Hand to Hand Association of Children’s Museums

1 Learning That Playis Learning

2009 PromisingPractice Award:

Northwoods Children’sMuseum

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6 Natural Connections:Children’s Museums

and Informal CareProviders

Connecting theDots

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Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea,speaks at InterActivty 2009 in Philadelphia.

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Learning That Play is LearningA Collaboration between the Children’s Museum of Manhattanand City University of New York Early Childhood Professional

Development Training Institute

or thousands of low-income parents inNew York City who are struggling to

erful learning mechanisms that allow themto spontaneously revise, reshape and restruc-ture their knowledge. In order to maximizetheir natural and robust capacity to learn,grow, develop and be ready for kindergartenand beyond, five things are essential:

• time to play and learn;• supportive and knowledgeablecaregivers;• safe, nurturing environments in whichto play and learn;• age-appropriate learning activities thatchildren love; and• a variety of opportunities for childrento be creative and independent think-ers.Professional development in early child-

hood education is a pressing issue across NewYork City, as thousands of young childrenare being cared for by adults who lack rudi-mentary training. Insufficient intellectual

A S S O C I A T I O N O F C H I L D R E N ’ S M U S E U M S

make ends meet, raising a child is a day-to-day challenge, whether the child is cared forby a family member, at a daycare center orby a neighbor or other adult in their home.In New York City, there are roughly 26,000informal child care providers caring for morethan 170,000 young children daily. Themajority of these providers are not licensed,few have training in early childhood devel-opment and all lack the financial resourcesand time to seek ongoing training. How canthis large group of providers, many of whomcare for children in relative isolation, bereached and provided with ongoing profes-sional development?

The urgency of training providers is di-rectly related to the importance of learningin the first three years of life. Children areborn to learn. Babies and children have pow- ao

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14 The NannyMarket

Seeing the PotentialChildren’s Museums

as Settings for Teacher/Provider Training in

Language Development

VOLUME 23 NUMBER 3 FALL 2009Caring for the Caregivers

Leslie Bushara, Children’s Museum of Manhattan

Hand to Hand Association of Children’s Museums

fessional development. The program wouldalso draw on CMOM’s expertise providingprofessional development for teachers,healthcare professionals and community-based organizations in arts, culture, healthand science.

Taking a Risk:Intensive New Program Model

Within weeks of the community accessevent, CMOM and CUNY staff met to be-gin work on developing an innovative train-ing model. Play is Learning would be the firstof its kind in length, content and structure.While most training options for providersare ninety minutes in length, this interactiveearly childhood course would be developedas a comprehensive ten-hour curriculum.The training would combine hands-on ex-periential learning with practical professionaldevelopment techniques.

The training curriculum flowed fromthe success of PlayWorks™, CMOM’s 4,000-square-foot early learning center, whichopened in September 2006. PlayWorks is de-signed to inspire experimentation and dis-covery through an array of activities that ap-peal to multiple learning styles andlevels. The Play is Learning curriculum forcaregivers capitalizes on the learning oppor-tunities available in the exhibit by demon-strating core educational concepts throughsimple and intuitive activities, rather thanlectures. This combination of kinesthetic,visual and auditory teaching results in careproviders grasping concepts rapidly and re-taining them more successfully. As Grace, aparticipating childcare provider, noted whilestanding in PlayWorks, “I see it all—themath, the language skills and the fun!”

As a leader in family-based early child-hood education, CMOM collaborated withCUNY to develop the Play is Learning pro-gram to help adults understand the crucialrole they play in preparing young childrenfor school and lifelong learning. Challengesto providing professional development tocaregivers include: lack of formal training,limited financial resources, language barri-ers and time available in their schedules forsuch instruction. It was crucial that the pro-gram be time efficient, cost effective and bi-lingual.

Building off of CUNY’s knowledge andexperience, the course was designed to meet

stimulation during the early years can disad-vantage a child throughout his or her life.By age three, the size of a middle-class child’svocabulary is more than double that of achild on welfare. According to the New YorkCity Department of Education, 50 percentof low-income children entering kindergar-ten are not prepared. These statistics are di-rectly related to the quality of intellectual andsocial nourishment provided by the adultswho are the child’s first teachers. The unfor-tunate reality is that, each year, thousands ofchildren from low-income households arepotentially not prepared to enter school, ei-ther academically or socially. During thesecritical early years in life, how can we levelthe playing field and ensure that these chil-dren are prepared for school, lifelong learn-ing and success?

Building a Partnership:CMOM and CUNY PDI

Since 2005, City University of NewYork’s Professional Development Institute(CUNY PDI) has offered childcare provid-ers training models that are sequential andcompetency-based. CUNY PDI works to en-sure that all early childhood educators haveaccess to a comprehensive system of profes-sional development that supports high-qual-ity early childhood experiences for NewYork’s children and families.

In 2007, after learning about theChildren’s Museum of Manhattan’s(CMOM) intensive outreach work, SherryCleary, executive director of CUNY PDI,attended a free community access event atthe museum for low-income families andcommunity-based organizations. Cleary wasimpressed that the children’s museum’s out-reach brought high quality educational re-sources to these underserved populations.

With more than thirty years of deepcommunity partnerships and outreach workamong afterschool programs, hospitals andshelters and professional development work-shops, CUNY was inspired to work withCMOM to develop and pilot an early child-hood training model that would provide asimilar kind of access, this time with a focuson professional development for childcareproviders. The program would be based onCMOM’s early childhood training curricu-lum and manual, Working with Young Chil-dren: a Resource for Early Childhood Educa-tors, and CUNY PDI’s body of work in pro-

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Janet Rice Elman

© 2009 Association of Children’s Museums. All rights reserved.Reproduction without permission prohibited.

Hand to Hand, a news journal for children’s museumprofessionals and others interested in children, fami-lies and informal learning, is published on a quarterlybasis by the Association of Children’s Museums.Unsolicited manuscripts, letters to the editor, art-work and photographs are welcome. Hand to Hand isa benefit of membership in the Association ofChildren’s Museums.

Opinions expressed in this journal are those of theauthors and do not necessarily reflect the position ofACM.

EDITOR & DESIGNER

Mary Maher908 East High StreetCharlottesville, Virginia 22902Phone (434) 295-7603Fax (434) 295-5045E-mail: MMaher2049@aol.com

ASSOCIATION OF CHILDREN’S MUSEUMS

1300 L Street N.W., Suite 975Washington, D.C. 20005PHONE (202) 898-1080FAX (202) 898-1086E-MAIL acm@ChildrensMuseums.orgWEB SITE www.ChildrensMuseums.org

The Association of Children’sMuseums (ACM) is a profes-sional service organization thatendeavors to expand the capac-ity and further the vision ofchildren’s museums. ACM’smission is to build the capacityof children’s museums to serveas town squares where play in-spires creativity and lifelonglearning. Membership includes

BOARD MEMBERSMarilee JenningsChildren’s Discovery Museum of San Jose (CA)Georgina NgoziBrooklyn Children’s Museum (NY)Bryn ParchmanPort Discovery Children’s Museum (Baltimore, MD)Ruth ShellyMadison Children’s Museum (WI)Debbie SpiegelmanMiami Children’s MuseumLeigh-Anne StradeskiEureka! The National Children’s Museum (Halifax, UK)Sheridan TurnerKohl Children’s Museum of Greater Chicago (Glenview, IL)Mark WrightNational Children’s Museum (Washington, DC)

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

PRESIDENTNeil GordonThe Discovery Museums (Acton, MA)VICE PRESIDENTOF GOVERNANCEJane WernerChildren’s Museum of Pittsburgh (PA)VICE PRESIDENTOF PROGRAMSHenry SchulsonCreative Discovery Museum (Chattanooga)VICE PRESIDENT OFMARKETINGBarry A. Van DemanMuseum of Life and Science (Durham, NC)

TREASURERJulia BlandLouisiana Children’s Museum (New Orleans)

SECRETARYLoretta YajimaHawaii Children’s Discovery Center (Honolulu)

PAST PRESIDENTLaura FosterPlease Touch Museum® (Philadelphia, PA)

children’s museums as well as other museums with aninterest in both child and family audiences, individu-als and corporate members.

continued on page 10

According to the New York City Department of Education, 50 percent of low-income

children entering kindergarten are not prepared. These statistics are directly

related to the quality of intellectual and social nourishment provided by the

adults who are the child’s first teachers.

Hand to Hand Association of Children’s Museums

ods, there are no lectures. Sessions are de-signed to engage, inspire and delight. As oneprovider, Viviana, remarked during a session,“I feel like a child again!” Many providersalso have noted that these sessions were un-like other trainings they attended because ofthe rare opportunity to play, do art, sing and

dance while learning to teach important earlychildhood development skills.

For example, in Creative Mess Makingthe goal is to help providers understand theprocess and the importance of creative artsexperiences. The active session helps themunderstand and support different learningstyles while learning classroom managementtechniques, such as including children in thecleanup process and making smooth transi-tions from art activities to follow-up literacyand music activities. Through hands-on artworkshops that include finger painting andcollage, participants experience the impor-tance of a nurturing and open-ended ap-proach to art making. They learn how tobuild descriptive vocabulary through sensoryexploration and then to guide childrenthrough that same process. They also learnthe importance of setting up an art area,choosing materials and managing transitionsbetween activities. Connections to pre-read-ing and literacy skill development are ex-plored through interactive storytelling andmusic exploration.

This first session begins with fingerpainting. Care providers are always surprisedat being asked to do such a messy activityright off the bat. Many ask if they have topaint. Some are afraid of getting messy, somefeel that they aren’t artistic. It is the perfectopportunity to reinforce the importance of

supporting different learningstyles. As we explore ways to en-gage children at their comfortlevel, the providers relax and findways to explore and express them-selves through the art project. Asone provider, Miriam, stated, “Inever thought about how manyemotions are involved in paint-ing. I’m going to be more patientwith all my children now.”

The same methodology isapplied to the subsequent ses-sions, Science Learning is Every-where and Math Through Art,Music and Movement. Providerslearn firsthand how simple (andsometimes messy!) art activitiescan teach science concepts, howmath skills can be found in ev-eryday experiences and how art,literacy and music activities canhelp develop math skills.

In addition to the three pro-fessional development sessions,providers are invited to bringtheir children to take part in asixty-minute guided tour of oneof the exhibits when the museumis closed to the public. As part of

the Creative Mess Making session, partici-pants tour the PlayWorks exhibition to un-derstand more about how children experi-ment, play and learn in different settings.This guided exploration provides an oppor-tunity to observe how their children interactin a play and learning environment and achance for the providers and children tobond. For the Science Learning is Every-where session, providers and children tourthe CitySplash exhibition and participate inhands-on art activities that include tissuepaper painting and “magic” noodle collagewith a focus on the properties of water (bothin its solid and liquid states) that supportscience skills. As part of Math Through Art,Music and Movement, participants tour theAdventures with Dora and Diego exhibitionand participate in hands-on art workshopsthat include three-dimensional wood sculp-tures, play dough exploration and patterncollages that encourage self expression andincorporate pre-math skill development.

Providers learn to encourage differentcore early childhood literacy skills through

on Saturdays to best accommodate care pro-viders’ schedules. CMOM provides food,training materials and, upon completion ofthe program, a free museum membership,which proves to be a huge incen-tive. Care providers rarely leavetheir homes or immediate neigh-borhoods, leading to a narrow andisolated experience during a timethat, for children, is critical fortheir healthy growth and develop-ment. Therefore, providing freeaccess to informal learning envi-ronments such as a children’s mu-seum becomes equally as impor-tant as providing training itself.CMOM recently installed a barcode system that will allow themuseum to track membership us-age by the providers.

The Play is Learning Profes-sional Development Program is aten-hour training program com-prised of the following:

• three three-hour profes-sional development sessionsat CMOM for providers;• a guided sixty-minute ex-ploration of the PlayWorksexhibition for providers andchildren;• free one-year CMOMmemberships offered to pro-viders who completes theprogram; and,• a joint CMOM/CUNY certificatethat positions informal providers for an-ticipated pay enhancements from thecity.The overall goal for the program is to

equip caregivers with an understanding ofhow core early childhood skills in literacy,art, math and science—all of which are es-sential for preparing children to enter andsucceed in school—can be taught to youngchildren and to provide strategies, resourcesand tools for use in classroom and caregivingsettings. This is accomplished through amodel that integrates knowledge, theory andpractical application.

As part of the training program, pro-viders attend three three-hour professionaldevelopment workshops at the museumwithout children: Creative Mess Making,Science Learning is Everywhere and Maththrough Art, Music and Movement. The ses-sions are unique in that the pedagogy istaught through modeling and hands-on ac-tivities rather than curriculum review. Es-chewing traditional didactic teaching meth-

Learning That Play is Learningcontinued from page 2

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With the support and guidance of a museum staff member (lower right), achild and her care provider (top) work on art projects together.

CMOM and CUNY have successfully completed three ten-hour

professional development training courses. All ninety

participants have received certificates of completion, thereby

providing free museum access to more than 700 children.

Hand to Hand Association of Children’s Museums

OUTCOMES: Eight-five percent of theproviders could articulate how lesson planshelp support the diverse needs of young chil-dren and the multiple ways children learnbest. Ninety percent of providers felt renewedconfidence and excitement about teachingafter the first training session. The guided,structured lesson plans were successful intrainings, with all of the providers engaged andenthusiastic.

Training content and methodology couldbe successfully replicated in homecaresettings.

PREMISE: A written report of the home-work project would help providers summarizetheir successes and challenges and help CMOMaddress weaknesses in the presentation. CMOMand CUNY trainers would go over eachprovider’s write-up at the beginning of the sub-sequent session and give suggestions for improve-ment.

OUTCOMES: Based on evaluative re-ports, 75 percent of providers completed thehomework assignments and felt they weresuccessful. The remaining 25 percent citedlack of time, limited literacy skills and resis-tance to the idea of homework as reasons fornot completing the assignment.

Thirty percent reported that they didnot always recognize different learning styleswhen children objected to participating in acertain activity.

CMOM and CUNY staff observed thatparticipants were enthusiastic and excited toshare their outcomes, with many of themreporting that they had a better understand-ing of how to incorporate basic math tech-niques into everyday activities with children.Providers reported that the children in theircare learned new vocabulary words relatedto the lessons taught and that children of alllearning styles were able to express themselveswith the lesson formats provided. There wasnot adequate time to discuss every provider’sexperience. In retrospect, break-out sessions(five people per group) would have workedbetter.

Take-home lesson plans and materialswould provide adequate resources to cre-ate an educational environment in thechildcare setting.

PREMISE: With the guided lesson plan totake home and materials provided, providerswould have good recall of techniques and usethem consciously.

participants completed the program. Onehundred seventy-five providers were re-cruited to fill the pilot program’s thirtyspaces. Forty providers responded and thirty-one were eventually enrolled. Informal careproviders were identified through CUNYand then received a recruitment postcardmailing from CMOM and CUNY.

Of those enrolled, thirty attended thefull ten-hour program and earned certificatesof completion. The CMOM site and week-end schedule were not problematic for par-ticipants, and English and Spanish speakerswere equally engaged, although additional bi-lingual trainers would bring an added ben-efit.

The experiential training methodologywould be effective in providing childcareproviders with skills, strategies, resourcesand tools for practical application in class-room and caregiving settings.

PREMISE: This target audience has a lim-ited range of skills, educational credentials andexperience. This audience has limited time andresources. CMOM’s hands-on experientialteaching methodology and utilization of thePlayWorks exhibition should be a cost- andtime-efficient model for this group.

OUTCOMES: CMOM and CUNY staffobserved that providers at all levels of edu-cation were engaged and successful in usingtraining techniques, and all were excited andengaged in exhibition exploration. Basedupon the evaluative report: 100 percent ofthe providers quickly observed the learningand teaching opportunities in PlayWorks, and90 percent of the providers felt that the dem-onstration-based teaching approach allowedfor ample discussion and full exploration ofmaterials.

Providers would be able to successfullyarticulate and understand the value oflesson plans.

PREMISE: By providing guided lessonplans for each of the three sessions, includingfollow-up homework assignments (providerswere asked to replicate lesson plans on their own,in the home setting), CMOM would reinforceteaching techniques for at-home use with chil-dren. In each session, providers benefit frompracticing the activity they would be doing withtheir children. CMOM supplied materials forreplication of the projects in the home care set-ting in response to providers’ limited budgetsand lack of experience in structuring lessonswith specific goals.

art, music and storytelling activities. Theyalso learn strategies for classroom manage-ment and explore how to apply learning inthe context of the museum’s exhibitions. Atthe end of each session, participants receivea resource kit containing the art, music andliteracy materials used in the training session,homework, and curriculum and lesson plansfrom CMOM’s early childhood trainingmanual. These resource kits were designedto allow providers to replicate and adapt ac-tivities in their own care settings. Providersreport on their progress to CMOM andCUNY educators, who offer feedback andsuggestions for any questions or challengesthe providers may encounter.

Lesson plans and homework activitiesare assigned to encourage providers to prac-tice and consolidate what they learn in theworkshops. Reviewing the homework allowsprogram leaders to see that while the pro-viders are enthusiastic about the project, theyoften do the project for the children insteadof giving children the full opportunity to ex-plore on their own. This provides the op-portunity for CMOM educators to discussand model additional training techniques forsupporting the creative process.

Evaluation and Assessmentof Pilot Program

Quantitative and qualitative data wascollected during the course of the pilot pro-gram, including participant attendance, per-centage of completion of homework assign-ments, observations by CMOM and CUNYeducators and self-reporting by participat-ing child care providers. Based on the com-bined experience of CMOM and CUNY, thepilot design tested seven hypotheses againstthe collected data. The following is a reporton specific goals and outcomes, reflecting keydecision-making points, on what each deci-sion was based on, what the results were andsubsequent reflections/conclusions.

The museum-based program modelwould attract and retain providers, re-gardless of background. A strong incen-tive would be to provide a free CMOMmembership and certificate of comple-tion for training hours covered.

PREMISE: Thirty childcare providerswould enroll for the full ten-hour training pro-gram and earn a certificate for their attendance.Providers would be willing to come to CMOMon a Saturday. English and Spanish speakerswould be accommodated.

OUTCOMES: Ninety-five percent of the

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Hand to Hand Association of Children’s Museums

based settings and directed a public preschooland early childhood education program atCuyahoga Community College.

understand the importance of open-ended playthrough exhibit exploration. Providers wouldfeel comfortable in a museum setting, particu-larly consulting with experienced CMOM edu-cators.

OUTCOMES: CUNY and CMOM staffobserved that 85 percent of the providerswere surprised at how easy and fun comingto a museum could be. Responses from theproviders themselves are listed below.

• Fifty percent said they would use themembership on a weekly basis.• Thirty percent said they would use themembership twice a month.• Twenty percent said they would usethe membership monthly.• Ninety-five percent saw the impor-tance of interactive exploration as a wayto support multiple learning styles.• One hundred percent now feel com-fortable taking their children toCMOM.• Ninety percent said that they couldunderstand and apply the methodologyto their daily work with children.• One hundred percent expressed an in-terest in returning for additionaltrainings.• One hundred percent would recom-mend the program to other providers.

“I’ve been doing this for twenty-fiveyears and suddenly I feel inspired

to play and teach again”—Marcell, Childcare provider

CMOM and CUNY have successfullycompleted three ten-hour professional devel-opment training courses. All ninety partici-pants have received certificates of comple-tion, thereby providing free museum accessto more than 700 children. The fall 2009professional development training session isunderway. The program draws on CMOM’s

OUTCOMES: One hundred percent ofthe providers felt that the materials providedample resources to create rich educational en-vironments in childcare settings and helpedthem support multiple learning styles. 85percent of the providers felt more confidentin identifying and supporting diverse needsof children in their care. CMOM and CUNYstaff felt that the providers were confidentwith materials and therefore experiencedgreater success with their management ofdaily activities for children.

Providers would observe learning oppor-tunities in the PlayWorks exhibition.

PREMISE: Providers would commit to onesixty-minute provider/child class. Providerswould associate/link classroom activities withspecific school readiness skills.

OUTCOMES: Based upon evaluative re-ports, 95 percent of the providers were ableto observe and articulate links to PlayWorksactivities and preschool readiness skills. Theyfelt that the exhibit helped make learningmore visible and easier to understand, theywere able to observe the multiple ways theirchildren learn best and they felt this wouldhelp them in their daily activities with chil-dren. CMOM and CUNY staff observed thatall the providers felt the guided tour and classexploration were enriching and bonding ex-periences for the provider/child relationship.

CMOM would serve as a resource forhome-based childcare providers and thechildren in their care.

PREMISE: Providers would use CMOMmemberships to bring their children to themuseum. Providers would observe and better

expertise in providing professional develop-ment programs throughout the community.The retention rate and success of this pro-gram proves the deep value that children’smuseum offer to a community in need.

Conclusion

CMOM and CUNY’s collaborationunderscores the need for professional devel-opment for care providers of disadvantagedchildren to better understand early childhooddevelopment and age-appropriate activities.The collaboration also ensures that provid-ers are familiar with the proper resources tocreate an engaging educational environmentthat lays the foundation for school readinessand lifelong learning.

For providers, it is a chance to break thecycle of isolation and loneliness that can beinherent in their work. Together, they buildconfidence and find value in their profession.For children in their care, it is an opportu-nity to receive an equitable and competitivestart to their education and a chance to learn,grow, socialize and play with other childrenin a nurturing environment—whether thatis at home or through the rich resources of amuseum environment. For many childrenand providers it is their first and only mu-seum experience. For parents, it provides asolution to the very real challenge of provid-ing their children with high-qualitychildcare. Play is Learning provides a criti-cal link in building a stronger communityby crossing economic and cultural barriersand becoming an important and valuable re-source for all families.

Leslie Bushara has been with the Children’sMuseum of Manhattan since 1993. She is cur-rently deputy director of education and over-sees all early childhood programs; she was thecontent developer for the PlayWorks exhibition.

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caregivers usually remain in this occupationabout five to seven years. Other biases in-clude questioning whether caregivers caneven benefit from training at all. Is it worthinvesting in preschool caregiver training pro-grams, or is it just better to wait until kidsenter kindergarten to deal with language andliteracy weaknesses?

Despite this setback and our encounterwith biases and a few doubting thomases, themuseum remains committed to being a com-munity resource and partner in early child-hood education. This grant rejection has re-vealed how much more work needs to be

Promoting Children’s Museumscontinued from page 9 done in educating community leaders about

the valuable educational environment thatexists in a children’s museum, about the re-sources that abound here in parent/child andcaregiver/child observation opportunitiesand about the need for literacy and languagedevelopment training, especially amongcaregivers for whom educational opportuni-ties have been limited. It is a cycle we wishto break.

Sandra Redmond has been director of theChildren’s Museum of Cleveland since Decem-ber 2008. With a doctorate in early childhoodeducation, she has taught in therapeutic pre-schools, directed childcare in center and home-