Thursday, June 25, 2009

Rochesterfest Family Fun Night

We had a fantastic time at Family Fun Night at Rochesterfest downtown last night. As soon as our new CMR Under Construction playhouse was setup, the children swarmed to it, donning work vests, goggles, and paint brushes. It's amazing to see them "go to work" and immerse themselves in the exhibit. Check out the Post Bulletin article on the event and our progress with the project:

Special thanks to the Rochesterfest volunteers who helped us unload and build the playhouse and our own CMR volunteers for helping us during the evening.

Friday, June 5, 2009

CMR on Fox News on June 4!

Check out www.myfox47.com and click on the Video on Demand to see a short segment about the CMR that aired on Fox News on June 4. It is the top video temporarily, but after a day or two you will have to scroll down the video list to find it.
We'll be on TV more soon :) Fox is putting together a 30-second Public Service Announcement about our project that will be airing a lot this summer, hopefully!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Exhibits

You may have seen some of the recent news regarding our donated playhouse or our plans for the future museum's exhibit themes, but we have other popular exhibits as well. We've brought these to a number of events over the past year and a half.

- Seashells, Rocks & Fossils - A large varied collection donated by a former science teacher including a dinosaur footprint fossil, various types of corral, shark teeth, large quartz crystals, agates, and much more. At last year's Child Care Resource and Referral Fun Night, we had many of these on display including a fossil/seashell dig that was VERY popular with the kids.

- "Pipe" Organ - It's not every day you can use PVC pipes and a pair of flip flops to make music! See a picture of it here . The boxes of sand in front are from the sand dig at CCRR mentioned above.

- Farmer's Market - A miniature market where children can select play foods, "purchase" them, and prepare a pretend meal. This exhibit was recently part of the YMCA Healthy Kids Day.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Photos of "CMR Under Construction" exhibit

Here's a link to a few photos of kids enjoying our "CMR Under Construction" exhibit, which we're setting up around town at community events this summer.

www.childrensmuseumrochester.org/about/Constructionexhibitphotos.html

Monday, May 18, 2009

Association of Children's Museum Preconference Notes

As a member of the Association of Children's Museums, we had the opportunity to attend the ACM's InterActivity preconference in Philadelphia last month. Here are some interesting tidbits:

- At our table, emerging museums from Florida, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Calgary, Alberta were represented.

- Plans for a children's museum in Brookings, SD are moving forward. Another in Mankato, MN is looking for a permanent location much like CMR.

- Feasibility studies are important for the success of the future museum (CMR has completed both a marketing feasibility as well as a fundraising feasibility study).

- The ACM is launching an emerging museum toolkit this summer due to the generosity of an anonymous donor.

- The passion of the volunteers involved in these emerging museums at the conference was clearly evident. These people are driven to improve the educational and family opportunities in their respective communities.

- And finally, a cloud can weigh over 500 tons!! :-)

We look forward to attending next year's conference (rumored to be coming to our backyard in St. Paul!)

Monday, May 11, 2009

Importance of Play Study

The NY Times recently published the findings of a study done by the Alliance for Childhood.

The group advocates more play for children, especially the imaginative "let's pretend" type play that CMR will bring to Rochester, to help develop young minds.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

"CMR Under Construction" exhibit is a hit!

We put up our new "CMR Under Construction" exhibit at the Aldrich Memorial Nursery School carnival on May 2 and at Childcare Resource & Referral's Family Fun Night at Graham Arena on May 5. Kids and parents loved the playhouse and accompanying activities! We plan to set up this traveling mini-exhibit around town a lot this summer to raise awareness and enthusiasm for our project. Look for photos on our website and this blog soon :)