Fort building has a rich tradition here at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Some of it lives on in our Kids' Building summer camps (like the photo here).
Cover an old card table with a blanket, use an old box from a refrigerator, or find a natural spot. Children relish the opportunity to create a space of their own where they are in charge. Let them set the standards for admission and participation in their fort. Sometimes children crave a private space where they can be alone and still within eyesight of an adult.
The job of the adult in this case is to facilitate the experience and participate as an observer. Only join the game if you are invited. You can learn a great deal about your child by stepping aside to watch the choices they make without your input.
Children can use this experience to test their own ideas and learn to recognize the consequences that result from their decisions. As we've mentioned before in our posts about the risk-taking study and 5 Dangerous Things Your Kids Should Do, we think it's important for children to test their own limits - they can't grow without some trial and error!
What do you think? Do you have fort-building memories from your childhood? Let us know in the comments.
It's no secret that kids love to play in the water - even on the foggiest days we're bound to see at least one kid splashing in the stream in Tot Spot or the Rocky Shore in Lookout Cove.
Most adults also have vivid memories of early experiences playing in and with water. Whether you co-design a water play area with your children at home using a hose, some buckets and tubs or you visit a local stream or beach, water is fascinating and has a strong educational properties. Water can be splashed or poured, used to sink or float objects; it can be routed into fast-moving streams or dammed to form ponds.
Playing with water helps children develop respect for nature as well as for basic safety rules and procedures. It also teaches social skills and cooperation, experimentation and problem solving.
We're all concerned with saving resources - especially water, here in the West. Here are a couple of tips for saving water when you play with your kids:
Invest in a spray nozzle for your hose - and look for one with a 'mist' setting. Not only will you save water from running when you don't need it, but it uses very little water to 'mist' your kids - or have them mist you!
Playing in the bathtub is one of the easiest, year-round ways to enjoy water with your children. But you only need an inch or two, not a full tub which can hold 30+ gallons. Fill the tub a bit, pull the curtain closed (most of the way!), and let your child splash to their hearts content!
A major study by Play England, part of the National Children's Bureau in the United Kingdom, and reported in an article in Sunday's The Observer (U.K.), explains that "risky" play is a childhood necessity. At the Museum, we know that child-directed, open-ended Discovery Play sometimes leads to bonked heads and skinned knees - but that might not be a terrible thing:
The absolute level of risk of much outdoor play is probably over-emphasized in our culture. Last year in England, "almost three times as many children were admitted to hospital after falling out of bed as those who had fallen from a tree."
Physical activity is critically important in a world where children spend increasing numbers of hours in front of a screen. In the U.K., this study said, "half of all children have been stopped from climbing trees, 21 per cent have been banned from playing conkers and 17 per cent have been told they cannot take part in games of tag or chase." If they can't play these typical childhood games, what are their alternatives?
The ability to fall down and get up again applies to more experiences than just climbing a tree. "Risk-taking increases the resilience of children," says one expert quoted in the study.
"It helps them make judgments," said another expert. It is impossible to protect your children from all risk - but when they aren't allowed the opportunity to explore their own abilities, they won't learn to judge their own limits.
If we want our children to be stewards for the environment, they need to get out and get dirty in nature. According to the research, "70 per cent of adults had their biggest childhood adventures in outdoor spaces among trees, rivers and woods, compared with only 29 per cent of children today. The majority of young people ...
This Wednesday, meet in Studio 10 at 2:15 p.m. to explore how the form and function of animals and objects affects their motion in the wind. How does the shape and weight of a bird help it fly? What helps seeds disperse in the wind? Design your own creatures to test in our wind tunnel in this free hands-on workshop for children ages 4 to 8 lead by Lead Science Guide Tami Lau.
After spending almost a year as a Discovery Guide, Tami Lau has recently accepted the new role of Lead Science Guide. Previously, Tami worked for the National Park Service at Pinnacles National Park where she led the Junior Ranger program. She plans to start a similar program at the Museum.
Have you ever played a didgeridoo? This Saturday's interactive performance by Timothy will have your whole family vibrating their lips and practicing their circular breathing!
Check out this YouTube video of famed Aboriginal didgeridoo player Larry 'Winiwini' Gurruwiwi.
Remember - use the code groovy when you purchase your tickets online in advance to save $1 on each ticket!
Growing up I was told that education was important. It never occurred to me that some areas were mainly male dominated. I was just as good in math and science as the boys were. I actually preferred it when I was in elementary school.
There wasn't a strong push to teach gender equality when I was younger. Schools seem to be more aware of that now. Perhaps it's the turn of the times or the legislation of the controversial No Child Left Behind law; either way, testing has shown that girls are just as smart as boys in math. The San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Times both touch on the subject in recent articles. They mention a toy made in 1992 as a social marker of the stereotype...the notorious Teen Barbie that proclaimed "Math is Tough." The toy created an uproar with the moms and educators alike.
Here at the Museum, I see children play at our own Lookout Cove. There are trucks and brooms scattered all around the site and girls play dump trucks while boys sweeping away sand looking for buried treasure. In our more scientific Wave Workshop there is an equal interest in the science of currents and wind by both genders.
It's nice to see the stereotypes being dispelled by the children all while they are learning and having fun!
At the Museum, we believe unstructured Discovery Play encourages development of creativity. Creativity is more than the ability to paint or make music, of course - it's the ability to create novel connections, develop new themes, and see patterns.
Last week's New Yorker Magazine has a fascinating article examining the science behind those "eureka" moments - unfortunately only an abstract is available online - but if you can find a copy (it has a dinner party with lobsters escaping on the cover) do check it out.
Researchers John Kounios, a cognitive neuroscientist at Drexel University, and Mark Jun-Beeman, a cognitive neuroscientist at Northwestern University, explain that "the insight process is an act of cognitive deliberation--the brain must be focussed on the task at hand--transformed by accidental, serendipitous connections."
So, when your kids come to play here, we encourage them to use our exhibitions in novel ways - to get into the "flow" of playing and develop their own insights into the way the world works. Not only are they having fun, but they're exercising the part of their brain that will lead to creative success in the future.
Spice up your Saturday with a “gumbo” of Cajun, Creole, Zydeco and jazz influences from Johnette Downing. She's been called "the pied piper of Louisiana music traditions" and we're sure all your little ones will be dancing up a storm to her multi-award winning music.
Johnette says, "Some of my earliest childhood memories are of my parents, my siblings and me standing in the doorways of Jazz clubs in the French Quarter and listening to Dixieland Jazz. I want to share music with children the way my parents shared it with me at such a young age. I perform music for children because I love it, I respect children, I like making children laugh and think, I want to share my musical culture, and I like giving children a reason to celebrate being children."
Want a sample of her songs? Click on through to her Web site to listen to a medley and view a video.
She performs at 11 a.m. this Saturday - tickets are $6 for members and $8 general (babies under 1 are free).
Thanks for everyone who wrote us in for the category Best Enviro-Friendly Place in the Bay Area for families! We're thrilled that you think of us when you "think green." Fostering environmental appreciation in our children is a deep part of our mission, and we're glad you agree.
Did you have a garage band when you were younger? Loud noises that sounded like music and some noises that were actually music?
Take that moment of music creativity and start it early with your children. Stimulate their imagination and create a Kitchen Band! Try these "instruments" and see what songs come from your own little Beethoven's:
Drums - Pots of all depths create different sounds and wooden spoons instantly become drumsticks.
Cymballs - Empty pie tins can be clapped together to accompany the drummer.
Maracas - tupperware with dry beans or macaroni inside.
Microphone - use a ladle, egg beater, wooden spoon.
Take and familiar song like Twinkle, Twinkle or Old MacDonald and try to time out the beats as they sing.
