A New Year of AmeriCorps Service

In September, the Museum welcomed its 21st AmeriCorps team – 12 enthusiastic members committed to a year of transformative service to kids and families from under-resourced communities. Collectively, the team will reach 1,000 Head Start preschoolers and hundreds of elementary school-age kids with playful interactive lessons during and after school, extend a warm welcome to children’s caregivers and siblings during free Museum family nights, and engage with thousands of other families both within and beyond the Museum’s walls.

The members hail from across the country and bring a wealth of different experiences. Three have previously served with other AmeriCorps programs. Others have studied and traveled around the United States, and the world. They share an eagerness to serve and learn this year.
 

Front row: Olivia, Ashley, Hannah, Lilia, Trinere, Casey  /  Back row: Jordan, Alexis, Anna, Amelia, Tristan, James

Meet our 2016-17 AmeriCorps team:

Alexis is from Riverside, CA and studied Earth Systems-Oceans at Stanford University. She drove 3,650 miles through 16 states and Canada by herself to arrive for AmeriCorps. She is excited to help kids discover how fun it is to be a nerd – and to experience winter!

Amelia is from Reading, MA and studied Early Childhood Development at North Shore Community College. She is a certified preschool teacher in Massachusetts. She looks forward to working with young children again after working with middle schoolers while she served with City Year last year.

Anna is from Hogansburg, NY and studied American Studies at Middlebury College. She grew up on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation in northern NY and is a member of that tribe. She is excited to be working with a team to make learning and play more accessible to the surrounding community.

Ashley is from Hummelstown, PA and studied Anthropology & History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. She is most excited to facilitate learning and encourage creativity through play during her year of service.

Casey is from Concord, MA and studied History at Mount Holyoke College. She is excited to bring fun, enriching Museum experiences to the kids of Providence and to develop her skills in museum education.

Hannah is from Cambridge, MA and studied Studio Art and Politics at University of Virginia. She is most excited about finding creative ways to integrate art projects into the Museum’s STEM programming. 

James is from Gary, IN and studied Biology at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis. He is most excited to educate children about the world around them.

Jordan is from Great Barrington, MA and studied Community Arts Education and Theater at Lesley University and Cultural Studies and Arts Education at Bard College. She looks forward to charting her course to becoming a culturally responsive educator.


Lilia is from North Kingstown, RI and studied Biology at Wheaton College. She recently spent 16 days living in the rainforest tracking monkey trips in Belize. She is excited to take time to serve her community.

Olivia is from Stillwater, OK but has been in the Providence area for the last several years studying Visual Art and Modern Culture at Brown University. She is excited to develop creative approaches to education and learning and to build relationships in the Providence community.

Trinere is from Worcester, MA and studied Architectural Design at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She is most excited about working with a new age group and growing her skills in youth development.

Tristan is from Baltimore, MD and studied English at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He looks forward to getting to know Providence as deeply as possible.

To learn more about the Museum’s AmeriCorps program, please click here.

The Museum’s AmeriCorps program is made possible by the Corporation for National and Community Service and Serve Rhode Island, with support from additional sponsors for the Head Start and Learning Club programs.

Celebrating a Year of Service

The Museum reached a major milestone as its 20th AmeriCorps team completed a year of committed service in mid-August.  The 2015-16 AmeriCorps members served 19,000 hours as they:

• Facilitated engaging problem-solving activities for 1,100 Head Start preschoolers
• Engaged 200 elementary school-aged children with inspiring play-based math and science activities during after-school “Learning Clubs”
• Welcomed 1,400 low-income children and family members to free Museum family nights
• Engaged thousands Museum visitors in hands-on exhibits and developed interactive public programs
• And much more! 

Tremendous thanks to our graduating AmeriCorps members for their year of dedicated service to children and families in need.

To learn more about the Museum’s AmeriCorps program, please click here.

The Museum’s AmeriCorps program is made possible by a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service and Serve Rhode Island, with support from additional sponsors for the Head Start and Learning Club programs.

Mythical Creatures

Peek into the atrium walkway window boxes to discover imaginative scenes showcasing the whimsical world of mythical creatures – artfully felted dragons, fairies, gnomes, mermaids and more, created by AmeriCorps members Filipa Estrela and Rachel Storey.

Filipa and Rachel gave a glimpse of how the delightful display came to be:

Rachel: “We wanted the boxes to be fun and imaginative. To do this, we combined my love of making tiny household objects with Filipa's fascination with mythology. Our inspiration was our mutual love of all things tiny and adorable. We wanted to create a theme that would engage all children and inspire play, and we decided that fairy tales were the best way.”

Filipa: “My fascination for mythical things is really more of a childhood obsession. I grew up reading folklore from various cultures.”

Rachel: “Filipa was in charge of the creatures and I made most of the scenery. Filipa used wool roving, polyester filling and pipe cleaners to create the creatures. The scenery pieces were made from a variety of materials – there was a lot of felt and fabric, papier mache (with paper towels), household odds and ends, tape and plastic drinking straws. One of the most interesting materials used for our design was the bamboo. I made them by placing strips of masking tape on a drinking straw and then covering them with green paint.”

Filipa: “My top five boxes are maybe the swamp, the gnome house, the desert, the bamboo forest, and the rainforest... and the castle. Wait that's six...”

Rachel: “I am especially proud of the Viking ship, canyon and tundra boxes. They are all so colorful and all of these boxes involved several hours of carving with an Exacto knife."

Take a look and discover which is your favorite!

Puppets at Play!

Mischievous marionettes from the Museum’s historic Betty Huestis collection emerge from the pages of a storybook to frolic, play games and have other after-hours adventures at the library in a spirited scene recently created by AmeriCorps members Leigh Holmes and Hayley Munn.

Hayley shared some details about their inspiration and process:

“The idea for the new marionettes case display came from the Inkheart Trilogy, where characters can be read out of the story into real life. Leigh and I liked the idea of a library scene with mischievous animals escaping from a book. We choose the puppets based on their appearance and how they might engage in playful, unlibrary-like behavior. The monkey was a given, the camel worked well with the open desert scene, the spotted pony added fun color and pattern, and so on and so forth.

As for the bookshelf background, Leigh wanted to do a painting and we thought it would be fun to integrate real books. She also added in a sleeping kitty because she loves cats. The additional toys strewn about the books help set up the scene where the animals climb up the shelves, play Chinese Checkers and just make a mess.

The process of hanging the marionettes was very intricate and time-consuming. The puppets have very long strings that get easily tangled and must be handled carefully with gloves. It took a good deal of communication between who was hanging the string and who was holding the puppet in place to make the necessary adjustments.” 

Take a peek at these playful puppets on your next stroll through Strings Attached!

Scenes of Spring

Following our recent robot invasion, two other new displays have sprouted up this spring!

Take a peek at playful puppets stomping in puddles, romping in the rain, and carrying colorful umbrellas in a display featuring the Museum’s collection of historic Betty Huestis marionettes.  AmeriCorps members Filipa Estrela and Rachel Storey started with a variety of different concepts, and a goal to find a theme that could incorporate some of the puppets that haven’t been used as often – especially their favorite, Little Red Riding Hood.  They decided upon a rainy day and went to work creating a vibrant vignette that included handcrafting beaded rain and clever umbrellas from wire wrapped with bright yarns.  Figuring out how to pose the puppets was particularly challenging, but important to their story – so Rachel modeled different poses to help them decide how to move the limbs in just the right ways!

“We wanted to inspire people to play in the rain,” said Filipa – and their engaging display does just that.


Also peer into the atrium walkway window boxes to discover sweet scenes of plants budding and animals reawakening as spring and its sunshine arrives.  Created by AmeriCorps members Leigh Holmes and Anna Strecker, each of the 17 boxes contains hand-sewn felt critters, beautiful painted backdrops, and a mix of other imaginative props.  The inspiration came from a book Leigh loved growing up, “The Story of the Root Children.”  “I remembered a part where they were painting the bugs, getting them ready for spring,” said Leigh.  “It was like the world waking up again.”

To determine the concept for each of the boxes, they had a brainstorming session about ideas related to spring, and that kids would like.  After they had an initial list of ideas, they eliminated some and refined others to make them more interactive.  Next, they made sketches to scale to help think about what components were needed, what the background should be, and how best to fill the space in each box.

The result is an utterly charming series that is a thoughtful tribute to the storybook that inspired it.  Get a glimpse and savor the season on your next visit!

Dinosaurs vs. Robots!

“The Cretaceous Period has come and gone. Millions of years later, dinosaurs return to Earth looking forward to some R&R after traveling across the vast unexplored regions of outer space.  Little do they know, their rocket ships are about to be greeted by the new inhabitants of Earth – robots!”

---

Recently installed in the lobby display case, get a glimpse of these daring dinos returning from their interplanetary adventures for a rendezvous with Earth’s new robot residents.  Created by AmeriCorps members Cara Adams and Meg Wilson, the idea for the theme emerged when they realized they both like space and dinosaurs.  After envisioning elements of each half of the scene, the pair divided up the work of constructing rocket ships and robots, and made choices about which components should be incorporated in 2-D and 3-D.

This comment from a young visitor says it all: “Dinosaurs and robots – can this place get any more awesome?!?”

AmeriCorps Alums on Staff

In addition to having a very well-established AmeriCorps program – which just welcomed its 20th team this fall! – Providence Children’s Museum also has an impressive number of AmeriCorps alums on its staff, who shared these stories of their service:

Turenne Bedell, Volunteer & AmeriCorps Coordinator
AmeriCorps Service: 2005-06 Jumpstart; 2009-10 MuseumCorps
 “After a successful term of service with Jumpstart while attending the University of Rhode Island, I looked into joining the PeaceCorps.  Then I realized that there was a great need for service right here and so sought out a second AmeriCorps term in Rhode Island, where I've lived my whole life.  When I was accepted to the Museum’s program, I knew I had an opportunity to dig deeper into service and so served my term as the Volunteer Assistant.  Now, five years later, I'm back home at the Museum, as the Volunteer & AmeriCorps Coordinator – mentoring and supporting the AmeriCorps members whose seats I sat in just years prior!”

Megan Beauregard, Experience Coordinator
AmeriCorps Service: 2011-12 and 2012-13 MuseumCorps
“I started my work at the Museum as a Johnson & Wales work-study student.  After nine months of playing in the Museum's exhibits, I was approached about joining the part-time AmeriCorps team and working with the full-time members at learning centers throughout Providence.  As the summer progressed, I learned how much I loved providing a much-needed service to children and families in need, and my love for the Museum only grew.  That's what inspired me to apply for the full-time team for 2012-13.  As that year was coming to a close, a position for an Experience Coordinator opened up.  I saw this as a sign that my time at the Museum wasn't finished yet, and two years later, I'm still here.”

Megan Fischer, Interim Executive Director/Director of Communications
AmeriCorps Service: 2002-03 City Year
“I moved to Rhode Island from Georgia after college to complete a year of AmeriCorps service.  I ran an after-school program for grades 3 to 5 in Woonsocket, RI, discovered a passion for working with and mentoring kids in need, and was fortunate to have many opportunities to step into a leadership role.  I also discovered the Children's Museum when I organized a special end-of-year field trip and saw how transformative it was for our students – who had many challenges in their lives – to have a chance to play freely and just be kids.  I had an epiphany: I loved museums AND working with children, so why not work at a children's museum?  After finishing AmeriCorps, I got an MA in Museum Studies at Brown University and came to the Children's Museum as an education intern with an interest in museum leadership.  I'm still here nearly 12 years later, have held several different positions in that time, and often reflect on the foundation my AmeriCorps service gave me.”

Front – Mandy Roach, Amanda Howard, Megan Beauregard
Back – Megan Fischer, Turenne Bedell, Robin Meisner

Amanda Howard, Experience Coordinator
AmeriCorps Service: 2009-10 Scholarships for Service; 2013-14 MuseumCorps
“Service has always been a major part of my life.  In college, I had the opportunity to do a part-time year of service with different organizations in and around Providence.  When I was finishing graduate school, I was looking for a job and I saw the posting for Providence Children Museum’s MuseumCorps program.  I really wanted to come back to Providence and I thought that this would be a great opportunity.  For my year of service at the Museum, I got to work with the Head Start centers in Providence, Central Falls, and Pawtucket.  After my year of service ended, I knew that I wanted to stay at the Museum and took a position as an Experience Coordinator.  In my current role, I get to work closely with our AmeriCorps team and mentor them in our exhibits.”

Mandy Roach, Experience Coordinator
AmeriCorps Service: 2012-13 MuseumCorps, 2013-14 OSEEC
 “Throughout grade school, nines times out of ten, the teacher standing in front of the classroom determined not only how well I would perform in that class but if I would enjoy the subject at all.  Those teachers who listened, cared and seamlessly found a way to keep things interesting are the reason I decided to become an educator myself.  Besides a life-long love for doodling, I received my degree in Art Education to pursue the idea of incorporating the creative arts into all fields and allowing students to become interactively engaged.  That's when I discovered Providence Children's Museum’s AmeriCorps program and, after two years of service, my suspicions were confirmed: the traditional classroom was never the place for me!”

Robin Meisner, Director of Exhibits
AmeriCorps Service: 1998-99 MuseumCorps
“I joined the Museum’s AmeriCorps program after graduating from Brown University with a degree in chemistry and a love of working with young children... and what I thought was going to be a singular year of service turned into a career in museum education.  Following my experience on the Museum’s Head Start team, I joined the staff for four years as the Museum’s science educator and developed exhibits and programs and led one of our AmeriCorps teams.  After attending graduate school in London to focus on informal science education, I returned to the museum world and eventually made my way back to Providence.  Having served on the Museum’s second AmeriCorps team and now seeing the 20th, I am truly impressed by how the program has both shaped our community and the Museum itself.”

Serving Up a New AmeriCorps Team

The Museum was excited to welcome a new AmeriCorps team – our 20th! – in September to begin a year of playful, powerful service.  The team extends the Museum's reach by inspiring inner-city children with after-school math and science programs at the Boys & Girls Club and Highlander Charter School, facilitating play-based problem-solving activities for Children’s Friend Head Start preschoolers, engaging Museum visitors in play and exploration, and recruiting and supporting Museum volunteers.

The 11 MuseumCorps members bring with them a wide range of skills and experience.  Cara was a mentor at New Urban Arts in Providence, and Elizabeth interned as an aquarist at Save the Bay.  Jillian has been at the Museum for year already as a work-study student.  Leigh was captain of her swim team at Brown University, and Meg has a degree in Geology.  Taylor is experienced in the Japanese practice of gyotaku, or fish printing, and Filipa is an aspiring cartoonist/animator.  Hayley taught English to children in France, and Monica is majoring in Spanish.  Rachel was an AmeriCorps member with City Year Boston, and Anna spent a year of service at a homeless shelter in New Jersey. 

Each team member is passionate about inspiring children’s lifetime love of learning.  “More than anything,” says Rachel, “I'm excited to be in a program that encourages kids to find the fun in learning!”  The team is also focused on giving back to the community through national service.  Leigh has heard many stories about the positive impact AmeriCorps has had on communities and she says, “I am excited that I now get to be a part of it through Providence Children's Museum!”

The new AmeriCorps team planned a frightfully fun Boo Bash celebration.

Welcome, team!

The Museum’s AmeriCorps program is made possible by a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service and Serve Rhode Island, with support from additional sponsors for the Head Start and Learning Club programs.

Little Rhody

New at the Museum: peek into the atrium walkway window boxes to take a tiny tour of Little Rhody.   Follow a quahog on a playful journey to some of the greatest hits and highlights of the Ocean State – sampling frozen lemonade, strolling through WaterFire, taking a spin on a Looff Carousel, and more!

The imaginative excursion was created by AmeriCorps members Mary Burke and Ali Sandler with support from other members of the their team and exhibits department staff Robin Meisner and Jessica Neuwirth.

Mary spoke about the concept and process:

“We wanted to do something that would appeal to visitors and be fun for both kids and grown-ups and the idea of Rhode Island emerged.

The hardest part was figuring out what scenes they would be. We generated a list of ideas, then divided them up, drew sketches and gathered materials that would make good miniatures – though we didn’t always know what they were looking for!

Once we began assembling the scenes, it became clear what was needed and how to use materials – the process prompted me to look at materials in new ways and wonder, what could it be?

I’m curious to know which boxes will be visitor favorites. I hope they say, “Remember when we went there?” or “We should go there!” – that the boxes are a real conversation starter.”

Little Rhody will be on view through the fall so make a point to do some sightseeing on your next visit!

Mary's favorite scenes include the Rustic Drive-In, Del's Lemonade truck and Point Judith Lighthouse.

All Aboard the Fantasy Flyer!

Climb aboard this train traveling adventure through a new fantasy land located in our lobby display case.  Created by AmeriCorps members Elizabeth Boyer and Mary Rocha, the scenes incorporate a mixture of natural materials, handcrafted items and objects from the Museum's collections, in addition to a train kindly donated by Norman Meisner, father of Exhibits Director Robin Meisner.

“We put so much of ourselves into this piece, said Elizabeth. “It is the perfect mixture of our personalities and love of playfulness.  The world is such a marvelous place through the eyes of a child and we wanted to incorporate a hint of magic and fantasy in a seemingly realistic setting.”

The display features two wildly whimsical scenes, connected by a superhero-led train ride.  Trek through a feline-filled desert or visit the very friendly Yeti and his happy penguin friends.

“We wanted our display to instantly spark the imagination while inviting visitors to tell their own story based on what they see,” said Mary.  “Our goal was to not only get them to take a moment and look, but to feel inspired and creative.”

Make sure to check out this delightful display on your next visit to the Museum!

Game On!

This spring and summer, Museum visitors have taken a peek at Playful Pastimes in the atrium walkway window boxes – an assortment of silly scenes inspired by familiar games, from Go Fish to Twister, that invite visitors to think about their favorite ways to play. Created by AmeriCorps members Lucia Carroll and Savannah McMullen with guidance from Exhibits Director Robin Meisner and Exhibits Developer Jessica Neuwirth, the boxes are a mix of clever plays on names and visually appealing interpretations of popular games.

Savannah and Lucia's work in progress

On their process… 

Savannah: "Coming up with the games themselves wasn’t hard, it was more about what we could do with each game. We had a couple of misses where we ran into problems – we were planning on doing Candyland for a long time but we couldn’t get the textures right to make it look like candy."

Lucia: "Or even not just being able to think of an idea we felt was as successful or did the other boxes justice. We tried to be strategic about the games that we picked."

Savannah: "It took a lot of sketches to plan out the tiny space. We had to think spatially – how the whole box could be filled, front to back and top to bottom, without being too crowded. We did brainstorms on games and then sketches, and then different sketches and more brainstorms!"

Lucia: "For me, they were consistently in process, always being edited, until the due date. There’s always something more you can add to them, but I had to figure out what was feasible and go from there."

On materials…

Savannah: "It was mostly about what would work to make the game miniature – using astroturf for grass, wine toppers for tiny chairs, benches and thrones made out of popsicle sticks… We were really open to everything and the potential of materials."

Lucia: "I feel pretty proud that we made most of the stuff in the boxes – we made a concerted effort to make our miniatures and use found items."

“It’s fun to see parents and kids looking at them together,” Savannah concluded. “We wanted to make them straightforward enough to figure out but also enjoyable for everyone – something for the kids to look at that also amuse the parents as much as possible.”

They most certainly are – play along over the next few weeks and see many games you can figure out!

Persistence: A Head Start Story

We’re reflecting on the incredible contributions of our AmeriCorps Museum Educators over the 2013-2014 service year. This story was shared by Amanda Howard, a member of the team that served 1,000 Head Start preschoolers in 58 classrooms in greater Providence with fun-filled Museum explorations and a year-long series of imaginative activities to help them understand and value diversity. 

We bring each of our Head Start groups on Museum field trips. During one field trip, I was able to work with and observe a 3-year-old boy playing with the ramps and balls in Play Power. The boy dropped a ball into a magnet ramp that was already set up and watched it glide down until it fell through a space in one of the pieces. The boy was disappointed that his ball did not complete the entire ramp and proceeded to move the pieces around and pick new ones until it worked. On a few different tries I asked him questions like, “Why do you think the ball didn’t complete your ramp?” and “How can change the ramp to make sure the ball doesn’t fall off?” When he was finally able to get the ball to go all the way down, he was so proud of himself. He showed everyone how great his ramp was and everyone thought it was very cool.

Later, his teacher told me that he had never spent so long working on something and usually gives up very easily when things do not work out for him. I’m glad that I was able to help him stay focused and not give up on his task even though it took him a while to work it out.

Redirection: Boys & Girls Club Stories

We’re reflecting on the incredible contributions of our AmeriCorps Museum Educators over the 2013-2014 service year. These stories were shared by members 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 190 2nd to 4th graders. 

One of our 2nd graders has trouble acclimating to lessons and is often reprimanded and scolded throughout the school day because of such issues. This day, he was acting out by knocking down the cup towers other children had made. I told him that I know how much fun it is to knock things down and we could do so together if he built his own tower first. When he responded that he didn't know how, I realized what the problem was and jumped on the learning opportunity. I tried several different methods until he finally grasped the concept of building cup towers, smiled and became completely engaged in the activity. A couple minutes in, one of his so-called rivals came over and he started to shoo him away. I suggested we could all build together and my heart melted as he handed his maybe-no-longer nemesis a cup and began teaching him how to build a tower the same way I taught him.

– Meg Conery

We were facilitating Imagination Playground and our kids were a little restless. There was a lot of pretend play happening, some of it becoming chaotic and all of it becoming loud. Right as the activity was reaching the point where we were going to have to reel everybody back in, I heard a shout. "THE QUEEN IS HERE! ATTENTION! EVERYONE LOOK UP!"

It was like magic. I had tried to get everyone's attention to lower the volume or remind them to be safe without success, but a small girl with a big voice froze the room in an instant. She announced the queen's arrival and made all of the subjects sit on the floor. She hired the other kids one at a time to work on constructing the castle, channeling what was loud, undirected play into thoughtful, purposeful pretend play. Every time the castle subjects were off task, the girl would redirect her peers. It was incredible to watch their ability to self-regulate and establish peace in their blue foam kingdom.

 – Sarah Schnurr

Engagement: A Learning Club Story

We’re reflecting on the incredible contributions of our AmeriCorps Museum Educators over the 2013-2014 service year. This story was shared by Alison Rutsch, a member of the team that conducted after-school Learning Clubs exploring fun hands-on STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) activities for low-income elementary school-age kids in Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls. 

Throughout our spring Learning Clubs we ran a lesson called “Meet a Worm,” in which kids learn all about worms and then observe real live night crawlers. “Meet a Worm” is the lesson I’m most proud of creating. It included time for in-depth exploration using drawing as an observation tool, a dialogue with students about worms, and a crazy worm race on the carpet. We also created a worm true or false game and had a great time making up untruths about worms. I think the beauty of lesson is that it shines a new light on something that is part of our everyday environment, showing that the world is a really exciting place if you're just willing to look closely. A testament to this fact: one of our Learning Club kids went home and collected his own pet worms!

Saluting a Year of Service to Kids in Need

The Museum has been an AmeriCorps site since 1997 and has hired and trained AmeriCorps members to bring play-based literacy, science and math activities to more than 20,000 children in under-resourced neighborhoods. 

This week, we’re celebrating the graduation of the Museum’s 18th remarkable AmeriCorps team and their 22,000 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 in Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls and had a tremendous impact. There’s so much the Museum simply could not do without the dedication and passion of these committed and talented individuals.

The Museum’s 2012-13 AmeriCorps team:

• Facilitated imaginative activities that celebrate diversity to help improve school readiness for 1,000 Head Start preschoolers in 58 classrooms
• Engaged over 500 elementary school-aged children with inspiring play-based math and science activities during after-school and summer Learning Clubs at Boys & Girls Club of Providence, Highlander Charter School and other community-based programs
• Welcomed 1,600 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 of the tributes shared during their graduation ceremony:

“One-thousand Head Start children experienced your creativity, your passion and your enthusiasm – please know you have made a difference in the life of a child.”

– Ellen Morey, Children’s Friend

“Thank you to this wonderful group of talented individuals. You each brought your passions, talents and skills to this incredible institution.”

– Marisa Petreccia, Serve RI

“When the Museum first moved from Pawtucket to Providence, my dream was that our audience would be as diverse and varied as our community. You are the hands and voices and hearts and minds that bring our message to the community, and we do attract a richly diverse audience because of you. I’m very grateful for that.”

– Janice O’Donnell, Museum director

“Thank you for keeping the Museum’s mission at heart all the time and for putting children first.”

– Olga Lerner, Museum Early Childhood Learning Programs Developer

Our heartfelt thanks and congratulations to Ali, Alison, Amanda, Ashley, David, Faina, Hannah, Jack, Joey, Meg, Samantha, Sarah L., Sarah S., Tracey, Vanessa and Zoe!

The Museum’s AmeriCorps program is made possible by a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service and Serve Rhode Island, with support from additional sponsors for the Head Start and Learning Club programs.

At the Circus

There’s a whole lot of clowning around in a charming new display created by AmeriCorps Museum Educators Amanda Howard and Jack Read.  See clowns juggling, balancing and swinging in a silly circus scene showcasing the Museum’s collection of historic Betty Huestis marionettes.

Amanda and Jack shared some thoughts about their inspiration and process:

Amanda: We saw that there was an abundance of clowns and that no one had used them in a while.  So we thought, what about a circus?

Jack: I have some background in stage clowning, so I thought it was such a neat theme. 

Amanda: We wanted it to be more about the marionettes than our own designs.  Once we chose the clowns we were going to use, we came up with ideas of what they could be doing.  We wanted someone getting a pie in the face and thought that having the clown on skates juggling would be funny.  And Uncle Sam is the ringmaster.

Jack: As first, we were going to have so much stuff – we thought we should spend more time in ThinkSpace to develop our spatial thinking muscles!  We learned to scale it back and be okay with simplicity.

Amanda: I really think the case captures both of our personalities.

This circus is in town through the end of the year, so be sure to check out the clowns’ playful antics!

Monsters in Space

New in the lobby display case, a child’s imagination comes to life with make-believe monsters on an outer space adventure! Created by AmeriCorps members Faina Kostyukovsky and David Liu, the scenes incorporate a mixture of handcrafted items and objects from the Museum’s collections, including wooden dollhouse furniture.

Describing her inspiration, Faina explained, “I really liked the idea of mixing monsters, Where the Wild Things Are, a kid dreaming… I wanted to bring to life a kid’s dreams and inspiration and show important a child’s imagination is.”

About the left portion of the case, she added, “I wanted a stuffy, tacky Victorian room with a lot of patterns.”

David was the primary fabricator of the non-collections props, including monsters and musical instruments made from recycled materials. “Kids are getting excited, making up stories about what the monsters are doing,” he said. “It invites visitors to the Museum in a playful way."

Take a peek and discover all of the charming details on your next visit!

Floating Fantasies

Discover Floating Fantasies, the newest display featuring the Museum’s collection of historic Betty Huestis marionettes.  Creator Ashley Moore, an AmeriCorps Museum Educator, described her scene as “a lilypad wonderland… fun, fanciful and kind of dreamlike.”

“When I was a kid, I really liked fairy tales and anything fanciful, so I wanted to bring that to life,” said Ashley.  See a ballerina dance for an audience of bullfrogs, a leprechaun with a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, a father and daughter fishing from a raft and more, plus scan the pond for long lost treasures.

 Floating Fantasies is on view until August – take a peek on your next visit!

Great News! Museum Receives AmeriCorps Funding

On Wednesday, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) announced $205 million in grants to fund 288 AmeriCorps programs and the service of 43,000 AmeriCorps members nationally. Providence Children’s Museum is one of only two organizations in Rhode Island to receive full federal funding in the highly competitive 2014 grant cycle.

The Museum’s program was awarded a 3-year grant and will receive $159,600 annually from the CNCS for 12 full-time AmeriCorps members.  The Museum has been an AmeriCorps site since 1997 and has served over 20,000 children through innovative outreach to inner-city schools, community centers and Head Start programs.  With this funding, the Museum will welcome its 19th AmeriCorps team in the fall.

Designed to help close the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children, the Museum’s AmeriCorps program provides stimulating interactive learning experiences not available to most low-income children.  Under the guidance of Museum education staff, AmeriCorps members work to inspire a lifetime love of learning, providing enriched learning experiences for all greater Providence Head Start preschoolers and conducting Learning Clubs for inner-city school-age children.

The Museum’s 2014-15 AmeriCorps members will:

• Implement engaging play-based classroom activities that encourage problem solving in all 56 Children’s Friend Head Start classrooms, serving 1,000 3- to 5-year-olds and supporting Head Start’s goal of improving school readiness.

• Guide Head Start children on classroom field trips to the Museum for hands-on play and learning.

• Deliver Learning Clubs – hands-on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) enrichment activities with a focus on math – for 200 low-income 2nd-4th graders in after-school and summer programs at the Boys & Girls Club and Highlander Charter School in South Providence.

• Support recess by facilitating play-based activities at Highlander Charter School and Mary E. Fogarty Elementary School.

• Welcome all Head Start and Learning Club program participants and their families to Family Nights at the Children’s Museum, where they receive free year-long Museum passes.

“Bringing hands-on fun and learning to thousands of disadvantaged kids each year, AmeriCorps greatly increases the Museum’s capacity to serve families who need it most,” said Museum Executive Director Janice O’Donnell.

Click here for more information about the Museum’s AmeriCorps program. 

Federal funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service must be matched by private support.  The Museum’s AmeriCorps program is also supported by Serve Rhode Island and currently receives additional funding from Amgen Foundation; Bristol County Savings Charitable Foundation; The John Clarke Trust, Bank of America, N.A., Co-Trustee; Cox Charities of New England Fund; CVS Caremark Charity Classic; Frank B. Hazard General Charity Fund, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee; Sovereign Bank Foundation; Textron Charitable Trust; UnitedHealthcare of New England; and donors to the Museum's Annual Campaign.

Flora and Fauna

On view this spring in the atrium walkway window boxes, discover a lovely light-filled collection of cut paper flowers and charming critters handcrafted by AmeriCorps members Hannah Thompson and Sarah Schnurr.

After initial brainstorming sessions to focus their concept, the pair took on different roles in the process. Hannah cut and layered transparent colored velum to form the flowers, which Sarah noted have “almost a stained glass effect.” Sarah created bugs from beads, found materials and florist tape, adding to a display that Hannah described as “whimsical yet scientific.”

Throughout the process, “We offered each other advice and critical feedback,” said Hannah. Sarah added, “Seeing it finally come together was rewarding. It ended up working really well.”

 

Flora and Fauna will be on display into July, so take a look on your next visit!