I love visiting museums—art museums, natural history museums, even sports museums. You name it—there’s something interesting to learn and discover. What’s exciting in today’s digital world is that many museums offer online ways to experience their collections…and many fun programming ideas can be uncovered in this manner. Let’s take a closer look!
San Francisco’s Exploratorium describes itself as “a public learning laboratory where you can explore the world through science, art, and human perception.” They also have a wealth of fun activities online. Investigate shadows, balance…I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used their roto-copter in a pinch, and it’s always a hit!
We’re going to stay in northern California and visit the Bay Area Discovery Museum. They worked with libraries to develop the School Readiness Toolkit, which comes with a databank of fun activities (scroll down the page). You can learn more about this project here.
The National Gallery of Art has numerous lessons and activities that feature their collection, including books you can read that match them! The Boston Children’s Museum has tons of activities to search for and a newsletter to sign up for with more. They also have a great YouTube account with many ideas. Spend time with the Minneapolis Museum of Art’s Art from Home page.
Of course, one cannot create this list without mentioning the Smithsonian Learning Lab, with resources from all the Smithsonian museums for children and youth of all ages. One of my favorite resources from the Smithsonian are the Talk with Me Toolkits my library helped pilot through an IMLS grant (learn more here). If you want to discover more about this resource, Family Place Libraries, the Goodling Institute at Penn State University, and the Smithsonian Institute Office of Educational Technology is holding a free webinar on Thursday, October 17th from 2-3 p.m. EST. Register here.
What museum-based resources have you used in programming?
This post addresses the core competencies of III. Programming Skills and VII. Professionalism and Professional Development.