Hannaford Helps the Museum

February has been full of fantastic family-friendly programming, made possible thanks to Hannaford Supermarkets - this post is to show our gratitude!

With winter outside and kids out of school, parents and caregivers are seeking fun, affordable activities for their kids. The Children’s Museum is a favorite choice for families from throughout Southeastern Massachusetts. Sponsored by Hannaford Supermarkets, Valentine Sweets Week and February’s School Vacation Week provides kids and families with a variety of fun-filled and educational activities, games, and arts and crafts.

Since 2005, Hannaford Supermarkets has been a friend and partner of the Museum, providing gifts totaling more than $10,200 in grants and sponsorships. In addition to its sponsorships, the Hannaford Foundation provided a generous $5,000 grant in 2007 in support of the Museum’s Outdoor Learning Center, The Wild Place.

“Hannaford’s consistent charitable support demonstrates the priority they place on being a good corporate citizen,” said The Children’s Museum’s Executive Director Paula Peterson. “By supporting causes where they have stores, Hannaford significantly contributes to the quality of life in our community.”

This year, Hannaford’s Nutrition Coordinator Michelle Mix worked with Museum Program Manager, Steven Hill, to come up with creative “good-for-your-heart” snacks and treats for families to enjoy at the Museum. They also created healthy and fun family-friendly meal recipes for caregivers and children to make together at home.

“Hannaford is proud to once again partner with The Children’s Museum in Easton to make possible these two family-oriented events that are designed to encourage kids to enjoy learning, eat healthy and stay active,” said Mix. “Family bonding happens naturally when preparing healthy meals together. This is a wonderful example of businesses and nonprofits working together to support our shared goals of promoting healthy living among children and families.”

Hannaford Supermarket’s commitment to the Museum and to children and families in our community is greatly appreciated.

Blue is The New "Green"

75% of our planet is made up of water, and we all need water to survive. During the Museum’s Spring Fling we will be talking about what we can do to at home to “Go Green in Your Backyard.” But did you know that conserving water is also a very important step in working towards a healthier environment for our animal friends and us?

I had the chance to see the trailer for the upcoming Disneynature film: OCEANS, opening in theaters on Earth Day (April 22), and it looks pretty incredible! Disneynature has teamed up with The Nature Conservancy as part of “See OCEANS, Save Oceans” and a portion of each ticket sold during the film’s opening week (April 22-28) will go towards new marine protected areas in the Bahamas!
Here’s the trailer and link to the movie website: http://disney.go.com/disneynature/oceans/?videos

I love the ocean, and this has inspired me to find ways that we all can help. And, April 11-17 is National Environmental Education Week, so it is the perfect time to start. To learn more check out http://www.eeweek.org/

It’s really pretty easy for anyone to make a few changes at home to help conserve water and energy. Here are a few to get you started:

• Take shorter showers.
• Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth. (This wastes about a gallon a minute!)
• Turn off lights when you leave a room.
• Run washing machines and dishwashers only when they are full.
• Turn the thermostat up two degrees and the summer and down two degrees in the winter.
• And most importantly: Recycle, Recycle, Recycle!
The MarineBio Conservation Society lists these and many more in their 100 Ways to Make a Difference.

Another great website that I found is Kids for Saving Earth. It’s geared towards teaching children all aspects of conservation. Check out the “water” section to learn about marine creatures, and what you can do in your home to help.
http://kidsforsavingearth.org/index.html

For more activities and ideas for kids, visit the Museum’s Kids Page. Create your own recyclable flowers and learn about what you can do in your local community to conserve.

-Jennifer Nash
Public Relations and Development Intern, Children’s Museum in Easton

Come and Drop by Before Vacation Week is Over!!!

Whew, what a week! We’ve been having a terrific time here during February Vacation and boy has it been busy. Operation Espionage has been wicked fun. Our detectives have done an excellent job deciding who the culprit was by carefully following the clues that were left around the museum! We’re still investigating the crime for a couple more days so stop by and help us solve the crime of the Ice Cream Cone Caper! We're also having some fun other activities going on throughout the museum like our spy viewers and a fingerprinting activity, not to mention our regular exhibits.

Today, we had a visit from a real FBI agent! He stopped by this afternoon and told us all about his exciting job. Special Agent Josh brought in TWO bullet-proof vests for everyone to try on as well as some plastic handcuffs he uses while catching bad guys. He was full of neat facts about the FBI that many of us never knew about. For instance, did you know that since 1940 the FBI has been in charge of catching spies that sneak into the United States? Pretty cool huh?! Special Agent Josh even helped some of our detectives with the clues from case of the Ice Cream Cone Caper. If you'd like to learn even more about the FBI drop by the FBI Kids Page. Everyone at the museum is very thankful to both Special Agent Josh as well as the FBI for stopping by.

It’s a bird, It’s a plane, No its SUPERNANNY! That’s right, everyone, Jo Frost, the star of ABC Television’s Supernanny was filming in the area and just made a stop right here at the The Children's Museum in Easton. It was so neat seeing how a real television show is filmed. Everywhere we looked there seemed to be T.V. people all working together to film just one part of an episode! It's definitely a hard job, but it looks like it must be really exciting. I'm excited to watch the show when it airs and see our museum on national television. I'll be sure to post the airing date of the episode once the television people let us know so you guys can watch it too.

What to do During February Vacation Week

WOW! We're half way through February Vacation week already! The week is really flying by here at the museum. I know a lot of you folks are vacationing at home this year, and sometimes it gets a little tough sitting around the house. So instead of sitting around and watching television all vacation, why not try finding something fun to do at the house or some great local activities?

The museum is still running Operation Espionage throughout February Vacation, along with our regular exhibits throughout the museum. Our admission is only $6 a person, which is way less than that trip to the movies that you've been planning! If you’re looking to do more fun things around the house, we have a great Kids Only page that offers numerous activities you can do right in your own home, especially since we have more snow on the way. Have fun guys!

Operation Espionage

Hey guys! I hope you had a chance to drop by earlier today and join us for our Valentine's Day celebration. We had a great time making candy holders, valentine cards as well as some scrumptious chocolate lollipops! I can't wait for next year to make those yummy treats again. Thanks again to the Mix 98.5 Snowbreak Tour for dropping in and giving away some great stuff!

OH NO! Ruff Ruffman's favorite ice cream cone squeaky toy has gone missing! Who could have taken it!?! Looks like you'll have to join us for Operation Espionage during February Vacation Week here at the museum to help us solve the great Ice Cream Cone Caper! Investigate the evidence left behind at the crime scene to determine the culprit. Along the way we'll be making some neat spy gadgets to help us on our spy themed week.

Even though you'll be awfully busy helping Ruff find the thief, take some time to listen to our special visitors who'll be stopping by the museum all throughout vacation week. We'll get to spend some time learning about fingerprinting with the Easton Police, meet a member of the Beagle Brigade who'll be demonstrating how Apache, one of the USDA's best workers, sniffs out food at the airport and see how dogs are used by the State Police to investigate fires. I personally can't wait to meet Apache and here all about her exciting job!

See you next week!

February School Vacation

The Museum has got YOUR plans for February School Vacation week!

Be sure to check out all the activities going on all with Ruff Ruffman from PBS kids sensation Fetch and make Chocolate candies and holiday Card's on Valentine's day!

"In a perfect world, every town and city would have such cultural, educational and social treasures for kids. "

We here at the Museum are great supporters of all the fun, educational, cultural and culinary things to do all across the state of Massachusetts and New England! That's why we absolutely love the "Visit New England" website! They've got great reviews of all kinds of fun and affordable things to do across the region! A must visit for anyone planning a trip to our Museum or just looking for great things to do with the kids!


Be sure to read their recent review of the Museum - "The Little Engine that Could"

Here's the first Monday post for those of you out there who can't wait for Friday. 411mommy asked a very good question in comment: is a 9 and 10 year old too old to go to the Children’s Museum in Easton? The answer is yes and no. For most of the activities during the week on a normal day they would be on the higher end of the age spectrum. But for my FETCH!™ labs they would be perfect! I often sit around twiddling my thumbs and although I enjoy the frequent visitors who are five and under, many of them do not grasp the concepts and challenges offered in my FETCH! Labs. Older children would be ideal. I teach the labs Wednesday and Friday mornings.
Also, special occasions such as school vacation weeks are more oriented to the older crowd that are on break from school. This upcoming April vacation week is a perfect example. From April 19th-April 27th, Saturday to Sunday of the vacation week, our theme will be “Masters and Masterpieces.” We will be looking at artist like Andy Warhol and Georgia O’Keeffe, and having local artisans come to demonstrate their craft. Come by and make your own work of art! We kick off the school vacation week with our "Spring Fling" on April 19th.

Well, the February Vacation week is over for me. The Ruff Ruffman™ scavenger hunt was a hit. I’m guessing it was because of the wonderful storyline that I wrote. We had a whole lot of guests this week including two police dogs, a motorcycle police officer, an FBI agent, and Secret Service agents. The metal detector we were loaned was also a hit. Even kids who didn’t participate in the scavenger hunt wandered around testing to see if anything in my presence was metal. At this point I’m inured to loud beeping noises.
Many kids were attracted to the FETCH! ™ aspect of the scavenger hunt because they were fans of the show. The CSI episode of FETCH aired about a thousand times this week so I could probably quote it word for word. One boy was the highlight of my week with a project he designed in the woodshop room. He asked, “Do you know Ruff?” I responded, “Absolutely I do.” So he gave me a sign that read, “Dear Ruff, Sorry about the girlfriend,” referring to the Whodunit? story I wrote (see entry below).
I just finished watching the Secret Service presentation and the kids loved seeing gas masks, wires, badges, and bulletproof vests. I was fascinated myself, and I have to admit I’m wearing the novelty badge each child received at the end of the presentation right now.The museum was mentioned on New England Mamas. It was an accurate review, and it can be seen here.