Day Camps are set to go at the Museum! Enroll your kids in Discovery Days Spring Camp 2008.
Campers will participate in hands-on science and art activities. They will explore the Museum and will have supervised play at the exhibitions on site. Each thematically organized camp day will include two to three structured, age-appropriate activities and breaks for snacks and lunch.
Supporting Members can register early on Tuesday, February 5. Upgrade your membership today to get the early registration code. Email gmedley(at)badm.org or call 415-339-3932.
The Web is a great resource for parenting commentary and advice, and as mom to an almost-3-year-old and an almost-newborn (due in 23 days!), I'm on the Web all the time for both advice and "I'm not alone!" commentary.
Here's my shortlist:
Parent Hacks - tips from the real experts - other parents
Berkeley Parents Network - you may find the barrage of newsletters overwhelming if you sign up, but a lot of the great advice is archived on their Web site too, and it's all local!
Wondertime - I love this parenting magazine, and their Web site has lots of great play time ideas and crafts - it's a bit like the much-lamented Martha Stewart Kids - very high quality. And don't miss Catherine Newman's laugh-out-loud funny blog.
Babble - Parenting articles with a bit of snark, plus some great blogs, including my guilty pleasures Famecrawler (celeb babies!) and drool.icio.us (stylish clothes, toys, etc for modern babies)
Mommy Track'd - advice on simplifying the chaos for parents who work outside the home. Plus it's created by two Mill Valley moms!
Share your favorites in the comments - what am I missing?
January's poll has shown us that you, our readers, would like to hear from parents. So this is your chance to tell us a about an experience you and your child or family had at the Bay Area Discovery Museum.
Don't forget to send in a picture and a small bio paragraph of yourself.
We will pick a few and post them throughout February. Email entries to jherrera(at)badm.org.
We had dozens of truly adorable photos submitted for the Mission Toy photo contest of kids and their most prized and adored toys.
The winner was very difficult to pick, but we're thrilled to announce Natalie and her turtle Shelby was our winner! She's won a Museum goody bag and a Museum Passport membership.
There's a great interview with one of my favorite children's book authors and illustrators, Eric Carle, up on Babble.
Here at the Museum, we've been talking a lot about creativity - specifically about expanding the definition of creativity, and how creative play encompasses physical activity, innovative uses of materials, exploration of science and nature, and of course, arts, crafts and music.
Mr. Carle says, "But often children's art is expressive in a way adult artists have to work very hard to achieve. We have to unlearn so much to be like children; to be closer to pure creativity." Read the rest of the interview here to learn more about his favorite children's book illustrators, and where he came up for the idea for The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Plus, did you know he founded the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts? They just celebrated their fifth anniversary - if you're ever in the area, it definitely looks worth a visit!
Today is your last chance to send us your pictures of your kids and their favorite lovies, snugglies, blankies, "transitional love objects" (the technical term!), and toys. The Grand Prize winner receives a Museum Passport Membership and Museum goody bag, and runners-up each receive a Family Five Pass. And the winners will also be printed in our Spring Newsletter for over 10,000 people to coo over!
Just email up to 3 pictures to Jennifer at jcaleshu(at)badm.org by the end of the day, and be sure to read the complete rules before submitting.
Of all the amazing performers during World On Stage, I think I might be most excited by the Barbary Coast Cloggers - an all-male company of percussive, syncopated, foot stomping dancers - performing Saturday January 26 at 11 a.m. Nothing like a little boot-stomping fun to chase away the January damp! They're also bringing along a special guest - Cheyenne Danner, a 13-year-old, third-generation clogger. We talked to the Cloggers to find out more about this uniquely American style of dance.
What do children learn from your dancing?
Kids love the boots, we get a lot of reaction to the boots and the noise our shoes make. Boys in particular really get excited about clogging because they rarely see men dancing. It’s a great influence for young boys to see men dancing in a way that isn’t ballet.
What do you feel clogging teaches?
I feel the history of clogging teaches about a mix of cultures coming together in the beginning of America. We learn in class about America in the 1700s and that there was a lot of hate and separation of people according to race. The music and dance we perform comes from that time and shows us that people came together and did get along in those times. The banjo is an African instrument and a lot of people don’t know that. Bluegrass and clogging show that there is a melting pot in America.
Read our complete interview to find out more about why they dress like Forty Niners and how cloggers are like Gene Kelly! Buy your ticket online so you don't miss the show - tickets are going fast!
Our staff is full of creative types - we even have a published author and illustrator, our Lead Art Guide Wednesday Kirwan. This Friday at 11 a.m., you have a chance to hear Wednesday read her first book Nobody Notices Minerva and buy a signed version to bring home. We took a bit of her time away from making mythical sea creatures with visitors in the Art Studios to ask her a few questions:
Where did you get the idea for this book?
Well, it's autobiographical - I'm the middle child and I needed attention! I made it for my dad as a Christmas present in 2006 - I made it as a 'dummy book' - a small version with small paintings, bound it, and gave it to him.
How did you pick the animal as the main character? Do you have a Boston terrier like Minerva?
I actually have a rat terrier named Nemo, and when I was writing the story, one day I took him for a walk to the dog park where we met a Boston terrier named Minerva. I went home and sketched it - the story was more interesting with a dog as the main character, rather than a little girl.
How did you end up going from a present for your Dad to a published book?
Well, I have an agent who handles my children's illustrations, so I sent her a copy of the book. She went to an event for writers and artists with the sample, and there were two publishers who were interested--
Bidding war!
Yeah, and I went with Sterling since I really liked the editor's vision. She was interested in the idea of a series, and had good ideas about aesthetic choices, like playing up the patterns and the style, which I think is reminiscent of a different era. I was thinking about the '60s and the Golden Books of that time.
Every day before the Museum opens, the Discovery Guides meet to talk about the upcoming events, puzzle over the new things we notice in the exhibits or with the visitors, hash out better ways of doing things and then set up everything fresh for the new day. As with many jobs, there is an amazing amount of detailed work that helps run a place, things you wouldn’t think about. One of those details is the ceremonious task of “seeding the pennies.”
Each morning a Discovery Guide makes the journey up to the Front Desk and then back again with sagging pockets that faintly jingle with sounds of coins. No, the Discovery Guide is not raiding the till, s/he is collecting currency from the Gravity Well* to take to the shipwreck where the foreign currency we can’t cash and a portion of the pennies that are donated are carefully scattered, buried and hidden for the joyous treasure hunters that are sure to come.
What we have found is that the pennies are then often taken back to the front of the Museum, spun through the Gravity Well, where they are collected the next morning and put back in the Shipwreck, thus continuing the cycle. What has pleasantly surprised us is how often we see adults adding to the cycle by emptying their own change purses and pockets into the sand to help spread the joy of discovery.
* Gravity Well: the mystifyingly simple contraption with which you entice your children with spinning coins to get them from their favorite exhibit and on the way to the car without throwing a tantrum
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Posted by Lindzy Bivings| Add Comment Tagged: discovery guides, behind the scenes
What are your plans for the holiday today? Many of the kids who come to the Museum are probably too young to understand the details of Dr. King's life and work, but the values he advocated are important at all ages.
You can come to our Festival at the Museum today to make a Peace Flag in the Art Studio, buy a ticket to the amazing a capella performances by SoVoSo, and read children's books that will help your family celebrate this holiday in your own way. Download our flyer for complete details.
We also recommend the following Web sites to learn more:
