Boston Children's Museum
308 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210
617-426-6500
© Boston Children’s Museum 2024
Website Design by Jackrabbit
Children will have their own special associations with spring and its early signs. For the Mashpee Wampanoag in Massachusetts the signs of spring always begin with the return of a special fish, the herring, from the ocean to the local streams and rivers to spawn. This event marks the celebration of the Wampanoag New Year. What other new year’s festivals and celebrations are your children familiar with? Are there natural occurrences which are associated with them?
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Children are familiar with celebrations like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day, but there are many other celebrations recognized by other cultures that your students may be less familiar with. By learning about these celebrations, children can gain insight not only into the customs of other cultures, but they can come closer to understanding and appreciating the diversity of some of their peers as well. Spring is the time of year that Wampanoag culture gives thanks for the herring that fill the rivers and streams. This activity introduces students to the methods by which the Wampanoag traditionally caught herring and other fish.
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Along with all of the literacy benefits to having children write and act in their own plays, in this activity they will also learn to read, listen to and tell stories; to work effectively and cooperatively in an ensemble; to create a play with a beginning, middle and end based on an original idea; and to plan, improvise and write or record a play that includes the “five W’s”: who, what, where, when, and why. And by introducing children to Chinese shadow puppet history and/or stories, they will grow to understand the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.
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Strawberries are an important (and delicious!) part of the summer harvest for the Wampanoag Tribal Nation. This activity introduces children to a recipe used by Native Americans in Massachusetts and across North America.
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As children discover how to express themselves through art, they should learn how to use a variety of materials and media such as crayons, chalk, paint, clay, various kinds of papers, textiles, yarns, etc. It is important for them to also understand how to use these materials to produce different visual effects. Shadow puppets offer children an opportunity to not only develop this knowledge, but also to create artwork in a variety of 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional media, to use appropriate vocabulary related to methods, materials and techniques, and to take care of materials and tools and to use them safely.
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Cultural understanding is easier for children when it is grounded in commonalities. By learning and playing games that children in different cultures also play, kids can come to discover that people from different parts of the world are not as different as they might think.
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Providing a context to an activity can help to give it significantly more meaning for children. Before doing the Ayo activity, read this story to children and learn a little more about the different ways of playing, and who usually plays Ayo in Nigeria.
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Understanding basic circuits comes from experience, and many children haven’t had that experience. But once your students have mastered the basics of lighting a light bulb with a battery, there are limitless possibilities to the kinds of investigations they can engage in. This activity expands your students’ investigations by focusing on new ways of wiring and introducing a holiday tradition from the Southwest U.S.
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Suminagashi, Japanese for “ink-floating,” is a paper marbling technique that was practiced in Japan as early as the 12th century. Creating these beautifully marbled pieces of paper encourages children to relax, focus and observe the changing swirls in front of them. You will be amazed by the beautiful results!
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Boston Children's Museum
308 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210
617-426-6500
© Boston Children’s Museum 2024
Website Design by Jackrabbit