InfoFlash
Great Lakes Children's Museum

October 2011

In This Issue
Things That Fly
New Website
$5,000 Grant
Toddler Time
Interactive Story Time
Coming in November
Waves of Wonder
 

celebrating the childlike wonder
in all of us

 

 

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Great Lakes Children Museum

13240 S. West Bay Shore Dr.
P.O. Box 2326
Traverse City, MI 49685
(231) 932-4526

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Featuring October Programs...
Member Night, New Website, Major LEGO Grant, Toddler Time, InterActive StoryTime, and More!

Fall Member Night - Things That Fly

Friday, October 7, 5:30-7:30 pm

For our first Member Night of the season we will be exploring things that fly -- geysers, helicopters, planes, and rockets. Weather permitting, we'll be in the Discovery Center courtyard launching stomp rockets, one of our favorite community outreach activities. At 6:30 pm we'll gather outside and set off a few Coke & Mentos geysers. Inside, we'll make a variety of paper airplanes and helicopters. With adult help, even the younger ones should go home with something that spins or flies.

 

As with all Member Nights, there will be complimentary refreshments. Also, each member child may bring a guest free of charge.

This is members-only event. However, you can renew or take out a membership the night of the event.

Stomp Rocket
Stomp Rockets at TC Film Fest Kids Fest.          Photo credit Keith King, Record-Eagle

 

New Website Goes Live!

 Website Header

After months of work, we went live with our new website today! You can find it at GreatLakesKids.org. It has a convenient calendar that will allow you check for events, activities, and programs throughout the year. It also has many new features and lots of new content. It has links to our FaceBook page and our Flickr photo albums, and also connects to an archive of past InfoFlash newsletters.

 

A few pages remain under construction and we are still adding photos and graphics. Click on over and check it out!

 

Museum Receives $5,000 Grant for New Exhibit
LEGO Children's Fund

The Great Lakes Children's Museum thanks the LEGO Children's Fund for the $5,000 gift we just received. We will combine this generous gift with another grant from a local family foundation and create a new Magnetic Ball Wall exhibit.

 

In honor of the LEGO Children's Fund, we are sharing this link to a video of this awesome project. Full-size SUV built out of 380,000 LEGOS.

October Toddler Time Schedule
Fridays, 10 am to noon 

Toddler Time is offered Fridays from 10 am to 12 pm. It is an opportunity for toddlers to interact with each other and learn through a variety of activities and experiences. Toddler Time encourages toddlers' natural curiosity, enhances fine and gross motor skills, guides appropriate social behaviors, and facilitates essential cognitive growth. Most importantly, it's fun! Toddler Time is included with the price of admission or the cost of your annual membership. 

 

Toddler Time Activities in October

 

Bottle Bowling, October 7

Children will have fun setting them up and knocking them down. We will use recycled plastic bottles as bowling pins and a variety of balls to throw and bowl.

 

Laundromat, October 14

Truly a wishy-washy dramatic play experience!

 

Have a Ball, October 21

A wild assortment of balls will be provided for children to play with. Children will be able to roll small balls down a tube, use laundry baskets to throw balls into, and sit in a kiddie pool filled with balls.

 

Halloween Fun, October 28

Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Come and have some non-scary toddler pre-Halloween fun. Lots of activities on the pumpkin theme for our youngest visitors.
   

Toddler Time is funded by a grant from the Oleson Foundation.

 
October InterActive StoryTime Selections
Stories with a Twist! Wednesdays, 11:00 am
InterActive StoryTime features great works of children's literature and activities and crafts led by Museum staff and volunteers, which enhances the experience for children and deepens their understanding of the selected book.
 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle, Oct. 5

One sunny day, a little caterpillar hatched out of a tiny egg. He was hungry. Find out what he ate, and how much he grew.

 

Knuffle BunnyKnuffle Bunny

,
by Mo Willems, Oct. 12

Trixie, Daddy, and Knuffle Bunny take a trip to the neighborhood Laundromat. But the exciting adventure takes a dramatic turn when Trixie realizes somebunny has been left behind.

 

Pumpkin Patch Puppy,

by Danielle Denega, Oct. 19

A visit to the pumpkin patch back when Clifford the Big Red Dog was a puppy.

 

The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid Of Anything,

by Linda Williams, Oct 26th

One autumn night, while walking in the woods, a little old lady heard strange noises behind her. The little old lady who was not afraid of anything had the scare of her life!

 

InterActive StoryTime is underwritten through a generous Early Childhood Reading Grant from the Target Foundation.

Coming in November

Traverse City Area Public Schools will be closed for two Mondays in November. That means we'll be open with Brain Storm Challenge days, which provide activities suitable for older children. November 7 will be Lumberjack Day and November 28 will feature our new energy exhibit, the Energy Bus.

Shop Your Community
 

November 12 is Shop Your Community Day, where more than 50 downtown Traverse City merchants donate 15% of their sales to participating local nonprofit of your choosing. Choose the Great Lakes Children's Museum when you "shop your community" in November! 

The software and service that delivers our newsletter is made possible, without cost, through Constant Contact's Care4Kids program (see below) and the sponsorship of Hanna Bistro in downtown Traverse City.

Kids: They dance before they learn

    there is anything that isn't music

  ~ William Stafford