Click here for more information
or to volunteer at Pop-Up Play Day!
or to volunteer at Pop-Up Play Day!
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
MORE Great News: Museum Receives Nonprofit Leadership Award
Providence Children's Museum has been selected by the Rhode Island
Foundation’s Initiative for Nonprofit Excellence to receive its 2014 Best Practice Award in Leadership!
Sponsored by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, the Best Practice Awards honor Rhode Island nonprofit organizations that have demonstrated outstanding practices in the areas of advocacy, collaboration, communications, innovation and leadership. The Museum will receive the leadership award for increasing operational efficiencies by defining strong strategic priorities, restructuring staff and adding expertise to create a strong staff leadership team.
As part of our most recent strategic plan, the leadership team sought community input, tested assumptions, and questioned everything to define clear operational and programmatic objectives:
With increased capacity and clear priorities, we have greatly enhanced our offerings and deepened our impact in the community and are achieving major goals:
Sponsored by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, the Best Practice Awards honor Rhode Island nonprofit organizations that have demonstrated outstanding practices in the areas of advocacy, collaboration, communications, innovation and leadership. The Museum will receive the leadership award for increasing operational efficiencies by defining strong strategic priorities, restructuring staff and adding expertise to create a strong staff leadership team.
As part of our most recent strategic plan, the leadership team sought community input, tested assumptions, and questioned everything to define clear operational and programmatic objectives:
- Effective, engaging and frequently changing exhibits
- Outreach to underserved children and families
- Leadership role in the free play movement
- Financial resources to accomplish goals
- Well-qualified, highly motivated staff
- Sufficient physical facilities and technology
With increased capacity and clear priorities, we have greatly enhanced our offerings and deepened our impact in the community and are achieving major goals:
- Implementing a multi-year plan for changing exhibits, resulting in steadily and sustainably increasing numbers of visitors.
- Strategically targeting outreach to Providence’s Southside to increase impact: daily presence at Boys & Girls Club Southside, partnership with Fogarty and Highlander schools, pop-up play at neighborhood parks.
- Opened a new homelike facility to serve DCYF-involved families, expanding capacity of our Families Together program.
- Taking a leadership role to promote the essential role of free play in children’s healthy development.
- Seizing opportunities that increase revenues and enhance the Museum’s image.
Thanks to the Rhode Island Foundation for this wonderful honor!
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
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!
“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!
Friday, May 9, 2014
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:
“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.
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.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Year in Review
On Tuesday evening, Museum Board members, staff, volunteers and friends celebrated the accomplishments of 2013 and the importance of learning through play at our annual meeting.
Did you know that in 2013, Providence Children’s Museum:
And MUCH more! Download our 2013 Annual Report to get the full story, and take a look back at some of last year's highlights, in words and photos:
Did you know that in 2013, Providence Children’s Museum:
- Welcomed a record 166,227 visitors, 29% free of charge.
- Brought engaging hands-on activities to over 1,000 Head Start preschoolers and 600 school-age kids through after-school and summer programs at inner-city community centers.
- Hosted 1,350 low-income children and their family members at free Museum family nights.
- Took open-ended, creative play experiences to 930 kids and family members in neighborhood parks across Providence.
- Conducted therapeutic visits for 530 children and parents in nearly 200 court-separated families.
- Provided 400 charitable memberships to children and families in need.
And MUCH more! Download our 2013 Annual Report to get the full story, and take a look back at some of last year's highlights, in words and photos:
Monday, April 28, 2014
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.”
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!
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Talking Back: Play Guide Bob Nickles
Bob Nickles has volunteered nearly 1,000 hours since 2011.
What’s your background?
I grew up in New Jersey and went into the Marine Corps for four years after high school. Then I worked as a laborer, in digital electronics and as a welder and steel fitter. I went back to school and got a degree in elementary education and taught second grade in one of the poorest districts in San Antonio for four years. I worked as a handyman and janitor at the Children’s Museum in Pawtucket in 1991, before it moved to Providence. I fixed exhibits and when kids saw me with the tool belt, they would come and talk to me. Later I went back to steelwork but, when I retired a few years ago, I knew I needed something to do and came back to the Museum. I think being involved with kids is the best job in the world for me.
How did you play as a kid?
With anything we could find! It was a big deal when we got roller skates – the kind that you could put on your shoes – and we skated on the dead-end street in front of our apartment. For 5 cents, you could buy a big box of chalk and we would draw giants and dinosaurs on the tar street. It was beautiful – just like a blackboard, it was that smooth. We’d go into the woods and play anything – we were kids of the streets. We had a lovely growing up. When I was 10, we moved to Long Island and lived near the beach, which was great – the beach is always different, the water is always changing, there’s always something for a kid to play.
What ways do you like to play in the Museum?
I play what [the kids] are playing, and I try to expand it in some way. An example: I came into Water Ways and some of the smaller white pipe was in the pool with the big pipe stuff and I thought to myself, "that’s in the wrong place." Then I realized I was thinking like an adult, but I should act like an adult and think like a kid! So I made some structures with the smaller pipes and left them there to see what would happen. When I came back later in the day, the structures were still there.
I’m always playing looking for a slightly different angle. The Water Ways pools are so curved that the waterwheels won’t sit in them. So I stacked three of them on the floor, on top of the drain. Two girls were right on it with watering cans, and the water flew out. By observing kids, I can see what they might need.
What have you gotten from the experience?
I’m thinking more, I’m discovering more, I’m making little inventions at home. Just practical things. I’m honestly more creative. Now when I see a problem, I think up something new, and that’s new for me. That’s happened because I’ve been here, I’m sure of it. It’s been an epiphany, and kids are the catalyst.
What’s your background?
I grew up in New Jersey and went into the Marine Corps for four years after high school. Then I worked as a laborer, in digital electronics and as a welder and steel fitter. I went back to school and got a degree in elementary education and taught second grade in one of the poorest districts in San Antonio for four years. I worked as a handyman and janitor at the Children’s Museum in Pawtucket in 1991, before it moved to Providence. I fixed exhibits and when kids saw me with the tool belt, they would come and talk to me. Later I went back to steelwork but, when I retired a few years ago, I knew I needed something to do and came back to the Museum. I think being involved with kids is the best job in the world for me.
How did you play as a kid?
With anything we could find! It was a big deal when we got roller skates – the kind that you could put on your shoes – and we skated on the dead-end street in front of our apartment. For 5 cents, you could buy a big box of chalk and we would draw giants and dinosaurs on the tar street. It was beautiful – just like a blackboard, it was that smooth. We’d go into the woods and play anything – we were kids of the streets. We had a lovely growing up. When I was 10, we moved to Long Island and lived near the beach, which was great – the beach is always different, the water is always changing, there’s always something for a kid to play.
What ways do you like to play in the Museum?
I play what [the kids] are playing, and I try to expand it in some way. An example: I came into Water Ways and some of the smaller white pipe was in the pool with the big pipe stuff and I thought to myself, "that’s in the wrong place." Then I realized I was thinking like an adult, but I should act like an adult and think like a kid! So I made some structures with the smaller pipes and left them there to see what would happen. When I came back later in the day, the structures were still there.
I’m always playing looking for a slightly different angle. The Water Ways pools are so curved that the waterwheels won’t sit in them. So I stacked three of them on the floor, on top of the drain. Two girls were right on it with watering cans, and the water flew out. By observing kids, I can see what they might need.
What have you gotten from the experience?
I’m thinking more, I’m discovering more, I’m making little inventions at home. Just practical things. I’m honestly more creative. Now when I see a problem, I think up something new, and that’s new for me. That’s happened because I’ve been here, I’m sure of it. It’s been an epiphany, and kids are the catalyst.
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