TODDLER
AND PRESCHOOL PROGRAMS
This dramatic-play program is all fun. Children can use eye
patches, jeweled necklaces, and bandannas to set the mood for
a walk down the plank. Using old parchment, they create maps
or other pirate-themed artwork.
One of our favorite programs! Children make their own painting
tools and pigments from all natural supplies. The program is
whole group, very interactive, and a bit noisy at times.
Following a brief introduction, children rotate through centers
to compare animal feet, view our collection of habitat dioramas,
and re- construct animal habitats using a felt board.
What is a bubble? Have you ever seen an ancient bubble? This
group activity uses bubble solution on trays to make bubbles
in a variety of ways.
Think your hands are clean? Take a look at the germs and "bugs"
left behind when you do a quick wash. Then we will show you
how to help get rid of those boogie bugs. Access to water a
must!
Get your creative juices flowing as you think of new uses for common everyday items.
This is an outdoor program with much of the time spent locating
insects in their natural habitat, identifying, and viewing them
in magnifying bug boxes. Our extensive collection and dioramas
showcase insects and their body parts. Songs and posters reinforce
these concepts.
Fred lives in a beautiful clear mountain stream, but is eager
to travel. What Fred finds may surprise you! All hands-on, a
bit messy, and a surprise ending!
StarLab is a a portable traveling planetarium that seats 25
children. Enjoy a planetarium experience without leaving your
facility! There are special requirements for demonstration space
and pricing. Please call the Program Department for details:
(860) 691-1111.
This center-based program explores the properties of magnets.
After a brief discussion, children rotate through centers, testing
different items for magnetic attraction, making iron-shaving
designs, and experimenting with polarity.
We have permission to use several area ponds and are able to
meet your group at these sites. If you have a pond, we can travel
there. The best time is in the spring or fall, but it’s
also exciting to repeat this program each season of the year
and to record through dictation the changes the seasons bring
to the pond. Children use nets to gather small pond critters,
identify them, notice bird life, and plants that love the water.
Dress for a mess!
Did you know snakes smell with their tongues? Local herpetologist,
Linda Krulikowski, will bring her collection of fascinating
animals to your location. Both New England snakes and exotic
snakes programs are available.
*Special pricing. Please call for details.
A program on the 5 senses, it can be center-based or a whole-group
experience. Did you know that your feet are less sensitive than
your hands with the sense of touch? Children have the opportunity
to test this fact. Depending on the allergies of the children
in your class, we can also experiment with the tastes of salt,
sweet, and sour on different parts of the tongue. We have many
resources for this program and can adapt them to suit your needs.
Books and the museum’s large collection of sea life start
children on an exploration of ocean habitat. Our ocean life
diorama provides a cross section of ocean environment. Using
realistic stamps of ocean life, children create individual artwork
or a piece of a larger mural. May be done as centers or whole
group lesson.
Mix up a healthy snack and learn all about healthy eating while having fun! A good chance to play with your food!
THE
NITTY GRITTY:
BOOKING PROGRAMS - TODDLER AND PRESCHOOL
Teacher Development Workshops are available at your site for
your team of teachers. Call for pricing and availability. Past
educator workshops have included Literacy, Hands-On Science,
Inquiry-Based Science, Multicultural Awareness, and Early Childhood
Education.
The Children’s Museum’s qualified staff can create
custom, programs for your students, preschool through Grade
5. We specialize in designing programs to the new Connecticut
State Education Framework. Call our education staff for information:
(860) 691-1111. $40 plus program fee and materials.
Come alone or bring your team for a consultation developing
lesson plans that connect the Museum collection to your curriculum.
$70 up to 2 hours, $20 per hour thereafter.
• Programs in our service area: $125; $75 for each consecutive
program
• Programs outside our service area: $175 base rate; $75
each consecutive program
• StarLab inside our service area: $235; $110 for each
consecutive program
• StarLab outside our service area: $285; $110 for each
consecutive program
All programs outside our service area are charged mileage at
the rate of 50 cents/mile. Mileage is charged for each day of
a scheduled program. Fuel surcharge may apply.
Programs are strictly limited to 20 students plus adult chaperone(s).
Please call (860) 691-1111 to speak with a member of the education
staff for more information.
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to top.
PROGRAMS
FOR SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN
Option A: One of our favorite programs! Children make their
own painting tools and pigments from natural supplies. The program
is whole group, very interactive and a bit noisy at times.
Option B: Using the techniques of Renaissance artists, students
make their own pigments to produce vivid final products.
Using games and art, children delve into ancient Egyptian life.
Explore a model of a pyramid, make a cartouche, touch a piece
of papyrus, and read a story, written in hieroglyphs more than
4,000 years ago. This program can be customized to your needs,
including the opportunity to make papyrus (extra fee applies).
Using fossils, rocks and a large wooden map, students begin
to understand the theories of continental drift. Through group
participation and muscle power, children experience an earthquake!
Think your hands are clean? Take a look at the germs and "bugs"
left behind when you do a quick wash. Then we will show you
how to help get rid of those boogie bugs. Access to water a
must!
Fred lives in a beautiful clear mountain stream, but is eager
to travel. What Fred finds may surprise you! All hands-on, a
bit messy, and a surprise ending!
Did you know snakes smell with their tongues? Local herpetologist,
Linda Krulikowski, will bring her collection of fascinating
animals to your location. Both New England snakes and exotic
snakes programs are available.
*Special pricing. Please call for details.
StarLab is a portable traveling planetarium seating 25 children.
Enjoy a planetarium experience without leaving your facility!
Special requirements for demonstration space and pricing. Please
call the Program Department for details.
Students have the opportunity to view, touch and feel the museum’s
large collection of fossils. We perform an experiment to better
understand how fossils are formed.
An outdoor program, students locate insects in their natural
habitat, identify and view them in magnifying bug boxes. Our
extensive collection and dioramas showcase insects and their
body parts. Songs and posters reinforce concepts. This program
may be conducted at an outdoor space in Bates Woods.
We have permission to use several area ponds and are able to
meet your group at these sites, or if you have a pond, we can
travel to yours. The best time to do this program is in the
spring or fall, but it is also exciting to repeat this program
each season of the year and to record seasonal changes at the
pond. Children use nets to gather small pond critters, identify
them, notice bird life, and plants that love the water. Dress
for a mess!
Starting at activity centers, students have the opportunity
to experience simple machines and the manner in which they help
with work. This program ends with a group project to take home.
"MINDS-ON" CHALLENGES
Our newest group of programs requires pairs of students to solve
a challenge. Team work, problem solving, critical thinking and
engineering skills are developed while learning about scientific
systems. If you don’t see what you are looking for, just
ask and we can create a challenge for your students.
Can you make something that neither sinks nor floats? Using
simple items, engineer an object that "flinks" for
a least 10 seconds.
Using a minimum of 50 triangles, students build a structure
using only 2 materials. The buildings must stand without rocking!
How will they ever do it?! Who can go the highest? 1 hour
(CT Science Standard
4.1)
“You can’t get there from here,” might be your
students’ first thoughts, but given a bit of creative thinking,
they will find a way! Using 6 items to span an 8-foot space,
the goal is to move a ball across the gap. 1 to 1.5 hours
(CT Science Standard 4.4)
If you are studying simple electrical circuits, this program
may be the frosting of your unit. Building a lighthouse with
a flashing light is the challenge put before the students. 1.5
hours
PROGRAMS SPECIALLY DESIGNED TO MEET
THE CT SCIENCE FRAMEWORK
Building Shelters (K.4)
Explore homes around the world. Choose from a large assortment of materials to build a shelter for a cute stuffed animal.
(2.4)
A center-based program begins after a brief group discussion.
Centers may include: using primitive tools to crush grains,
discussion of geography in relation to culturally used foods
using large maps, constructing a meal with the museum’s
collection of realistic foods, and a felt-board activity to
describe the digestive system and the body’s need for nutritional
food choices.
(3.2, B4)
Following a brief introduction, children will rotate through
centers to
compare animal feet, view our collection of habitat dioramas,
and reconstruct animal habitats using a
felt board.
(4.1, B8)
Using pulleys, ramps, wheels and other simple machines, students
will experiment with strength of force and size of mass to determine
the motion of an object.
THE
NITTY GRITTY:
BOOKING PROGRAMS for SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN
Teacher Development Workshops are available at your site for
your team of teachers. Call for pricing and availability. Past
educator workshops have included Literacy, Hands-on Science,
Inquiry-Based Science, Multicultural Awareness, Early Childhood
Education.
The Children’s Museum’s qualified staff can create
custom programs for your students, preschool through Grade 5.
We specialize in designing programs to the new Connecticut State
Education Framework. Call our education staff for information:
(860) 691-1111. $40 plus program fee and materials.
Come alone or bring your team for a consultation developing
lesson plans that connect the Museum collection to your curriculum.
$70 up to 2 hours, $20 per hour thereafter.
• Programs in our service area: $125; $75 for each consecutive
program
• Programs outside our service area: $175 base rate; $75
each consecutive program
• StarLab inside our service area: $235; $110 for each
consecutive program
• StarLab outside our service area: $285; $110 for each
consecutive program
All
programs outside our service area are charged mileage at the
rate of 50 cents/mile. Mileage is charged for each day of a
scheduled program. Fuel surcharge may apply.
Programs are strictly limited to 20 students plus adult chaperone(s).
Please call (860) 691-1111 to speak with a member of the education
staff for more information.
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to top.
