Connections

Connections is a comprehensive outreach program designed to create sustainable relationships between the Museum and our community members. The Museum is currently partnering with 35 local preschools, including 1,250 participating children, through Marin Head Start, Marin Community Child Development Program, San Francisco Unified School District Child Development Program, Wu Yee Children’s Services and Contra Costa Head Start. Each partner preschool will be visited by a Museum educator and will subsequently receive transportation and admission to the Museum for five visits annually. Four visits will be made with teachers and preschool staff and one visit will include the families of the children. Each visit will include extended programming related to the annual theme On the Bay. In addition to on-site programming, the Museum has developed an Enriched Curriculum Packet to support preschool teachers make their visits to the Museum an integrated part of their classroom. Each participating school has committed to work with the Museum for three years in order to create meaningful relationships between the children, teachers, families and the Museum.

For more information, contact Kathleen Sheridan at ksheridan(at)badm.org or (415) 339-3916.

Pictures from Connections visits

Special Thanks to the Generous Funders of Connections:

Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation
James Wilkinson
GAP Foundation
Irene S. Scully Foundation
County of Marin
Bernard Osher Foundation
Gamble Foundation

Connections Fall Update

When was the last time you spent an afternoon with your hands in the dirt? And I mean really getting messy—digging, mixing, shaking, stirring, and pouring dirt and water. When did you last spend quality time looking at a worm? Did you notice how it moves its body? Or how it feels in your hand? Can you remember the satisfaction of spending endless hours outside? For many of the children participating in the Connections program, visits to the Museum provide a rare opportunity to spend time in the outdoors in a safe, comfortable environment.

In its second year, Connections is providing over 1,250 children time to explore nature through creative play. Through extended programming around the theme On the Bay—the land, sea, and air around the Bay Area—children will mix up mud pies, hold worms, climb around trees, dissect an owl pellet, create flying creatures, visit our beach, and more. And within Lookout Cove’s 2.5 acres, children can spend countless hours discovering the great outdoors.

We know it has been a successful visit when they leave the Museum covered with dirt, mud, paint and a smile on their face. Hopefully, these children will remember their time at the Museum and continue to nurture their relationship with their local environment.

Here are some simple ideas to support your children in creative outdoor play:

• Fill a large bin with dirt. Place gardening tools, watering cans, and buckets. Allow children to dig, mix, and explore the many different types of mud they can create. Dress your children in older clothes and allow them to be covered in mud.
• Or simply go outside and play in the rain and mud. Adults seem to worry more about getting wet and messy then children. Make sure you have dry clothes and a warm cup of hot chocolate ready inside. Mud and water are excellent sensory experiences that support children’s understanding of their bodies and their surroundings.
• Go on a bug hunt. After a rain is the best time to find worms, slugs, and snails. Let your children hold them—they won’t bite! What does it feel like? How do they move their bodies? Make sure you put your found creatures back where you found them.
• Or simply put out dirt, shovels, seeds, and water. Wait and see what grows!

Connections Year in Review 2009

At the end of the first year of our new Community Outreach Program, Connections, we reflect on the success of this innovative effort. We have hosted four visits by each of the over 800 children from our 22 partner preschool classrooms. That adds up to over 3,500 visits for our preschool friends and over 1,700 visits by their teachers, adult caregivers and parents.

It has been extremely satisfying to develop relationships with these children and adults over the year. We have witnessed the tremendous social, emotional, physical and intellectual growth of the 3 and 4-year-olds and have seen the children adopt the Museum as their own special place to express their creativity and learn through exploration of our exhibitions. We also hosted each group one more time, inviting each child to come back to the Museum and act as an ambassador for their extended family members, so whole families can share the fun and enriching experiences at our Museum.

Behind the scenes, we are conducting thorough evaluations of our first year in preparation for the upcoming year. We will continue working with the same classrooms again as well as adding new partners, including classrooms from Contra Costa Head Start in the City of Richmond. Connections will help us reach our goal to have all the visitors to the Museum reflect the ethnic, cultural and economic diversity of San Francisco and Marin counties.