Passports Required!
Opening Your Family’s World with International Travel
Traveling with kids can be an amazing experience. It opens their eyes to new experiences, cultures and ways of life – and they learn so much! In an increasingly diverse and complex world, it is essential that children have the opportunity to build the life skills required to be literate and responsible global citizens.
For most of us, a trip around the world is not exactly a reality. This means parents need to get creative in exposing their children to different countries and cultures.
Your Opportunity
Each month, Stepping Stones Museum for Children’s Around the World program takes children and parents to a different part of the globe highlighting the cultures and people that live there. Guests get to experience cultural programs brought to life and visit far away places without ever leaving the States. Around The World is a multifaceted project designed to spark curiosity, imagination and interest by introducing global issues and content, and encouraging shared moments of discovery for families.
Visitors can expect a variety of programming including performances from professional artists and musicians, hands-on activities, youth performers and an emphasis on the visual arts. A special passport is available for children so they can track the different destinations they “visited” at the museum. A short presentation on each country is shown in the Multimedia Gallery. These presentations may include live webcam feeds, media presentations or films for family audiences. They also include photographs, artwork and maps pertaining to the country of the month and are shown at various times each day.
• In September, Stepping Stones will travel to Greece. On Sunday, Sept. 18 visit the museum and see a performance of King Midas by Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre at 2 p.m. Award-winning puppeteer Liz Joyce presents the ancient Greek folktale that introduces concepts such as tolerance, self-esteem, compassion and charity.
Guests can continue their travels throughout the year with these performances:
• October (Peru) – Mestizo Manta. Saturday, Oct. 8 at 2 p.m. Formed in 1994, Mestizo Manta is a group of Peruvian aficionado musicians who have joined to cultivate Andean music from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia.
• November (China) – Dance China NY. Saturday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. This dance program, performed in full traditional Chinese costumes, introduces students
to Chinese culture through language lessons, historical background, onstage demonstrations and audience interaction.
• December (England) – Yuletide Singers. Saturday, Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. Dressed as Victorian carolers straight from the pages of a Dickens novel, the Yuletide Singers have earned the distinction as the finest holiday carolers.
Hyla Crane is the director of education at Stepping Stones Museum for Children.
Make Your Own Accordion!
If you missed the Museum’s craft for Finland in August, you can
do it at home. The Sata-Häme Soi Accordion Festival in Ikaalinen, Finland has, for years, invited young world-class accordion soloists to perform in Finland offering them an opportunity to become known to Finnish audiences. In Finland, the accordion is cool!
Materials
3 lunch size paper bags
2 poster board squares (any color) cut in 5 1/4 inch squares
2 strips of poster board – 1 inch wide by 6 inches long
Staples and stapler
Hot glue
Stickers
Markers
Instructions
1. Cut the bottom off each bag so it leaves an open bag that is 5 and 1/4 inches tall.
2. Line the three bags up and staple them together – one staple in the bottom and one staple in the top of the open sides of the bags.
3. Staple the 5 1/4 inch pieces of poster board to the outside of the accordion created by the paper bags.
4. Staple or hot glue the strips of poster board in the center of the poster board pieces to make the handles of the accordion.
5. Decorate the poster board with stickers and markers. You can even draw on buttons so it will look like a real accordion.
