Did you have a garage band when you were younger? Loud noises that sounded like music and some noises that were actually music?
Take that moment of music creativity and start it early with your children. Stimulate their imagination and create a Kitchen Band! Try these "instruments" and see what songs come from your own little Beethoven's:
Drums - Pots of all depths create different sounds and wooden spoons instantly become drumsticks.
Cymballs - Empty pie tins can be clapped together to accompany the drummer.
Maracas - tupperware with dry beans or macaroni inside.
Microphone - use a ladle, egg beater, wooden spoon.
Take and familiar song like Twinkle, Twinkle or Old MacDonald and try to time out the beats as they sing.
¡Ahora es posible encontrar información en Español en nuestro sitio web! Usted podrá leer leer sobre todo lo que tenemos que ofrecer aqui en el Bay Area Discovery Museum para ninos de edades 0-8.
Descubre toda la diversión y la emoción para ninos y adultos en el Museo.
Are you missing a ring? A ring was found on-site. If you lost a ring recently and can describe it and it matches then please contact us at lbivings(at)badm.org.
We are proud to present in out Art Studios an installation of photography and drawings from the Timothy Murphy School in San Rafael, Ca. a non-profit special education school for boys (K-12).
The photo mural is a collection of photos that were taken on campus through the artistic eye of the high school students in the art program at Timothy Murphy School. The Bay Area Discovery Museum has previously featured young artists as part of our mission to engage our visitors.
My favorite piece is a drawing of a symbol which has no title but beneath lies a statement, "This symbol doesn't mean anything to me. I am an artist."
It's on display until September 7 in the Art Studios. Come see it soon!
Tykes on Bikes Sunday, June 29 10 a.m. Market Street, San Francisco
Celebrate the joy of families of all compositions by walking with us in the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade. Bring your decorated tike, trike, stroller or wagon and we’ll provide treats to give to the crowd. To join our contingent, email jherrera@badm.org.
We will be positioned with other family groups and various participating schools near the front of the parade. It is a family friendly environment and we look forward to celebrating all kinds of families in this year's Pride Parade. Please join us!
Tales from the Land of Gullah May 17 - September 14.
Tales from the Land of Gullah builds bridges into the ancestral home that exists in the hearts and minds of many Gullah people today. Taking us back to the 1940s, long before the existing bridges were built to connect the islands to the mainland and the culture began to blend. In today’s society, values and traditions are assimilating into one as advances in technology bring the world together.
It has elements for older children in addition to the younger children. From interactive kiosks to a puppet theater where they can learn how history was carried on through story telling.
Come and experience a rich cultural exhibition at Discovery Hall!
Playdate 2008: An Evening by the Cove resulted in raising $570,000 for the Museum! We give a big thanks to everyone who helped bring this all together. The Council, Board, volunteers and the Museum Staff.
Everyone looked beautiful and had a fun time. See some photos of the event on our Flickr page here.
The importance of outside play has been a topic of interest recently by education and child development leaders. Where schools are focusing more and more on testing and academia, the importance of play falls on the wayside. For the younger children outdoor play seems to be even more crucial for developing social and personal life skills. Self-regulation, sharing, team building and interactions with different people are all skills that children learn while playing in a playground. I wrote about news articles that highlight this topic in an earlier blog post, The Decline of Serious Play.
A report in the New York Times speaks about day cares not going outside to play with the children, in an article called The Flip-Flop Factor. Citing reasons such as children wearing flip-flops, no coat or playgrounds having mulch which can be thrown by kids and some caregivers just thinking it is too much trouble.
Where academia is very important and parents do urge their children's caregivers to teach them as much as they can, it is also important for children to play. We hope that developmental play becomes a focus of parents as well as educational learning. The Museum works to provide such play with our varied exhibitions and community programs which not only has strengths in early child development but fosters a stronger family unit as well.
My mother loves champagne brunches. We have gone to nearly every restaurant in the Bay Area that offers them. Grand Cafe in SF, Claremont Hotel in Oakland & many others that I found on Open Table. You can't have a Mother's Day without flowers! I have been going to Moe's Flowers in Berkeley since college and his arrangements are the only ones who grace the tables of my mother and aunts for the past 12 years.
I still remember making those arts and craft gifts for my mom in school. Glitter picture frames with a photo of me in the middle. The hand print paper weight that I broke while taking it home to her. I didn't, however, make a macaroni necklace for her. Even as a kid I knew that food is not a cute fashion accessory.
Try a few of these Mom's Day art projects with your kids!
Paper Flower Bouquet - take 3 or 4 small tissue paper squares and fold them like a fan, take a pipe cleaner and twist it to hold the folded paper at one end. Unfold, twist and bunch the tissue paper to make a flower! Repeat until you get a beautiful paper flower bouquet.
Artist's Rendition - Take a photo of mom with the kids and have your child draw, color and/or paint a replica image on a piece of construction paper. You can frame the art and the photo and place them together on the mantel.
French Toast M-O-M: Make french toast for breakfast and have the child cut out the letters with a butter knife for a special breakfast in bed.
If you're scrambling for gift ideas you can't go wrong with stores like
