The Children’s Museum at the Museum of Nature & Science!

Why is the sky blue?

Our children are so curious.  Everything the world has to offer is of interest to them whether natural or man-made.  Why is the sky blue?  Why does daddy’ face feel the way it does?  Why does a cat make that purring sound?  Why does this trash can smell so yucky?  Why does this cupcake taste so good?   It goes on and on - always exploring, always learning. Why? Why? Why?

Our children have great imaginations.  One day they may be a cowboy.  The next a ballerina.  The following a dramatic actor.  After that a star athlete.  They can build cities, cook a four-course meal, have the queen over for tea, travel through time and save the world from the bad guys…all in one day.  There is no limit to what they can do.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that…

With the goal of serving the unique needs of children from infancy to seven years old, MNS has created a space to stimulate a child’s curiosity through a variety of hands-on, sensory experiences that foster a thirst for discovery and knowledge.

In the Children’s Museum, MNS has created the perfect atmosphere where families may learn and explore together - safe, spontaneous, individualized, self-paced, non-linear and exploratory spaces to help children understand themselves and trust in their own choices as they are free to touch, explore and dream. 

So…combine your child’s constant quest for answers with his/her vivid imagination…add in the amazing scientific resources at MNS, blend them together with themed play areas overflowing with stimulating adventures and you have “ Come and Explore Your World”

“Come and Explore Your World”

Made up of five galleries, it is a place where children will learn about the world in which we all live.

Little Urban Farm
Water Room
Explore Your Town
Explore My House
Explore Your Backyard

Little Urban Farm

In Little Urban Farm children can be a “farmer for the day” and explore the nature and science of farming.  They can milk a cow, gather eggs, drive a tractor, and plant, harvest and sort crops.

Water Room

In the Water Room Children will be introduced to the properties of water and can experiment with movement, measurement and volume using a variety of water tools.

Explore Your Town

Explore Your Town introduces children to the man-made world. Made up of six play sets in which they can explore “helpers” in their community as they experience the work of grown-ups.

In the Fire Department, children can practice being an EMT, or take on the role of a firefighter while dressing up in child size bunker gear.  Their gross motor skills are enhanced while climbing on the pretend Fire Truck. 

In the Building Supply and the Utility Company, children can be an engineer or put on a hard hat, grab a tool belt, and explore balance while building a structure with a variety of building materials.  These experiences enable young children to gain the fine motor control they need to accomplish tasks important to their growth and development.  An understanding of math begins by manipulating real materials through patterning, sequencing, size and measurement.

In the Performing Arts Theatre and Dressing Room, children can be creative, spontaneous and use imagination to create characters, actions or events while practicing listening and oral language skills on stage. Trying on a variety of costumes enables them to act out familiar situations, solve problems and experiment with different solutions. The adjoining concave and convex fun mirrors will give children the opportunity to observe how the distorted reflected images change the appearance of body image.

In the Conservatory Center, children will practice auditory, visual, comprehension and math skills and experiment with creating and performing music using a variety of musical instruments including instruments from other cultures. 

In the Fine Art Museum, children can explore the works of a featured artist, past or present.  This opportunity provides knowledge about different art and artists through a variety of interchangeable materials.  While manipulating these materials, children will make many self–discoveries that are important elements in art, such as texture, line, balance, value, color, space and form.  These experiences also enforce spatial concepts along with early math and reading skills. On display will be featured original art work created by children modeling the work of the featured artist.

The Science Museum features an exploration into physics while trying the different hands on materials.  They can explore minerals and other materials using their senses while at the science discovery table.

Explore My House

In Explore My House children can learn more about their neighbors and their cultural backgrounds. Programming in the House changes to reflect different cultures – on one visit you and your child may experience a house decorated for Easter, on another, for Chinese New Year and on yet another, a house decorated for Kwanzaa.  Children can explore the house and prepare meals in the kitchen with pretend food and appliances, all the while learning about cultural holidays that are celebrated by people that live in our community.

Explore Your Backyard

Explore Your Backyard invites children to explore the environment and the creatures that may live in their own backyard.  The Live Animal Display Wall allows children to observe live snakes, spiders, turtles, insects, lizards and more. In the four imaginary play experiences children can crawl through a large ant hill to see the world of an ant, balance on a beam like a squirrel running along a fence, cling to a wall to try life as a gecko, or weave their way through a spider web to experience the life of a spider. Children can also learn about renewable energy with the museum’s first solar-powered display, create by a partnership with Green Mountain Energy. Designed to educate about energy production, its use, and conservation, the interactive exhibit is comprised of a kiosk powered by a 36” x 60” photovoltaic solar paneled 640 watt “solar array” that harnesses the power of the sun.

Within Your Backyard is the Backyard Patio, a soft play area reserved for our youngest patrons ages birth to two years old. Toddlers and babies have the opportunity to engage in gross and fine motor skills while exploring their world through active sensory materials.

This exhibition made possible by the generous support of the M.R. and Evelyn Hudson Foundation, Hillcrest Foundation, Barbara and Stan Rabin, Harold Simmons Foundation, PB Americas, Green Mountain Energy Company, and Hawn Foundation, Inc.

Children's Museum Programs

Your and your child’s experience of the Children’s Museum at MNS can be enhanced by participating in some of our wonderful, guided programming.

Nurture your baby's or young child’s constant quest for answers and stimulate his or her vivid imagination through Little Explorers. This program is created especially for you and your child, age 6 months – 4 years, to enjoy and explore together.

Click here for details.

Wednesday 10-11:30am
Hand-in-Hand is a literacy based drop-in program for adults and their preschoolers to imagine, explore, and discover together. Each week hear a story, get your wiggles out to music, create theme-related crafts and enjoy fun activities! Craft making session will follow story time.

10 – 10:30am - Gathering time
10:30am - Prompt: Opening music/motion, Finger play and story time
10:45 - 11:30am – Crafts and activities

Offered each Wednesday morning on the following dates:

October

Theme: Community Helpers, Halloween
Shape of the Month: Square
Color: Red
Alphabet Hand Sign: F – Fire

October 21
“Simply SPOOK-tacular”
Wear your Halloween costume for a morning of non-scary Halloween fun! Listen to the fun story “Go Away Big Green Monster” by Jacqueline Kilmer. Make Gooey Goblins and Creepy Crafts and don’t leave without your special Halloween treat!

October 28
“Hot Topic”
Explore workers that live in your community while celebrating Fire Prevention Month. See authentic firefighter bunker gear, create fire safety crafts and so much more. Hear all about fire safety and meet Sparky the Fire Dog and his firefighter helpers in a special presentation of “The Sparky Puppet Show”.

November

Theme: Seasonal Changes, Seeds, Thanksgiving
Shape of the Month:  Circle
Colors of the Month: Red & Orange
Alphabet Hand Sign: P – Pumpkin

November 4
“Falling for Leaves” 
You’ll be falling for leaves too as you listen to the story “Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf” by Lois Ehlert. Explore what primary colors can do while creating your own fall leaves and create fun fall crafts.

November 11
“Pumpkin-Pizzaz”
Explore how pumpkins grow as you hear the story “Pumpkin, Pumpkin” by Jeanne Titherington. See what is inside a real pumpkin, plant pumpkin seeds, taste pumpkin bread and create “plenty of pumpkin” crafts.

November 18
“Gobbler Gala”
Let’s get together and talk turkey! Chant along with the story, “Run Turkey, Run!” by Diane Mayr. Explore healthy foods that you may eat for your Thanksgiving dinner while creating turkey crafts and veggie prints. We’ll have tons of turkey fun!

November 25
No Hand in Hand due to Thanksgiving Break. Program resumes December 2.

December

Theme of the Month: Holiday Celebrations
Shape of the Month:  Star
Color of the Month:  Yellow
Alphabet Hand Sign:  C – Celebration

December 2
“Frosty Shapes”
Explore the shapes around us every day! Create your own frosty-shaped crafts and find out what happens to a farmer and his animals on a cold winter’s night as you count along with the story, “Dream Snow” by Eric Carle.

December 9
“Destination: North Pole”
All ABOARD for a special reading of the Caldecott award winning story, “The Polar Express” by Chris Van Allsburg. First, you’ll create a special bell bracelet to wear to participate along with the story. After story time, explore the life of a polar animal and create seasonal crafts and enjoy seasonal activities on our imaginary trip to the North Pole!

December 16
“Festival of Lights”
Explore how people in your community celebrate the holiday season! Find out how “Candle Light” is part of cultural celebrations all around the world. Come and explore the celebrations of Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa through fun crafts and activities. Hear the story, “We All Sing in the Same Voice” by J. Philip Miller.

December 23
No Hand-in-Hand due to winter break. Program resumes January 13, 2010.

January

Shape of the month: Hexagon
Colors: Grey, white

January 13
“Snow Days, Fun Days”   
Find out what happens when a little boy wakes up to find a winter wonderland of snow as you listen to a story The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. 

Jan 20
“Warm & Fuzzy”  
Chant along with the story We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen. We’ll have tons of teddy bear fun exploring animals in winter.

Jan 27
“Suit Yourself”
How do you keep warm in winter? Hear more ways to keep warm as you listen to the story The Jacket I Wear in the Snow by Ezra Jack Keats.

February

Shape: Heart
Colors: Red, Pink

Feb 3
“Have a Heart”
Celebrate your healthy heart as you listen to the story How Much Do I Love You by Sam McBratney.

Feb 10
“Wags to Whiskers”
Celebrate “Love your Pet”. Come for a reading of Pet Show by Ezra Jack Keats. Bring along your favorite stuffed pet for us to compare!

Feb 17
“Little Buckaroos”
Put on your favorite cowboy boots & hit the dusty trail for our rodeo round-up story time with the story Cowboy Baby by Sue Heap.

Feb 24
“Dinosaur Rumpus”
Stomp along as you listen to the story Dinosaur Rumpus by Tony Mitton.

March

Shape: Diamond
Color: Green

Welcome to “Seussville” at March’s Hand-in-Hand! Celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday in literature all this month.

March 3
“Hilarious Hat Day” 
Wear your most hilarious hat to story time and laugh along with the story The Cat in the Hat.

March 10
“It’s Easy Being Green” 
Listen to the story Green Eggs and Ham and think “green” as you prepare an environmental friendly work of art using recycled materials.

March 17   
Spring Break
No Hand-in-Hand

March 24 
“Rhyme Time”
Can you hop? Can you hop on Pop? Hear the wonderful nonsense rhymes of Hop on Pop.

March 31
“Head to Toe”
Hear the story The Foot Book. Find out what makes you special and unique from “Head to Toe”.

April

Shape: Oval
Color: Yellow

Celebrate International Children’s Book Day all this month with a few familiar favorite fairytales, fables, and folktales heard by children all around the world.  

April 7  
“The Ugly Duckling”

April 14  
“The Three Bears”

April 21 –
“The Little Red Hen”

April 28 –
“The Three Little Pigs”

May

Shape: Square
Color: Purple

May 5
“Mothers Day Celebration”
Hear the story Is Your Mama a Llama? by Deborah Guarino. Create a Mothers Day craft.

May 12
“Wild Thing”
Have a wild time listening to a special reading of the Caldecott award winning book by Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are.

May 19
“Space Shapes”
Did you ever wonder how much space is in outer space or if men really live on mars? Let your imaginations soar as you listen along with the story Here in Space by David Milgrim.

May 26
“Hand in Hand Hoopla”
Join us for our end of school year celebration in honor of all our Hand-in-Hand participants. Shake your wiggles out one more time with a story that will get you moving –Wiggle by Dorine Cronin.

 

My House Cultural Discovery

On-going, interactive, monthly, seasonally-relevant activities and literature teaches your child more about his or her neighbors and their cultural backgrounds. Discover how people in your community celebrate traditional holidays while exploring decoration, dress, play foods, and literature. 

Fall 2009

Discover how people in your community celebrate traditional holidays while exploring play foods, decoration, traditional dress, and literature located in the My House exhibit.

Cultural Themes

September
Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year)

October & November
Halloween and the Mexican celebration of Dia de los Muertos

December
Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa

January & February
African American History Month/Chinese New Year

March
St. Patrick’s Day

April
Passover/Easter

May
Cinco de Mayo