jess Fields, former AmeriCorps Museum Educator.

One morning I saw a young woman pacing by the entrance as I arrived at the Museum. She seemed nervous. After we opened, a family arrived with their little boy. He rushed to play at the light wall and dome in Play Power. The parents watched him and checked their watches. When the young woman from outside finally entered the Museum, she spotted the couple and they approached her with warm, nervous smiles. The boy continued his play while the adults talked softly. Finally the mother called the boy over and told him, “I want you to meet someone very special.”

The boy smiled and said “Hi!” “Hi,” said the young woman as she nervously bent over to talk to him. “Hey I wanna show you something!,” the boy said. He took her hand and they headed into Water Ways together. The parents looked on, holding hands.

“Your son is beautiful,” I said to them. “How old is he?” “Thank you,” the mother said. “He'll be 3 in a few months. He really loves it here. We picked this place together. Today is the first day he meets his birth mother – we wanted it to be somewhere familiar to him.”

“That's so wonderful,” I said. “We were afraid she wouldn't show up,” the father sighed. “She was really late.” I smiled. “She's been here since we opened, she was pacing outside of the building. I think she was nervous.” “So are we,” the mother said, “but we feel like everyone needs as much love as they can get, all of us, so this was the best decision for our family.”

The little boy cheered in the next room as his birth mother pumped water out of a tube in the tank. They both laughed and it echoed to fill the room. The parents smiled, said thank you and wandered in to enjoy their special day, together.

A Frightfully Fun New AmeriCorps Team

It’s about time everyone met our newest team of AmeriCorps members! They joined us in mid-September, starting with two weeks of training in informal education, child development and more. They’ve since begun their work planning engaging play-based activities for underserved children in Head Start and after-school programs as well as coordinating Museum volunteers.

They’ve also been busy planning last weekend’s annual Boo Bash - and what a spook-tacular event! There was delightfully haunted hands-on fun at every turn.
Inside the Museum, small superheroes and skeletons dug into slime and explored mysterious potions in the Mad Science Lab; entered the graveyard of games for a ghoulishly good time; sent creepy creatures soaring; illustrated eerie optical illusions; and crafted spooky scenes and trick-or-treat totes.
Outside in our garden, visitors stepped into an eerie environment watched over by a cast of crazy critters (the eyes were everywhere!) and joined a jumpin’ jam session to show off their moves and create bone-shaking beats. Families and staff alike had an absolute blast!

So here’s an official welcome to Bonnie, Carolina, Cassi, Cassy, Dylan, Jackie, Julie, Kirsten, Lauren, Lyndsey, Rachel and Sam - and welcome back to Kerrie. Congratulations and thanks for the frightfully festive fun!


(And much credit to program developer Carly for her creative Climber costume!)

When Grown-Ups Climb

This weekend, Museum director Janice O’Donnell was navigating upward through The Climber, hoping to surprise her grandchildren. She passed a little girl…

Girl: You’re not allowed up here.
Janice: Yes I am!
Girl: (earnestly) No, grown-ups aren’t allowed.
Janice: (feigning indignation) Yes, grown-ups can! I’m allowed!

They worked it out and, as Janice continued her climb, a boy sliding down from another platform stepped on her head.

Janice: Ow!

The boy turned, repositioned himself, and gently patted her head.
The moral of the story: Grown-ups are always welcome to stretch, slither and wind their way through The Climber. But remember – it’s kid space!

Editor's note: Janice insists that we know, "I DID make it all the way to the top, despite the children I encountered along the way." Her grandchildren were not surprised. Granddaughter Liv said, "It took you that long?!?"