The Museum Blog
Category: Outreach
CMNH Awarded Grant to Support Home-based Childcare Providers
The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (CMNH) was recently awarded a $140,000 grant via a partnership between the Granite United Way and the Community Development Finance Authority to support play-based learning for family-based childcare providers across New Hampshire. With this funding, CMNH is providing play-based learning (PBL) kits of materials, activity guides and training, workshops and ongoing support for 100 at-home providers throughout the state, impacting the 846 children that they serve.
This project is the next step in a progression of initiatives to advance knowledge and utilization of PBL in childcare centers and classrooms in NH. “The Children’s Museum is an expert in play-based learning—which is simply learning through play,” said Xanthi Gray, Director of Education at CMNH. “We have been working for several years with partners across the state to share that knowledge with childcare centers, preschools, public libraries and family resource centers to support their utilization of PBL. The end goal is helping all children be better prepared to succeed in school, and beyond.”
The current project aims to support the many providers operating small family-based childcare centers out of their home. “These providers face unique challenges in operating as a small business and educator with limited support or flexibility to attend in-person professional development activities,” said Melissa Latham, Director of Communications and Policy at CDFA. “The Children’s Museum has developed a series of creative outreach activities to deliver important training for these providers, which in turn furthers CDFA's goal of supporting family-based childcare providers with resources and meaningful connections to a network of educators.” The CMNH project offers in-home providers ongoing support with 10 months of PBL activity guides, virtual workshops with information catered to their at-home environment, an online community to share ideas and network, and in-person workshops both at the Museum and in locations throughout the state.
“We are grateful to the Community Development Finance Authority for their support of this work,” said Jane Bard, CMNH President.
“With every initiative we undertake to expand the use of play-based learning, we positively impact children who will pass through those
classrooms for years to come. Family-based providers are filling an important gap in childcare right now, and we are happy to be able to support their efforts.”
Over the next few months, CMNH will be hosting PBL workshops in every county of the state, open to participants in this program as well as other family-based providers. Workshops have been confirmed in Portsmouth on November 12, Keene on November 19, Plaistow on December 3 and Rochester on December 4th—all workshops will be from 6-7:00pm and held in that town’s public library. Details about additional upcoming workshops will be posted to the Museum’s website when available. You can learn more about the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire and their play-based learning resources online at www.childrens-museum.org.
Everyone Counts!
By Paula Rais, CMNH VP of Development and Community Engagement
Once every 10 years, the US Constitution mandates that every person in the United States is counted. Census data guide how more than $675 billion of federal funding is distributed to states and communities for schools and education, healthcare and services for families, children and older adults. The results of the census also inform funding decisions for programs like Head Start, SNAP, and Medicaid. Young children are often undercounted, which can affect important programs in your community.
Make sure you and your family get counted! Find out how here >>
The Census Bureau is required by law to protect your information; so all your answers are confidential and private.
Science Magic: Dancing Popcorn!
by Meredith Brustlin, CMNH Educator
We had a great response to our last science magic video (Plastic Bag Polymers!) so decided to share another!
Dancing Popcorn Magic
Materials Needed:
- Clear plastic cup/tall container or clear glass cup/jar
- White vinegar
- Baking soda
- Unpopped popcorn
- A spoon
Directions (prep):
- Fill your clear container about ½ way with water
- Put vinegar in a smaller cup
- Put baking soda in a small cup with the spoon
- Place unpopped popcorn in another small bowl
Directions (activity):
- Tell your young scientists that today you are going to make some popcorn DANCE using science!
- Invite them to put a few spoonfuls of baking soda in the cup of water and stir until it has fully dissolved
- Add a couple spoonfuls of popcorn to the baking soda mixture. Is it dancing yet?
- Make a hypothesis--what will happen when we add the vinegar?
- Carefully & slowly add the vinegar to the baking soda solution
- What happens?!
- You will notice that the popcorn starts to DANCE!
The Science:
- This science magic is created using a simple chemical reaction. When we add vinegar & baking soda together--we create carbon dioxide.
- You can see this at work! If you watch the popcorn carefully, you’ll notice that it gets covered in little bubbles and it bobs up and down.
- Those bubbles are made of carbon dioxide. As they collect on the popcorn, it lifts the popcorn up to the top of the container. Once it is at the top, some of those bubbles “pop” and bring the popcorn back down again.
- This up and down motion is what makes the popcorn look like it is dancing!
Bunny Art - Two Ways!
By Meredith Brustlin, CMNH Educator
Hi everyone! I have a fun springtime bunny painting project to share with you today. This is a typical example of an activity we would do at the museum as part of our Wacky Art Wednesday program.
I tend to pick activities that are process based instead of product based. This is something you could keep in mind when choosing activities to do with your young ones while you’re home, too and try to alternate some between process and product based activities. Here’s how you can tell the difference...
A product-based activity is one where you have a clear end product in mind. Activities that fall in this category are typically more “crafty”.
You (the adult) would have the pieces ready to go, and your child would go through the steps of assembling them.
There is NOTHING wrong with doing product based projects once in a while! It’s a terrific opportunity for little ones to follow directions, achieve a goal they have in mind, and usually make something very cute!
A process-based activity focuses mostly on...the process! These tend to be a bit on the messier side and align more closely with “art” rather than something that is “crafty”. An example would be something like this project where they explored painting with cleaning brushes:
It’s all about the process and the unique experience! While I think the painting above came out looking very cool--that’s not the goal. The goal is to explore and create and focus on what you’re doing and how it works, rather than the end product. These kinds of projects foster creativity, promote conversation, and also tend to take a bit more time than a product focused activity.
Our activity today - Bunny Art two ways - does a nice job combining process and product. You can either do this as a collage project with magazine strips or as a painting project - it’s up to you!
Here’s what you will need to begin:
If you’re painting...
- A piece of cardstock or construction paper
- Clothespins & cotton balls
- This is just a unique way to paint. Clip the cotton ball onto the clothespin and use it to “dot” paint all over your paper. You could, of course, also use a paintbrush!
- Paints
- A cut-out of a bunny
- I printed a bunny silhouette from the internet and then just cut out the silhouette part so that my paper was left with just the shape of the bunny
- A stapler or tape
- A glue stick or white glue
- A cotton ball
If you’re collaging…
- A piece of cardstock or construction paper
- Magazines cut into small strips
- A glue stick or Mod Podge
- A cut-out of a bunny
- See note above about the bunny!
- A stapler or tape
- A cotton ball
The activity:
- Have your child paint or collage all over a piece of cardstock
- They can decorate the whole thing or just a section in the middle
- When they have finished creating and their art has dried, put the negative cut-out of the bunny on top of their paper
- Part of their art will show through behind the bunny and make a very lovely piece of art!
- Glue on the cotton ball to make the bunny’s fluffy tail!
These could be used as special springtime cards for loved ones, or used to decorate windows!
Watch the video above to see examples of both kinds of projects!
Tinker Time: All About Spring!
by Meredith Brustlin, CMNH Educator
Sorting:
- Place a variety of colors of plastic eggs in a container
- Place pieces of colored paper, or paper with a color drawn on them, around the container
- Invite little ones to sort them by color!
- Want an extra challenge? Try making some plastic egg patterns!
Cause & Effect:
- Find something to make a ramp
- I used a 3-ring binder, but you could find a piece of wood, cookie sheet, or piece of flat cardboard
- Collect a few books to add to the ramp and give it some additional height
- Find a car or two
- I tied a tiny bunny stuffed animal to my car--this is fun, but not necessary!
- Gather a variety of different textured materials
- Tin foil, bubble wrap, felt, sandpaper, etc.
- Invite little ones to experiment with the ramp!
- Try racing the car down the ramp without any texture on it
- Add different textures and see how the movement of the car changes
- Add some height to the ramp and try again with the different textures
- Ask questions!
- What is happening?
- How does the movement of the car change?
- Why do you think it changes?
- What else could we add/change?
Sensory:
- Gather a bunch of plastic eggs
- Fill up the eggs with a variety of materials
- Unpopped popcorn, coins, buttons, paper clips, etc
- As an extra precaution, you could put a small piece of tape to keep the eggs closed during investigation!
- Make sure each egg has a sound match, aka two eggs of each sound
- Invite little ones to try and match the sounds!
Art:
- Find a paper towel tube
- Cut it into three pieces
- Leave one piece a circle
- Smoosh the other two pieces to make ovals
- Use the paper pieces to make a bunny stamp!
Lincoln Financial Foundation Grant Supports NH Teachers
The Children’s Museum of New Hampshire has been awarded an $8,000 grant from the Lincoln Financial Foundation to support three educational opportunities for New Hampshire’s struggling schools and underserved students. This grant will allow the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire to offer free school trips to the Museum (Museum InReach or MIR), more Focused Group Visits (FGV) as well as Traveling Focused Group Visits (TFGV) all of which were designed to respond to educators’ requests for more in-depth curriculum-based experiences.
“We recognize that schools and educators are struggling to access curriculum-based experiences for their students,” explained Paula Rais, Vice President of Development and Community Engagement at the Children’s Museum of NH. “We’ve developed these programs to not only help bring the students here to the Museum where they can experience our unique educational exhibits and programs, but also to help bring our knowledge into their classrooms.”
FGV and TFGV are flexible and portable learning experiences for pre-K through 5th grade students that explore art, science, history, ecology and world cultures, all of which align with state and national educational standards. These programs are based in STEAM education, an expansion of STEM learning concepts that integrate the arts into technology, math, engineering and science.
One hundred 1st grade students from McDonough School in Manchester, NH visited the Children’s Museum of NH recently as part of the Museum InReach program. “Thank you for letting us go on a field trip for free,” said Zachary. “My favorite part was the mind ball, kitchen and submarine.” The response from teachers has been equally positive. “As teachers, we really appreciate when students are involved and engaged,” said one teacher after her students participated in a Focused Group Visit. “The Physics of Flight program ties in beautifully with our curriculum.”