Explore Playwork with Penny Wilson & Joan Almon!

We're excited to announce that we're hosting a talk and training exploring playwork practices on Wednesday, September 25!

All kids can play and all kids need to play.  Learn from acclaimed London playworker Penny Wilson and Alliance for Childhood co-founder Joan Almon how playwork can ensure empowering free play opportunities for children of all abilities and all socio-economic backgrounds.

The What, Why and How of Playwork | 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Presentation and discussion
Playwork – the art of supporting children’s play without directing it – is a profession in the United Kingdom where playworkers practice in adventure playgrounds, housing projects and childcare programs.  Playworkers create play-rich environments, in which their presence is nearly invisible and where children freely pursue their own play, experiment with loose parts, take as much risk as they can handle, solve their own conflicts, and play the way they want to for their own reasons.  Learn what playworkers do – and don’t do – and explore ways we can bring playwork practices to our work with children in the US.

Play – Anywhere! Everyone! | 1:00 to 4:00 PM
Playwork workshop with Penny Wilson (limited to 50 participants)
Penny Wilson leads a smaller group in exploring ways to apply playwork practices to create spaces for children’s self-directed play anywhere, considering the many different types of play, and discovering how and why to ensure play is inclusive and welcoming for children with disabilities and other challenges.

Register for just the morning presentation ($15) or for the full day ($65) – morning plus afternoon workshop.

Click here to register and to learn more about the presenters.

A PlayFULL Summer at the Parks

This spring and summer, the Museum brought unstructured play to Providence parks for a second year, taking Imagination Playground blocks, fort building and other open-ended fun with loose parts to neighborhoods across the city.  Even though the weather wasn’t as cooperative as we’d have liked, we provided creative play experiences for 930 kids and family members, thanks to the support of the Providence Department of Parks and Recreation and the Partnership for Providence Parks.

We saw kids do some pretty incredible things and captured some of our favorite playful moments.

Imagination Playground blocks were a big hit, as always.

This giant structure was a tremendous collaborative effort.

 Adding loose parts created even more opportunities for play.

This grandma and grandson build a steep ramp and took turns rolling and catching balls. Much chasing and giggling ensued!

We also provided wood working with real tools, stick structures with dowels and rubber bands, and Rigamajig – a set of boards, pulleys, wheels, nuts and bolts that inspire creative construction.

This girl spent over two hours thoughtfully building an elaborate house. She draped it with fabric and added a doghouse. Though she welcomed construction help from other kids, when it was time to take it apart, she insisted on doing it ALL by herself.

This family with older kids approached reluctantly, skeptical about playing. But hours later, they were still busy building and rebuilding their house – here dad prepares the curtains!

This tiny teepee was barely built for two!

Cardboard was a hugely popular play material.

This cardboard dwelling – colored inside and out with chalk – had a fabric “carpet” and constantly changing occupants.

This box was occupied by one of its territorial “owners” for well over two hours!

We saw A LOT of inspired fort building with cardboard, dowels, fabric and more.

Forts...

...forts...

and MORE forts!

Thanks to our caped play crusaders and to everyone who played with us this summer!

Committed Service to Kids in Need

This month, we celebrated the graduation of the Museum’s 17th (!) AmeriCorps team and their 22,500 hours of dedicated service over the past year. This group of 12 full-time members and four additional summer members extended the Museum’s reach to children and families in underserved communities throughout and around Providence and had a tremendous impact. There’s so much the Museum simply could not do without the hard work and passion of these committed and talented individuals.

Did you know that the Museum’s 2012-13 AmeriCorps team:

• Facilitated imaginative activities that celebrate diversity to help improve school readiness for more than 1,000 Head Start preschoolers
• Engaged over 500 elementary school-aged children with inspiring play-based math and science activities during after-school and summer Learning Clubs
• Welcomed more than 1,300 low-income children and family members to free Museum family nights, where they received complimentary year-long admission passes
• Recruited and trained dozens of Museum volunteers
• Engaged Museum visitors in hands-on exhibits and developed interactive public programs
• And much more!

Some heartfelt tributes shared during their graduation ceremony:

“[These children are] lucky if they meet someone who challenges their hearts and brains and changes the way they think. You might be that person.”

– Mary Ellen O'Mahony, Children’s Friend

 “Thank you for dedicating a year of your lives. It’s the best example of communities and people coming together to make the world a better places… leveling the playing field for these children and giving them the opportunities they deserve.”

– Marisa Petreccia, Serve Rhode Island

“We could not reach these children in these numbers and with this depth without you…What would be the point of having a children’s museum if we couldn’t reach the children who need us most?”

– Janice O’Donnell, Museum director

Our sincere thanks and congratulations to Alex, Alexandra, Amanda, Ashley, Bridget, Dylan, Francesca, Jack, Kaylor, Kayshia, Leah, Mandy, Megan, Ryan, Samantha and Sarah!

The Museum’s AmeriCorps program is made possible by a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service and Serve Rhode Island with additional support from Bristol County Savings Charitable Foundation; The John Clarke Trust, Bank of America, N.A., Co-Trustee; CVS Caremark Charity Classic; Frank B. Hazard General Charity Fund, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee; Harry M., Miriam C. & William C. Horton Fund, Bank of America, Co-Trustee; Museum Annual Campaign Donors; Sovereign Bank Foundation; Textron Charitable Trust; and UnitedHealthcare of New England.

Discovery: A Summer Learning Story

We’re reflecting on the incredible contributions of our 2012-13 AmeriCorps Museum Educators as their service year comes to a close. Leah Taradash shared this story about facilitating play-based summer enrichment activities to support school readiness for rising kindergartners.

The day that Michael learned that red and blue makes purple was a magical day at Asa Messer Elementary School.

As we planned the curriculum for our summer as part of Kid's Bridge, a kindergarten prep program for low-income children, we knew that we wanted to provide the children with new experiences that would inspire their creativity and inquisitive nature while getting them ready for school. Color mixing with paints was the perfect activity – it introduced materials such as paint and paintbrushes, allowed for creativity, incorporated scientific principles, and is just plain fun. After listening to the book Mouse Paint, the kids were excited to learn that they would use paints to mix colors, just like the mice did. I couldn't help but smile as they mixed different combinations of red, blue and yellow to make green, orange and purple and shouted their discoveries with glee.

When it was Michael's turn, he pointed to a cup that a previous child had mixed and said, "I want the purple paint!" He looked skeptical when I told him that to make purple he would have to use red and blue.  "I have to put them together? With this?" he asked as he picked up the paintbrush, making it clear that he had probably never used painting materials before. I watched him ever so slowly pick up the brush and dip it into the red paint. "I put it in there?" he asked, pointing to the blue. I nodded and he placed the paintbrush inside the cup of blue. "It's not working. Where's the purple?" "You have to mix it together," I said, and moved my hand in a stirring motion. "And maybe add some more red." He began to stir the paint together, adding a bit more red to the mixture, until suddenly flecks of a deep purple began to appear. Michael looked up at me with such wonder in his eyes and yelled, "It did it! It made purple! It really happened!" He spent the next five minutes experimenting with adding different amounts of red and blue to his paper and seeing how he could make different shades of purple.

Watching Michael and the other children's joyful reactions to discovering the science behind color mixing made me proud to  give them the opportunity to make discoveries about things that adults often take for granted.

Making Connections: Boys & Girls Club Stories

We’re reflecting on the incredible contributions of our 2012-13 AmeriCorps Museum Educators as their service year comes to a close. These stories were shared by Dylan Maeby, a member of the team that facilitated a Museum Learning Club at the Boys & Girls Club on the Southside of Providence and provided engaging STEM enrichment activities to 130 2nd to 4th graders.

Science Inspiration
“Potions” was the last in a series of lessons we developed about the science behind magic.  We’d used static electricity to move objects without touching them, made flip books to show that pictures can come to life, and now we were using ingredients like “unicorn horn” (Alka-Seltzer) mixed with “dragon blood” (food coloring and water) to illustrate the power of chemical reactions.  Throughout the lesson the kids were delighted as their mixtures bubbled and fizzed.  Through careful observation, they determined which ingredients were responsible for the reactions they observed and which ones were not.  A successful lesson for sure, we ended by combining all of the potions in one container for a final show.

When we arrived the next day, I was met at the door by a group of children. “Jaden has something to show you!” they told me. “I made this for you,” said Jaden, an often-rambunctious child, as he handed me a bottle filled with a combination of what looked like water, oil and food coloring.  “When I went home yesterday I told my parents what we did and then I asked if I could make my own potions.  This was the best one. It was hard to find the right balance of water and oil, but I did!”

He turned to walk away with a proud look on his face. A moment later he shouted, “Oh, I figured out that it wasn’t unicorn horn we were using, it was Alka-Seltzer!”

Building Bridges
Two sisters, ages 9 and 7, had been hard at work for well over an hour to create a suspension bridge from newspaper and string.  They had unsuccessfully tried numerous times, yet they remained undeterred.  Carefully adjusting the strings, taping then re-taping, the girls moved closer to accomplishing their goal.  As the younger girl tested the bridge once again, her sister had a revelation.  “We can do this at home!” she exclaimed.  “We have all of the things we need.”  They momentarily forgot about testing their bridge as they excitedly discussed all of the different materials they could use.  Eventually they perfected their design but I couldn’t help but feel that the real success lay in the many hours of play yet to come.

Persistence: A Learning Club Story

We’re reflecting on the incredible contributions of our 2012-13 AmeriCorps Museum Educators as their service year comes to a close this week. This story was shared by Alexandra Fleagle, a member of the team that conducted after-school Learning Clubs for 12 community organizations in Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls and engaged kids ages 6-12 in fun hands-on STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) activities.

At Fox Point Boys & Girls Club, our Learning Club kids had challenging attitudes towards school, science, each other, and their own potential to learn. Over the first few weeks, we learned what they needed and slowly earned their trust. However, I wondered how they would respond to my lesson on acids, bases and the pH scale. It was content-heavy and involved “painting” with a solution of turmeric and alcohol. These kids made a mess with wet glue; what was I thinking giving them something that permanently stains?

It turns out I had nothing to worry about – the kids were engaged from the moment I began. I mixed vinegar and baking soda to demonstrate a neutralization reaction and talked about how chemical reactions create completely different substances. It was going so well that I took a risk and started talking about chemical formulae and ions. “Acids have high concentrations of H+ ions, while bases have OH- ions. When they come together, you have two ‘H’s and ‘O.’ Does anyone know what those atoms make?” Their eyes widened with excitement and recognition, followed by shouts of “H2O!” “Water!” “We just talked about this in school today!”

During the main activity, they experimented and discovered the pH of 10 substances. Juliette, who was often vocal about her dislike of school and science, was the most eager to get started. After a while I saw her sit down and asked if she had finished. “Let me tell you what I found!” she said, and proceeded to explain her results as well as her reasoning and hypotheses. During the post-experiment discussion, kids who usually didn’t talk were eager to share their discoveries, and we began to explore why they were important and how we use this science in everyday life.

Next, I introduced the art activity, explaining that we were trusting them to act responsibly with the turmeric. They rose to the occasion. Jayhoni had been one of the most cynical members of the group. It had been very difficult to engage, let alone impress, her with any of the activities. But as she was painting, I heard her exclaim, “This is awesome!” The rest of the Club agreed. It had been a very good day.

Friendship: A Head Start Story

We’re reflecting on the incredible contributions of our 2012-13 AmeriCorps Museum Educators as their service year comes to a close this week. This story was shared by Amanda Nico and Leah Taradash, members of the team that served 1,000 Head Start preschoolers in 58 classrooms in Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls with fun-filled Museum explorations and a year-long series of imaginative activities to help them understand and value diversity.

Amanda: In Head Start classroom activities, we focused on how friends can be both similar to and different from one another and that is okay. We read the book Alex and Lulu: Two of a Kind by Lorena Siminovich, which tells the story of a dog and cat who are friends but like to play different things, then we talked with the children about some of their differences and similarities.

Leah: During the next activity of our friendship curriculum, children created a book of what they like to do with their friends. Every child illustrated a page and we recorded their words under their pictures, then put them all into a binder and read the book to the class.

The Head Start team was very excited about this activity's potential but we never could have predicted the inspiring results reflected in the children's words and pictures. Their friendship stories were all different; some children chose specific things they liked playing with their friends, like basketball and drawing, while others thought about ideas like the leaves changing red in the fall or two friends getting into a fight and needing to say they're sorry. No matter what the story, it was clear that every child put a great deal of thought into how to represent themselves through their words and drawings.

Amanda: In one class, a child named Cecilia drew and we recorded her story about her friend: "Lyla was screaming too loudly and I was painting flowers and being an artist and being different. Lyla was white and Cecilia was brown and then we were sleeping and that is the end." Her teacher marveled at how she really listened and understood the message of the story we read in the previous lesson.

Leah: Presenting their pages as a class book also created a sense of classroom unity, giving the children the opportunity to learn about each others' interests while taking pride in their individual pages. The icing on the already delicious cake was seeing their excitement when we told them that the book would be left in their classroom so they could read it whenever they want!