Play at the Park!

For a fifth summer, the Children’s Museum is bringing playful hands-on activities to parks across Providence, building on our commitment to advocate for and raise awareness of the critical importance of children’s play, and our efforts to provide unstructured play opportunities throughout the community.

Join us to try a variety of playful open-ended activities – to build forts, blow bubbles, send rockets soaring, play parachute games, and more. Activities take place evenings in July and August from 5:00 - 8:00 PM during Celebrate Providence, the city’s Neighborhood Performing Arts Initiative performances, and are free to the public.

PLAY AT THE PARK 
with Providence Children's Museum!
All events from 5:00 - 8:00 PM

Thursday, July 7

Bucklin Park | Bucklin and Daboll Streets

Tuesday, July 12

Fargnoli Park | Smith and Jastram Streets

Wednesday, July 13

Harriet and Sayles Park | Harriet and Sayles Streets

Thursday, July 21

Dexter Training Grounds | Dexter and Parade Streets

Wednesday, July 27

Harriet and Sayles Park | Harriet and Sayles Streets

Thursday, August 4

Billy Taylor Park | Camp and Cypress Streets

Unstructured, child-directed play is vital for kids’ healthy growth and development, and the Museum is bringing play to public spaces to combat children’s growing play deficit and to make high-quality play experiences available to all kids and families. As a strong advocate for the critical importance of open-ended, child-directed play, we're excited to continue partnering with Providence parks to bring creative play opportunities to kids and families in communities throughout the city.

Children’s Museum activities at the parks are part of its participation in Playful Providence – a citywide celebration commemorating Providence’s fifth consecutive designation as a Playful City USA by KaBOOM!, which recognizes communities commended for prioritizing play. Events are supported in part by Hasbro Children's Fund.

A Summer of Play with Providence PlayCorps

Providence PlayCorps returns for a third summer of unstructured play at parks throughout the city!  We are proud to be part of this innovative collaboration between the Children’s Museum, the City of Providence’s Department of Parks + Recreation and Healthy Communities Office and the Partnership for Providence Parks to activate low-income neighborhood parks across Providence with free play, art and creative exploration in conjunction with the free federal summer meals program.

Teams of trained play facilitators are a consistent presence at community parks throughout Providence.  They provide activities and materials to engage neighborhood children in physically active play, improving the overall safety of the parks while encouraging more children to take advantage of free, nutritious summer meals.  By working in neighborhood parks, PlayCorps fills the gap when school is out to ensure that Providence youth are active, safe and healthy over the summer.

PlayCorps activities take place from July 5 to August 19, 2016 (Monday to Friday from 11 AM to 2 PM) in these parks:

• Cabral Park (Fox Point)
• Bucklin Park (West End)
• Father Lennon/Camden Street Park (Smith Hill)
• General Street Park (Wanskuck)
• Harriet & Sayles Park (South Side)
• Joslin Park (Olneyville)
• Wallace Street Park (Silver Lake)

Join PlayCorps members for an exciting summer of play.  Enjoy a free summer meal (age18 and under) and build forts, blow bubbles, make art, make music, explore nature, make friends and SO much more!

To learn more and for updates and activity announcements, visit www.PlayCorps.org and follow PlayCorps on Facebook.

Providence PlayCorps is a collaboration of the City of Providence’s Department of Parks + Recreation and Healthy Communities Office, the Partnership for Providence Parks and Providence Children's Museum.  PlayCorps 2016 is also supported by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, a Health Equity Zone grant through the Rhode Island Department of Health, PODS and the Rhode Island Foundation.
 

Museum Debuts Interactive Sound Sculpture

By Megan Fischer and Robin Meisner

Providence Children’s Museum has designed a vibrant, interactive sound sculpture for Harriet & Sayles Park in South Providence as part of PopUp Providence – an innovative urban place-making program funded by Providence’s Department of Planning + Development that supports temporary and inexpensive artistic and cultural interventions to enliven neighborhoods across the city.  Installed at the park now through August, the sculpture invites kids and adults to explore rhythm and make music on a variety of inventive percussion instruments.

Exhibit Designer Chris Sancomb observes the first kids to test the sculpture.

Children inherently respond to banging on drums and ringing bells – they love making and sharing music.  The Museum-created sound sculpture invites kids of all abilities to play with instruments in their own ways and to create meaningful interactions with music and with each other.  Making music together promotes confidence and social skills, as well as the development of language, mathematical and spatial thinking – and it's just good fun!  By incorporating a variety of intriguing reclaimed objects and new materials, the sculpture offers kids the opportunity to play both usual and unusual instruments.  We hope to inspire children and their caregivers to explore ways that everyday items can be repurposed into something playful, and to encourage kids to explore their interests and express themselves freely.

While some sculpture components were repurposed, others were laser cut or handmade from steel and welded together.

Many people don’t know that we make our own exhibits at Providence Children’s Museum.  One of the defining features of our environments is that they are original creations made by the Museum's professional staff along with additional educators, scholars and artists, which means that most of what you see at the Museum was developed, designed and fabricated in house.  We were excited to go beyond our walls to create the sound sculpture for Harriet & Sayles Park because we have a deep commitment to bringing high-quality play and learning experiences to low-income families across Providence – particularly to the South Providence neighborhood close to the Museum.  Most of our outreach takes the form of programs and activities, and the sound sculpture allows us to offer something new.

Stop by Harriet & Sayles to make some joyful noise this summer!  And if you arrive on a weekday from 11 AM - 2 PM, you’ll also see unstructured, creative play activities guided by Providence PlayCorps, in conjunction with the free federal summer meals program.

See more photos of the music sculpture installation on Facebook.

Play at the Park!

For a fourth summer, the Children’s Museum is bringing playful hands-on activities to neighborhood parks across Providence, building on our efforts to advocate for and raise awareness of the critical importance of children’s play, and our commitment to provide opportunities for unstructured, child-directed play throughout the community.

Join us to build forts, blow bubbles, and discover other open-ended fun with loose parts, in conjunction with the "Celebrate Providence!" Neighborhood Performing Arts Series evening concerts.

PLAY AT THE PARK 
with Providence Children's Museum!
All events from 5:00 - 8:00 PM

Tuesday, July 7

Fargnoli Park | Smith and Jastram Streets

Music by Sidy Maiga + band (West African drumming) from 6:00 - 8:00 PM

Wednesday, July 15

Brown Street Park | Brown and Creighton Streets

Music by Roz and the Rice Cakes from 5:30 - 7:00 PM

Thursday, July 23

Dexter Training Grounds | Dexter and Parade Streets

Music by Sally Rogers and the Last Time String Band from 5:30 - 7:00 PM

Thursday, August 6

Harriet and Sayles Park | Harriet and Sayles Streets

Neighborhood Block Party starting at 5:30 PM

Thursday, August 13

Harriet and Sayles Park | Harriet and Sayles Streets

Neighborhood Block Party starting at 5:30 PM

Tuesday, August 18

Roger Williams Park | Broad Street entrance

Performance by ECAS Theater (spoken word, theater and music) starting at 4:00 PM

RSVP on Facebook for event updates.

Children’s Museum activities at the parks are free and open to the public and are part of our participation in Playful Providence 2015 – a citywide celebration of play commemorating Providence’s fourth consecutive recognition by KaBOOM! as a Playful City USA, and presented in collaboration with the Partnership for Providence Parks and the city’s Departments of Parks + Recreation and Art, Culture + Tourism.

Providence PlayCorps Returns!

After a successful pilot in 2014, Providence PlayCorps expands this summer!  An innovative collaboration between Providence Children's Museum, the Partnership for Providence Parks and the City of Providence’s Healthy Communities Office and Department of Parks + Recreation, PlayCorps activates low-income neighborhood parks across the city with free play, art and creative exploration in conjunction with the free federal summer meals program.

Teams of trained play facilitators are a consistent presence at neighborhood parks throughout Providence.  They provide activities and materials to engage neighborhood children in physically active play, improving the overall safety of the parks while encouraging more children to take advantage of free, nutritious summer meals.  By working in neighborhood parks, PlayCorps fills the gap when school is out to ensure that Providence youth are active, safe and healthy over the summer.

From July 6 to August 21, weekdays from 11 AM to 2 PM, PlayCorps will coordinate play activities in these parks:

• Billy Taylor Park (Mt. Hope)
• Bucklin Park (West End)
• Father Lennon/Camden Street Park (Smith Hill)
• General Street Park (Wanskuck)
• Harriet & Sayles Park (South Side)
• Wallace Street Park (Silver Lake)
• Zuccolo/Pastore Park (Federal Hill)

In addition, play facilitators with the PlayCorps “Playmobile” – including several members of the Museum's AmeriCorps team! – will travel to other parks and events throughout the summer.

The PlayCorps team participated in a very successful Pop-Up Play Day at Roger Williams Park on June 20, and on Monday they’ll be dispatched to their parks to begin to connect with the community and kick off an exciting summer of play – building forts, blowing bubbles, making art, making music, exploring nature, making friends and SO much more!  We’re delighted to have worked with thoughtful and committed partners to expand this important program and look forward to seeing how it grows and develops this summer.

For updates and activity announcements, follow PlayCorps on Facebook and Twitter.

PlayCorps is supported by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island and the City of Providence’s Department of Parks + Recreation, Healthy Communities Office, and Health Equity Zone grant through the Rhode Island Department of Health.

Museum and Partners Present Pop-Up PLAY Day!

Click here for more information, and
RSVP on Facebook for event updates.

Play at the Park!

For a third summer, join the Children’s Museum at neighborhood parks across Providence to build forts, make musical instruments, and discover other open-ended fun with loose parts.  The activities build on the Museum’s efforts to support unstructured, child-directed play throughout the community and are part of our participation in Playful Providence – a citywide celebration of play.

We're bringing activities to Burnside Park (downtown Providence, in Kennedy Plaza) Tuesday, July 1 from 3:00 - 6:00 PM.

Then join us to play at the park and enjoy evening concerts on these dates:

Tuesday, July 22 • 5:00 - 8:00 PM Fargnoli Park | Jastram and Smith Streets Music by Keith Munslow

Thursday, July 24 • 5:00 - 8:00 PM Dexter Training Ground | Dexter and Parade Streets Music by The American Band

Wednesday, July 30 • 5:00 - 8:00 PM Harriet and Sayles Park | Harriet and Sayles Streets Music by Extraordinary Rendition Band

Wednesday, August 6 • 5:00 - 8:00 PM  Harriet and Sayles Park | Harriet and Sayles Streets Performance by hip-hop dance group Project 401

Thursday, August 7 • 5:00 - 8:00 PM Bucklin Park | Bucklin and Daboll Streets Performance by Rhode Island Black Storytellers

Wednesday, August 13 • 5:00 - 8:00 PM Brown Street Park | Brown and Creighton Streets Music by Ravi Shavi

Museum activities are supported by the Providence Neighborhood Performing Arts Initiative, a partnership among Mayor Angel Taveras, the City of Providence, Department of Art, Culture + Tourism, the Department of Public Parks and the Partnership for Providence Parks.

Introducing PlayCorps

This summer, Providence Children’s Museum is partnering with the Partnership for Providence Parks and the City of Providence’s Department of Parks and Recreation and Healthy Communities Office to launch PlayCorps, a pilot program to activate Providence parks with play, art and creative exploration, in conjunction with the summer meals program.

The summer meals program ensures children receive free, nutritious meals when school is out. However, kids who need summer meals haven’t always taken advantage of the program because there’s little else to do at some of the parks and meal sites. Thus emerged the big idea: what if we enliven these public spaces with playful activities so that kids want to spend time there throughout the summer? They’ll get the needed meals as well as opportunities for creative play and exploration!

From June 30 to August 14, teams of play facilitators will be stationed in five Providence parks to coordinate play-based activities on weekdays from 11 AM to 2 PM:

• Bucklin Park (West End) 
• Father Lennon/Camden Street Park (Smith Hill) 
• General Street Park (Wanskuck) 
• Harriet and Sayles Park (South Side) 
• Zuccolo/Pastore Park (Federal Hill)

In addition to collaborating on the design of the PlayCorps program, the Museum’s primary role is providing play-based training and advisory support. Over the last week, Museum director Janice O’Donnell trained participants on playwork techniques – supporting children’s play without directing it, types of play, observing kids and understanding their play cues, how to support risk taking in play, and more.

The team participated in a very successful Pop-Up Play Day at Roger Williams Park last weekend, and on Monday they’ll be dispatched to their parks to begin to connect with the community and kick off a summer of play. We’re delighted to have worked with thoughtful and committed partners to shape this pilot program and look forward to seeing what happens this summer. As Janice says, “The big goal is that kids come and use the parks without us – that play can go on if we create playful spaces that really work. That, to me, would be success beyond measure.”