Online Educational Programming Launched by the Children's Museum and Theatre of Maine
In order to continue to serve as a resource for parents, families, and the community during a period of time marked by public health curfews and quarantines, the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine launched a series of free, online educational programs today. The Museum & Theatre is temporarily closed during this public health emergency (full statement here), but its mission continues.
Museum educators are livestreaming daily via the Museum & Theatre’s facebook page www.facebook.com/kitetails. Past programs and upcoming schedule are below.
The online series of programs – called “At Home Together” – is designed to support parents with easy prompts for hands-on experiential learning, imagination, and discovery through play. The online series is organized by themes: Makerspace and Wild Life are the initial two.
In addition, the Theatre program has launched the Maine Youth Playwriting Challenge Online. Theatre has the power and capacity to bring people together for a shared experience. The human experience is to tell stories and create empathy. While our theatre itself is dark, and while our schools are not in session, we are launching a playwriting challenge, inspiring children all over the state of Maine to write.
Lastly, the Theatre program has created an Onstage and Off: Theatre Together (Online) Series.
“We want to help families and parents get through this difficult time and to get through it together. Even though our doors are closed and we have been asked to distance from each other, we can come together and continue to build a community of play and discovery online. Our educators are still here for you. ”
Please find additional information below. This page will be updated as more programs become available.
“At Home Together”
Online Educational Program Series
“Wild Life” Programs in the “At Home Together” Online Series
The Museum & Theatre may be closed, but it’s still wild in here. If you have ever wondered what the animals at the Museum & Theatre do when the lights go out, now is your chance to find out. Tune in with your family to get tips on tide pool scavenger hunts, watch how frogs are fed, learn how to do turtle yoga (what?), and watch our yellow-bellied-slider turtles get out and explore our exhibits.
Our museum educators will provide you with simple discovery tips for morning or afternoon learning through play activities to do with your family. See our facebook page for these events in the Wild Life series.
Join Terra to check-on and feed our turtles and frogs, and even give Bizzy Bob some medicine!
Check in with our worm bin and think about you can use observations to learn about the world around you.
Learn about what the different creatures in our salt-water touch tank, and what they like to eat!
Check on our worm bin and learn how they deal with all this sun. This program is generously sponsored by L.L. Bean.
Join our special guest, Davida the Beekeeper, to get an up-close look inside a real hive and learn all about honeybees!
Check on our red wriggler worms and learn about their anatomy. This program is generously sponsored by L.L. Bean.
Check on our frogs and turtles and get a look at how they’re fed.
Learn more about how worms help plants grow. This program is generously sponsored by L.L. Bean.
Learn about garden helpers, and then check in with our worms! This program is generously sponsored by L.L. Bean.
Join Terra at the Audobon society to meet some of the tadpoles she’s collected to join our frog exhibit.
Join Terra and her co-host Nigel to learn about how we look after our beloved Maggie!
Join Terra to learn all about our honeybees, as well as other kinds of pollinators.
Join us for Earth Day to learn about the carbon cycle and how our wriggler worms fit in!
Today design a treasure map based on elements of your environment combined with your imagination!
Learn what story stones are and how to use them to tell a story of your own!
Learn about some different kinds of animal homes. Then go look for some outside, or build one of your own!
Check on the results of our experiment from last week, and receive a challenge to do an experiment of your own!
Check on our new tadpoles, then learn about the life in our backyard!
Check in with our worms and learn how they help plants grow! This program is generously sponsored by L.L. Bean.
Check in on our red wriggler worms and learn all about habitats! This program is generously sponsored by L.L. Bean.
Join us to check on our live red wriggler worms and then learn all about the water cycle.
Learn about different animal adaptations from our friend the snowy owl, and then design an animal of your own.
Join Terra (and Eloise!) to learn all about our cold saltwater touch tank and how we care for the creatures in it.
Learn how to find worms outside, and check on the progress of our worm bin!
Join our us to learn more about our yellow-bellied slider turtles and how we keep them healthy and happy.
Learn about the science of paleoart and how it helps us learn about ancient creatures.
Learn about creatures of the Cenozoic Period, and how scientists follow clues to make discoveries. Download the Fossils Worksheet Here.
Tune in to check in on our red wriggler worms, and learn about decomposition. We’ll also set up a decomposition experiment.
Part of the Wild Life series, we will explore nest building and eggs, especially those of robins.
Learn all about red wiggler worms, as well as what sorts of worms live here in the land we call Maine. Click here to download the Wiggle with Worms worksheet!
Learn about the life cycles of honey bees, and all the things a baby bee needs.
Turtle yoga...what? Sam leads us in Turtle Yoga. Learn what neutral turtle, diving turtle, or peeking turtle poses are!
Learn about our frogs and what they eat, then watch as our exhibits associate Terra feeds them. Click here to download the frog feeding info sheet!
Get a challenge for a beach scavenger hunt, then learn about some of the creatures you might meet. Click here to download the scavenger hunt worksheet!
Makerspace | Theatre | Music
“MakerSpace” Programs in the “At Home Together” Online Series
We may be closed, but don’t let that stop the budding engineer in your house from making! Tune in for quick and easy engineering-themed activities. Our educators will share ideas for identifying home-sourced building material and ready-to-go challenges to keep kids engaged with learning through play.
All program livestreaming occurs on our facebook page.
Learn how to use science to make your pancakes super fluffy! Our Sundays in the Kitchen series is generously sponsored by Hood.
This week’s pancake recipe is: buckwheat! Our Sundays in the Kitchen series is generously sponsored by Hood.
Learn about ratios and how you can use them to make delicious pancakes. Our Sundays in the Kitchen series is generously sponsored by Hood.
Join us to learn how to make home-made granola! Our Sundays in the Kitchen series is generously sponsored by Hood.
Brittany shares her final catapult design with her friend the cottontail rabbit. Share your design too!
Lean how to make stuffed dates, a delicious snack! Our Sundays in the Kitchen series is generously sponsored by Hood.
Today, we’re working on further refining our catapults. Then we’ll test them by using them to make splatter art!
Today we’ll work on testing and then revising our catapults to make them better!
If you want to treat your mom to some special cooking, here is the perfect recipe to try to draw inspiration from whatever ingredients you have in the cupboard--Choose Your Own Adventure Muffins! Our Sundays in the Kitchen series is generously sponsored by Hood.
Join us in the first of our cooking series, generously sponsored by Hood. Today learn how to make pizza dough, and all the science behind this tasty meal!
Today learn about perspective, and how you can change yours with simple actions (like sitting somewhere new). Then build a tiny world to enjoy!
Join us as we hunt for signs of spring, then go out and conduct a scavenger hunt of your own!
Download the worksheet here!
Learn about constellations, some of the different stories ancient peoples told about the stars, and learn to make your own indoor night sky!
Join us today to get started on sewing, with tips and tricks especially for kids!
Lean about how fossils form, and then make some of your own!
Join us today to learn the science behind yogurt and how to make some of your own! Our Sundays in the Kitchen series is generously sponsored by Hood.
Join us today to work on building a catapult from materials around your home!
Learn about force and motion - and how you can apply them - by building your very own slingshot.
Join our friend Ms. Toad as she reads the story of the Little Blue Truck!
Learn what biomimicry is, and see examples of inventions that have already used it. Then think about how to use biomimicry yourself!
Today, prepare to get splashed as we learn about things that sink, things that float, and how to make a boat!
Learn about the forces at work that help us fly, and experiment with your own paper plane at home!
Today learn about scientific observations, and make a journal so you can record yours!
Learn about light and shadow, and how to make shadow puppets for your very own show! Download the Shadow Puppet Worksheet Here.
Build something that will make someone smile, then think through what that might mean. (Keep an eye out for a special delivery!)
In this program, we use the classic story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" as an inspiration for a BUILDING CHALLENGE to make a chair for a bear.
Build a treasure box or hiding place for something you love using natural materials! Click here to download the secret place worksheet.
Think about how puppets come alive, and then build one for yourself from materials around your house! Click here to download the character development worksheet.
Walk through the basics of engineering and how to choose materials from around your house, then try a building a challenge!
Onstage and Off: Theatre Together Online Series
Onstage and Off theatre programs are livestreamed on our facebook page.
Explore the creatures that might live in a tide pool using yoga poses.
Join Sam to do some gigantic bubblegum breaths and then sing a song.
Join in with some yoga inspired by our favorite barnyard animals! (Due to technical issues, part two of barnyard yoga is here.)
Join us to hear a reading of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are.
Get moving today by going on an adventurous bear hunt around your house!
Have you ever imagined being on a cloud? Join us today for some cloud-inspired yoga!
Follow along for yoga that the whole family can enjoy!
Join us for the first of our mindfulness series and learn a little bit about our biggest feelings - and how breathing can help us with them.
Sully the puppet has long been our go to puppet for socio-emotional programming: naming feelings, coping mechanisms, sharing, and empathy. Through virtual engagement with the puppet, children will engage in dramatic play and develop empathetic response. Through songs, rhymes, and repetition, Sully will enhance language, early literacy and communication development.
Sully the puppet has long been our go to puppet for socio-emotional programming: naming feelings, coping mechanisms, sharing, and empathy. Through virtual engagement with the puppet, children will engage in dramatic play and develop empathetic response. Through songs, rhymes, and repetition, Sully will enhance language, early literacy and communication development.
Sully the puppet has long been our go to puppet for socio-emotional programming: naming feelings, coping mechanisms, sharing, and empathy. Through virtual engagement with the puppet, children will engage in dramatic play and develop empathetic response. Through songs, rhymes, and repetition, Sully will enhance language, early literacy and communication development.
Sully the puppet has long been our go to puppet for socio-emotional programming: naming feelings, coping mechanisms, sharing, and empathy. Through virtual engagement with the puppet, children will engage in dramatic play and develop empathetic response. Through songs, rhymes, and repetition, Sully will enhance language, early literacy and communication development.
Enjoy a shadow puppet show (and think about making one of your own)!
Learn the basics of prop-making, and how to make your letters and maps look old-fashioned. Click here to download the Prop Making Worksheet.
Join Allison for some yoga to get your body moving and ready to act!
Today learn about the different kinds of stage lighting and how to plan for your own show. Click here to download the Lighting Design Worksheet.
Join us to learn some improv games you can play at home, and see them in action!
Learn what monologues are and how to go about preparing them for auditions.
Maine Youth Playwriting Challenge Online
Maine Youth Playwriting Challenge a at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine empowers families to:
*Write stories
*Document our world and the time we’re living in
*Join in community
*Celebrate the imagination of Maine Youth
The Maine Youth Playwriting Challenge is an online group for young playwrights in Maine, to challenge and support each to write a play during this unique time of social distancing. These plays may take many forms, from realistic family dramas to utter absurdity. This challenge will take place while school is not in session and challenge young playwrights to write short plays, focusing on: inspiration, setting, character, and structure.
Music Programs:
A live feed performance of world renowned Maine-based musicians, Hanz Araki and Colleen Raney. Hanz and Colleen have over two dozen albums between the two of them and tour nationally and internationally with the Hanz Araki Trio, the Colleen Raney Band, and Josephine County. When they’re not performing in the states or abroad, Colleen and Hanz can be found working tirelessly on their flower farm in southwestern Maine. Click the concert title above to watch over 40 minutes of wonderful Irish music.