Toy Stories

To prepare for The Power to Play: From Trash to Treasure – a display of toys handmade by children from around the world – we collected stories of toy making from our friends, staff and members of our international community.

Here are the ones chosen to accompany the toys, and to inspire visitors to share their own stories:

What toys do you and your family like to make? Leave us a comment, and stay tuned to find out what our visitors have to say about toys they've made and what they like to make toys from.

Risky Business

This article by Education Programs Coordinator Carly Baumann was also posted on Kidoinfo.

“In the real world, life is filled with risks… and reasonable risks are essential for children’s healthy development.”
                   – Dr. Joe Frost

At Providence Children’s Museum, we witness wonderful moments of learning through play all around us, every day: from discovering how to use a popsicle stick as a clay cutting tool to learning that Pilgrim children didn’t use forks, and that engineering a giant fountain with two friends is much easier than constructing alone.  But some of the most inspiring learning moments, often the most intense and real, involve taking a risk.  When children (and grown-ups) take risks or, as Tim Gill said, “actively seek out uncertainty,” they explore their own limits and learn about the world.  Risk is the ingredient that keeps us engaged and it helps make play more meaningful.

Making opportunities for risk-taking in Museum exhibits and programs is a responsibility we care deeply about.  Because we encourage open-ended experiences, there are not a lot of rules or instructions.  We believe in managing risk rather than seeking to eliminate it, so we embrace a philosophy of designing environments and experiences to be as safe as necessary but not as safe as possible.  In our outdoor Climber, a safe and challenging structure, kids experience a sensation of taking risks as they stretch, wiggle and climb two stories high.  Pushing through fears and internalizing one’s own sense of success doesn’t require a life-or-death situation; the perceived risk is just as valuable.  Children take risks in open-ended physical play, but also when they handle real tools, messy materials and live animals.  They take risks when trying challenges they might not succeed at on the first try, or the tenth.

It’s not only our responsibility to provide opportunities for risk-taking, but to communicate the value of risk to caregivers – the most vital supporters of their children’s learning.  In the parent resource area of our Play Power exhibit, video clips show children playing intensely throughout the Museum.  As a boy crawls across his own wobbly arch bridge and two builders witness the toppling of the intricate block tower they teamed up to construct, the narration reads, “When they are free to take risks and try new things, kids learn about their abilities.  And they learn how to bounce back when things go wrong.”

 

In a time when the media message is that growing up is not safe, children need support to take risks from the caring adults in their lives.  By taking risks ourselves when we are challenged, we model that risk is a part of life.  Watching families when they hesitantly handle worms from the Museum’s worm compost bin illustrates how risk can bring us together in intense social experiences.  Peers and parents can bring a sense of security that eases children from uncertainty to the exhilaration of overcoming a fear.  In The Climber, children get social support from other kids who help coach them down a steep step, or from parents watching below, still far enough away that the child negotiates his own way down.

Let’s remember that, as Fred Rogers said, “Play is the work of childhood.”  Risk is an essential element of children’s work and play and they need grown-ups who model, support and celebrate that.

The Museum recently hosted an energetic and thought-provoking discussion about the benefits of risk-taking to kids’ healthy development.  See conversation highlights and download the Kids, Play and Risk resource sheet – our compilation of great articles, books and more.

Mind Lab at the Museum

This post was contributed by Museum Exhibits Director Robin Meisner.

At Providence Children’s Museum we’ve teamed up with developmental psychologists at Brown University and Providence College to create Mind Lab, a research partnership exploring how children learn – what our young visitors know and how their understanding develops and changes as they grow.

We’ve been hosting researchers at the Museum for almost a decade and are pleased to work with such active and engaged scientists.  To celebrate her first anniversary with Mind Lab, Dr. Jennifer Van Reet, assistant professor of psychology at Providence College, shared the results of one of her studies.

"Every week, my students and I look forward to our time in the Mind Lab. With the generous help of Museum visitors, we have been exploring the development of pretend play in preschoolers.  One project we recently completed had some really intriguing results!

All of my research is focused on discovering how people are able to pretend and figuring out in what ways pretending is beneficial. One way I do this is to find what other important abilities are related to pretending. In this project, I looked at an ability called inhibitory control, which we all use to control our minds and bodies. And we use it all the time! Every time you stop yourself from saying something you know you shouldn’t, or wait until after dinner to eat dessert, you are using your inhibitory control.

After measuring the inhibitory control and pretending abilities in a lot of different ways, I discovered that 3- and 4-year-olds who have the most inhibitory control are also the best pretenders. I also found that playing a particular type of game – games just like “Simon Says” – caused better pretending!  This type of game is special because it requires a certain kind of inhibitory control that helps you switch back and forth between two different rules (like when Simon says to do something versus when he doesn’t).  Other types of games, like waiting games or follow-the-leader games, did not have the same effect.

This project revealed quite a bit about pretend play that we did not know before. Now we know how important inhibitory control is for children’s pretend play, and we know that exercising children’s inhibitory control can help them to be better pretenders. This new information can now be used by people who work with children – like the staff at Providence Children’s Museum."

Dr. Van Reet models an activity from one of her studies.

Working with scientists gives the Museum an opportunity to learn about current research and create more meaningful, developmentally appropriate child- and adult-focused learning experiences, including hands-on activities for children, workshops for caregivers, and exhibits and environments for all visitors.

From Jennifer’s study we might consider…

• Incorporating an appropriate inhibitory control game into our greeting for groups visiting the Museum;
• Including such a game in take-home materials that compliment our programs; or
• Designing an exhibit component that encourages the use of children’s inhibitory control skills.

Further conversations with Jennifer also suggest that there’s good reason to think that the inhibitory control/pretend play connection works both ways – that good pretend play has a hand in the development of strong inhibitory control skills.  And, like anything else, many children need practice at pretend play to become “good” at it.

Visitors to the Museum have lots of opportunities to engage in and practice pretend play.  All of our exhibits have components specifically designed to foster such play – for example, the bridge and crane in Iway, the underground kitchen in Underland and, perhaps less obviously, the casts in Bone Zone or blocks in Shape Space.  Museum Play Guides are trained to spark, seed and join children’s play – to help create richer, deeper play.  From the Museum’s perspective, an interesting future research study might investigate whether such play experience do indeed contribute to building a child’s inhibitory control skills.

Talking Back: Outdoor Play

Recently, on the Talk Back board in Play Power, we asked visitors how they like to play outdoors.  Here's what some of them – kids and grown-ups – had to say:

How do you and your family like to play outdoors?

Joyful Learning

This article by Director of Education Cathy Saunders was also posted on Kidoinfo.

Now that kids are back in school, I’ve been contemplating the challenge of keeping learning a joyful experience rather than a task that must be endured.  At the Children’s Museum, we know that the best kind of learning happens when the learner wants to acquire new knowledge or skills, and when the experience is joyful and satisfying.  Yet the truth of the matter is that many of us (children and adults) have had un-joyful, un-playful and un-satisfying learning experiences in our lives.

Even though I was kid who thrived in a school setting, like most people I have frustrations associated with school.  I remember the uncertain feeling I had when I was segregated as a slow reader in 2^nd grade and the terror I had of presenting in front of the classroom in 3^rd grade.  And I have some negative associations with learning outside of the classroom, too.  After a trip to the Museum of Science, there was always a dreaded moment in the car ride home when my dad would ask, “What did you learn?”  A great cloud would suddenly descend upon my afternoon of watching chicks hatch in the giant incubator because I wasn’t able to articulate my new understanding of how hard a baby bird had to work to get out of its shell.

When we watch our young ones go off to school it can be hard not to project some of our negative associations, and we can get tangled up in our children’s academic pressures.  The result is that we can lose sight of what a fun endeavor learning is, and that can be contagious to our kids.  Children look to us to model behaviors about everything, including attitudes about learning.  They need us be their advocates and cheerleaders as life-long learners.  It’s understandable that they get frustrated; we need to listen to their fears and be patient.  We need to show them that we believe in them and their abilities as creative thinkers and problem solvers.

Children need to see us as excited learners, too.  Quick, grab a pen and make a list of 10 things you’ve learned recently.  My list includes learning the basic rules of a football game (my nephew plays Division III football), that hydrangeas change color based on the soil type, three new yoga poses, and how to create a personalized map on Google.  What does your list include?  Go ahead and share your curiosity and celebrate your new skills and growing knowledge with pride.  It’s great for children to see that we learn, and that we enjoy it.

We want children to know that learning is about being fully engaged and curious about something.  It’s about mastering something new.  It can happen slowly or quickly.  It can happen in groups or alone.  It can be joyful and self directed.  It is a skill in and of itself that, once developed, can make school a lot more fun and interesting.

An Interview with Bonnie Schultz Platzer

Meet Bonnie Schultz Platzer, a former Museum AmeriCorps member who curated the selection of handmade toys now on display from ChildFund International's exhibit "The Power to Play: From Trash to Treasure."

What’s your background? 
I served with the Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa from 1969 to 1971, after graduating from college, then again in Morocco from 2006 to 2008.  Before Morocco, I had been working with seniors, doing activities in nursing homes and assisted living.  In the Peace Corps, I was working more with mothers and young children and I thought it would be interesting to see if I could do something more with children. When I came back, I wanted to continue working for a non-profit organization and Providence Children’s Museum intrigued and impressed me.

Describe your year of AmeriCorps service.
I was on the team that created activities for preschool children at Head Start centers, led them on field trips to the Museum, and organized family nights to encourage parents to bring children back to the Museum throughout the year.  Everything in the classroom was wonderful: having children looking at you with excitement and concentration as you lead an activity and tell a story; their attention to and delight in everything we brought to them.  On field trips, they were so excited to be at the Museum, they could hardly contain themselves.

It was satisfying to see children who were given a chance to enjoy a school setting in preparation for kindergarten, interesting to see the situation teachers face in preparing them for school, and wonderful to meet the parents who were giving their children opportunities for the future.

Talk about your weaving that hangs in Discovery Studio.
In West Africa, I was fascinated by the beauty of textiles and started taking classes in spinning and weaving.  I studied Gobelin tapestry weaving techniques that enabled me to produce woven portraits, including so many images that had affected me during my travels that I wanted to convey.

When I returned to Rhode Island, I wove portraits including a little girl at the Hope Street farmer’s market, which took about a year. Children have always caught my eye, and I was struck by the diversity of the people who came to the farmer’s market.  This weaving brings together my interests in children and Rhode Island-grown food.

The Museum is a place of discovery, and I love having it hang here and having people respond to the image.  I love the connection to something that women have done from the beginning of time; it makes me proud to continue that tradition.

What inspired you to bring The Power to Play exhibit to the Museum?
When I saw the Museum’s ramp boxes, I thought about a toy exhibit my late brother initiated when he worked for ChildFund International.  My brother and I lived in Kenya for a few years and, on a later trip, a child gave him a boat made from a flip-flop.  He was struck that, in the midst of a traumatic situation, this child still had the need to play.  [ChildFund] put out a request for toys made by children around the globe and they started pouring in.

Bonnie's brother, John Schultz, with children and their toys in Sri Lanka, 2005.

I was struck by how similar the goals of ChildFund’s exhibit were to the Museum’s: helping children thrive, meeting the needs of children in the community, giving kids a safe environment to play and learn.  And for all children to feel welcome in that environment.

How did the project progress?
We weren’t able to see the toys first, so we selected 20 that would fit in the cases and also represented diversity of cultures and of purpose – plus some larger toys to display in the lobby.  Then we thought about how to show them off using materials that are either recycled – since all of the toys are made from bits and pieces kids found around them – or that kids might find in their countries, like raffia, jute or bamboo.

RISD intern Jessica Kleinman worked with Bonnie to make bases for some of the toys from recycled materials.

I’m very pleased that the Museum was open to the idea and that ChildFund International was excited to have the exhibit here.  I hope the international community in Providence will come to see it and feel this is a place for them.

The Universal Power of Play

Boy with car, credit: ChildFund International

A tin can truck, a jump rope braided from colorful plastic bags, and a well-worn shoe turned into a car – Providence Children’s Museum has welcomed a wonderful collection of child-created toys to the display cases in our atrium walkway and lobby. The charming playthings poignantly illustrate children’s creativity and inventiveness and the universal importance of play in children’s development.

The toys are a selection from The Power to Play: From Trash to Treasure, a traveling exhibition of more than 350 pieces collected by ChildFund International, a global child development and protection agency. The collection has been featured in National Geographic magazine and displayed at National Geographic’s Explorers Hall in Washington D.C. Former AmeriCorps Museum Educator Bonnie Schultz Platzer curated the display at the Museum.

The toys were crafted in countries including India, Brazil, Ethiopia and the United States and range from dolls, games and musical instruments to a variety of things that float, roll and fly. They were constructed from materials and objects found around children’s homes and villages – bottle caps, twigs, discarded containers and cardboard, old flip-flops, fabric scraps and bits of wood, wire and string – and demonstrate that simple everyday materials make wonderful playthings.

Each toy has a story. Some are unique to their place of origin, some reflect the challenging social, economic and political conditions faced in children’s countries, and others are universal, like balls and kites made in different places using exactly the same techniques. None were made for sale; each came about because a child had the inspiration, the materials and the need to play. Together, the toys demonstrate children’s creativity, resiliency and enduring spirit and evoke powerful personal reflections and vivid memories of play.

Providence Children’s Museum actively advocates for and celebrates the power of children’s play; this display provides a compelling way to share that message. “Some of the toys are so intricate and detailed, you can see the children as engineers, figuring out how an axle works so their truck can really move,” said Museum Exhibits Director Robin Meisner. “To show children’s work that represents cultures from all over the world – and work that is incredibly well designed and functional – demonstrates kids’ creativity and ingenuity.”

Visitors of all ages delight in the details of the designs and the creative use of materials. They’re also invited to join a materials hunt and share how they make their own toys, encouraging reflection on and conversation about the common bond children share in their need for play and the ability to create their own playthings.

The toys will be on view through February 26, 2012; click here to learn more about the exhibit from ChildFund International.