Where in the World?

To build off of our geography day, Where in the World?, we want to emphasize the importance of exposing your kids to other cultures. During this summer drop-in day at The Children’s Museum in Easton, we were able to explore many aspects of the world’s geography and cultures. Various activities helped educate kids about our planet’s water supply and soil erosion, giving them an important outlook on our planet. Visitors to the Museum made flags from different countries, and we had additional arts and crafts that allowed kids to become more aware of where they are in the world. Also, there was a fun game of geography twister that was a huge hit!

With the passports you have created at the Children’s Museum, you can continue to add and mark places you and your kids have explored. It is easy to learn about various cultures without having to actually travel. Cooking and tasting foods from other countries is an excellent place to start at home! It can become a weekly tradition with your kids as you mark the different countries of which you’ve explored in the kitchen. Laying out a map and marking the countries or stamping in their passports will be a reminder of each unique experience. 

Geography Twister

It is simple to investigate authentic cuisines from around the world; doing so by setting the scene at home for your kids to really imagine what it's like in other countries can be a great eye-opening experience. You can get started by searching online about various cultures and their recipes or visiting your local library. Trying a different cultural restaurant or visiting the international isle in any grocery store is also a simple way to investigate various countries’ foods with your kids. Try some of these food recipes from around the world!

Not able to attend our day of exploring the world at the Museum? You can easily make your own passport at home by using an old notebook or simply stapling a few sheets of paper together. In addition, try some of the following educational at-home activities!

Helping your kids become more aware of where they are in the world is so important. Explaining the different times zones, exploring how different cultures dress (traditional clothing print out), and even learning a few words (50 ways to say hello) in other languages are excellent places to start at home. Doing so, can help your children become more aware of just how big the world around them really is. Visiting your local library is a fantastic place to begin exploring other cultures with your kids as well.

Why Playing with Dirt Doesn't Hurt

The Spring weather has finally arrived! Soon enough you may find that your children are covered in dirt, leaving a trail of their adventures on your kitchen floor. Sure, dirt hurts the cleanliness of your home, but studies have shown there are many benefits to playing outdoors, with the company of dirt. 

According to the National Wildlife Federation, playing outside can have a long-lasting impact on child development. Playing outdoors increases fitness levels, and promotes healthy bodies. While outside Vitamin D levels have been known to increase, which is a preventative for future healthy problems like issues relating to bone development, heart disease, and diabetes. 

Playing outdoors also has some great social benefits. Studies have shown that within minutes of seeing green space children's stress levels fall significantly. Playing outdoors also benefits children socially, allowing them to form close relationships. 

And then dirt comes in. Playing with dirt exposes children to healthy bacteria, parasites, and viruses, that help build a healthy immune system. Children who are rarely exposed to dirt have a higher chance of suffering from allergies, asthma, and other autoimmune diseases. Research has shown that within minutes of children making contact with dirt, their moods have improved, stress has been reduced and anxiety has decreased. 

You might be thinking how you can play in the dirt with your children. Luckily, we have a few ideas that you can take advantage of.

1. You can pick a spot where your children can dig. Give them a shovel and a bucket and watch them explore the world of dirt. 

2. You can go for a walk in your own yard or take a walk with your children through your neighborhood. 

3. Plan a nature scavenger hunt. 


These three very different activities will allow you to interact with your children outdoors and explore nature. You'll be amazed at how much your mood will change, from doing something as simple as going on a short walk. 

In the celebration of dirt and all the fun it brings along, we are happy to invite to our Dirt Don’t Hurt event. On Thursday May 28^th from 10am-1pm, we will explore the wonders of the natural world, and meet a few animals along the way. We can't wait to see you there!

* Written by Melinda Kinnear - Public Relations Intern

Animals Winged and Wet

Birds of prey are pretty interesting to learn about and see up close as Museum visitors had the chance to do this Past Friday, August 2.  New England Reptile and Raptor was here showing different birds of prey like the Barn Owl and Turkey Vulture while sharing some really interesting facts.  

Did you know:

• The Great Horned Owl is called the tiger of the woodlands because of its strength.  
• The gut of a vulture is so vile that most bacteria and disease can’t survive!
• The ear openings on an owl aren't symmetrical.
• Owls have 7 more vertebrae in their necks allowing them to be able to turn their heads around further than us.
• Turkey vultures can smell something dead from 12 miles away and are the only American bird with a sense of smell.
• The Paragon Falcon is the fastest diving bird and can reach speeds over 200 miles an hour!

These were some of the many interesting facts that we learned Friday.

Touch Tanks was also at the Museum on Friday providing a chance for kids to interact with different types of water creatures.  There were snails, crabs, oysters and hermit crabs for them to touch and hold and have fun learning about.   

Some cool information that we learned:

• 1 oyster can filter 50 gallons of water a day (that’s a lot of water!)
• When a crab outgrows its shell is sheds its old shell which is called molting 
• Green crabs are actually an invasive species.   
• There is seaweed in toothpaste.
• Crabs are plankton in their larvae stage.
• Hermit crabs use their antennae to feel and also to smell a little.

Everything that the kids interacted with was gathered from the Cape and will be returned to the Cape.

Did you miss these events or maybe your kid enjoyed them so much that they wanted to learn more?  If so, take them to the library where they’ll be able find books to teach them more or you can take them outside for some hands on exploration.  You can take them to a local conservation for the chance to see some birds of prey or join a group such as the Junior Bird Club or participate in programs like Birding by Van.  To discover more about the ocean and its inhabitants you can take them to the beach to see what they can find. 

Animals Winged and Wet wasn't the Museums last summer drop-in!  There are still drop-in days every Thursday and Friday up to the end of August.  For more information on Museum drop-in days you can click here.

Things To Do This Summer Part 3: Sunny Day Fun

Warm summer days are easy to plan for; no matter what, the kids can always have fun playing in the yard.   Trips to your local park, the zoo or one of the many wonderful museums in New England are always a fun way to fill up your summer.  Sometimes though, you just want to let your kids do something that’s a little different to keep them from getting worn out.  Even though kids are pretty inventive in finding new activities for themselves, here are some creative ideas that you and the kids may not have thought of yet and allow for some great family time together. 

1. A great way to explore the area and have a fun adventure is to go geocaching.  It’ll be a day for the whole family to spend time together while searching for treasure.
2. For some outdoor fun in the backyard, host your own Olympics!  Before you go outside you can have the kids make their own medals with some cardboard and string.  Once outside create different events for the kids to participate in like running, jumping and throwing.  Another fun thing to do is place cones, Frisbees or something similar around the yard and let the kids race to see who can get the most first.  After the first round, let the kids place the cones around the yard and go again.  This will keep the kids active and let their imaginations run wild as they pretend to be Olympic athletes. 
3. A unique outdoor craft to do with the kids is water balloon art.  Use some cheap art canvases that you can buy at a local craft store and either water color crayons or washable markers.  Let the kids design their own piece of art with the crayons or markers on the canvas.  Then, let them take the canvases outside and throw water balloons at them.  If you don’t have water balloons, water guns work well too.  The water will change the kids original design on the canvas giving them a funky design that they can then decorate their room with. 
   
4. Take the kids berry-picking.  Not only will it get the kids outside, but they’ll have fun picking fruit that you can eat later on!  A lot of berry picking farms have other activities for the kids to do as well.  Once you’re done, let the kid’s help you make something to eat that contains some of the berries that they picked. 
5. Go for a classic American pastime.  A fun treat for the whole family to enjoy is to go to a drive-in.  The kids will not only enjoy getting to stay up a little later than normal,  but the experience of watching a movie  on a giant screen while sitting in the trunk in pajama’s will also make them smile.  For a list of Massachusetts drive-ins click here.

Summer allows for so many wonderful opportunities to have a great time.  With all the ideas that you’ve seen here recently and your own summer ideas and traditions, this summer is sure to be that one your kids will look back on fondly when they’re older just as you do with your own childhood summer memories.

Dog Days II & BEE a POOP Detective!

It was a zoo at The Museum last week! We had a lot of animal visitors come and teach us a little something about themselves. Of course their owners helped them with their presentations, and we had a great time learning about everything from dog training to poop! Don’t miss our last week of Drop-in Days next week as we wrap things up with Miss Candy’s Petting Zoo and our favorite pal Ruff from FETCH!

Thursday we had our second Dog Days of Summer Drop-in Day. This time around we featured dogs that could do awesome tricks. In the morning Dick Norton, a dog behavioral therapist and dog trainer from Bark Busters, and his dog Douglas taught us how to safely approach a dog. There are a few steps that you need to take if you want to pet a strange dog. First, you need to ask its owner if it’s okay to pet his dog. Second, you need to make your hand into a fist and then let the dog sniff it. Once the dog seems comfortable with you, you can pet the dog under its chin- NOT on top of his head.

After Dick & Douglas’ presentation, we had a spectacular dog show. Australian Shepherds, and a little dog named Spanky, performed all kinds of great tricks for us. Many of the dogs could weave through their owners legs, spin, dance, and bow. Tika, a 7 month old Australian Shepherd, showed us how she says her prayers each night with help from her trainer. Spanky and Wish did a great round of fly ball- check out their skills by watching our video on Facebook! Wish is also an amazing frisbee player and made some great snags! After their performances, they did meet and greets with all of our guests. It was nice to get up close and personal with the celebrities! At the end of the day, we even got to help them groom one of the dogs who needed a good brushing. We had some dog-gone fun with all of our furry guests, and we look forward to seeing them again next summer!

I’d never thought that I would say that, but I am now a poop detective. Crazy, right? Well if you came to the Museum last Friday, then you are now a poop detective too! Before we got the scoop on poop, Channel 7 meteorologist, Chris Lambert, taught us how he calculates the weather. He also answered some great questions from the audience, like “How do they come up with the names for hurricanes?” Answer: The name depends on the part of the world that the hurricane is occurring, but weather people have a list of names that they use over time.

After Chris’ presentation, you could have headed over to the Bristol County Beekeeper’s table to check out the bee hive they had set up. They also had some honey combs so you could see what the bees make. They even had the gear that they have to wear when tending to the bees for us to look at! It was great to have these beekeepers buzzzing around The Wild Place throughout the day!

Finally we were taught all about animal poop through a great presentation from Animal World Experience. There are all different types of poop- it depends on what type of animal it’s coming from. Poop comes in all shapes and sizes, and even how it comes out is different in some animals too! The weirdest way one animal poops was a scorpion! The poop comes out of its tail, and it likes to smear it all of the walls of its cage. GROSS! The best part was that we all got to get really close to the animals that we were learning about. We were big fans of these super poopers!

It was another fun filled week at The Museum! If you love animals, then don’t miss your last chance to see real, lives ones next Thursday during our Miss Candy’s Petting Zoo Drop-in Day!

-Ashley Balerna

Public Relations Intern

Gardening for Beginners By A Beginner Part 1 - Homegrown Herbs

Are you sick of the snow and rain yet? Ready for some fun in the sun? I know I am! I am especially excited for the next few weeks leading up to our Spring Fling here at the Museum. For those of you who don't know, the Spring Fling is the annual opening celebration of our "Wild Place" outdoor learning center! We will be spending the whole day outside, learning how to create our own family gardens and the importance of community gardens.

That being said, I've started my own herb garden at home this week, and I thought you might want to do the same. For all you rookie gardeners like myself, herbs are a great way to start, and very KID FRIENDLY! Herbs can be grown indoors on a windowsill with plenty of sunlight, watered about once a week (be careful not to over-water), and be used for all of your cooking needs. All you need are: seeds, all-purpose compost, and a container. Be sure to put something in the bottom of the container to prevent root rot, I used rocks, but packaging peanuts work just as well.

Go "green" by washing and reusing

· old coffee tins

· peanut butter jars

· ice cream pints

· deli containers

· soda bottles (have your parents cut the top off)

OR buy your own pot and decorate it however you want. Paint it funky colors, use your favorite stickers, decoupage pictures or postcards from vacations...the possibilities are endless!

There are a whole lot of herbs that can be grown inside; basil, oregano, mint, parsley, and rosemary...just to name a few. Here's a great website I found with more tips on creating your own herb garden: allfreecrafts.com. You should start seeing some growth in a week or two, but you will have to wait 4-6 weeks to really use them...trust me, it will be worth the wait!

Good luck gardeners, and check back next week for part two of my gardening series for some yummy (healthy) recipes to make with your homegrown herbs!

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

Budget Family Friendly Ideas for All Seasons!!

The South Coast of Massachusetts offers two tucked-away gems of places that can provide hours of fun for kids of all ages.


The first is the Lloyd Center for the Environment, in Westport MA. Their nature center is on a beautiful stretch of Westport Beach and provides 5 miles of hiking trails and a broad range of animal exhibits, programs and seminars.

Not to be missed is their observation deck, which was named one of 15 "special places" in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. From there you can see Cuttyhunk and other of the Elizabeth Islands, ospreys and migrating birds in flight, harbor seals basking in the sun (during the winter) and much more.

A salt water touch tank lets the kids touch crabs, sea stars and other local sea creatures. A variety of aquariums provide appropriate coastal environments and information on local fish, shellfish and other invertebrates.

While the Lloyd Center’s primary focus is on students and teachers in grades K-8, younger children will also enjoy a visit there. Best of all, there is no charge to enjoy the center or the wooded trails, but a donation is always welcome!


According to their website, the Demarest Lloyd State Park “is one of the best kept secrets in the Massachusetts forest and park system”. I would heartily agree, since on a recent sunny Sunday when the line to Horseneck Beach stretched for miles, this pristine park with saltwater beach was just moderately busy, with lots of available parking and no lines of traffic to get in.

Perfect for families with young children, the surf is calm, the waters shallow and because of this the water temperatures are delightfully warm and agreeable. Plan to picnic in the shady groves, nicely equipped for you with tables and barbecues. You could spend the entire day here, and the kids will busy themselves exploring in the tidal pools, building sand castles. Bring a nature guide and see if you can spot egrets, herons, ospreys, terns and hawks overhead. The beach is a real winner!

Contact info:

The Lloyd Center for the Environment, Westport Ma

430 Potomska Rd
Dartmouth, MA 02748

508-990-0505

www.lloydcenter.org

Demarest Lloyd State Park,
Barney’s Joy Road, Dartmouth, MA
508-636-3298 (summer)

www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/southeast/deml.htm