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Program Highlights
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Here's a sampling of the exciting events coming up this quarter.
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World Holidays:
Ramadan
Sunday, 8/4
2:30pm
Explore this Muslim holiday with snacks, stories and activities. All faiths are welcome and encouraged to join us for this celebration.
Free with admission. Blueberry DayMonday, 8/19All day eventWe'll use more than our taste buds to celebrate this sweet treat! We'll also use our fingers to paint with blueberry juice and use our ears to listen to a beloved blueberry story. Most events free with admission.
Rob Duquette Live
Saturday, 8/2412pmMaine musician Rob Duquette returns for a mini-concert that will have you moving, grooving and singing along! $4 plus admission
Auditions:
Hansel and GretelThursday, 9/53-5pmWe're looking for actors ages 8 to 17 to join the cast of our fall production. No experience necessary. Newcomers are welcome!
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Special
Thanks
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"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere," Albert Einstein once said. The following family foundations are a testament of this educational philosophy and have generously funded our work with children and supported our in-depth early childhood, science, arts and multi-cultural programs, hands-on exhibits, annual operations and our endowment fund this past fiscal year.
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Anne Randolph Henry Charitable Foundation: Annual Fund
Brooks Family Foundation: Annual Fund
Margaret E. Burnham Charitable Trust: Hansel and Gretel Playmaking
Cumberland County Fund of the Maine Community Foundation: Pop-Up Playscapes
Component Fund of the Maine Community Foundation: Tot Theatre
Damon Family Fund of the Maine Community Foundation: Annual Fund
Edward H. Daveis Benevolent Fund: Tot Theatre
Davis Family Foundation: Project: Integration
Frances R. Dewing Foundation: Just Sew Stories
Fisher Charitable Foundation: Annual Fund
Ginn Family Foundation: Annual Fund
The Robert and Dorothy Goldberg Charitable Foundation: Endowment
The William J.J. Gordan Family Foundation: Annual Fund
Roy A. Hunt Foundation: Youth Rangers
Libra Foundation: Annual Fund
The Lunder Foundation: Annual Fund
Morton-Kelly Charitable Trust: Environmental Exhibit Collaborative
The Bernard Osher Foundation: Annual Fund
Rines/Thompson Fund: Camera Obscura
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Maine: Play Our Way
Phineas W. Sprague Memorial Foundation: Powerful Playtimes
Simmons Foundation: Project Peter Pan
George L. Shinn and Clara S. Shinn Foundation: Annual Fund
The Strauss Foundation: Annual Fund
TD Charitable Foundation: Toddler Park
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SPOTLIGHT ON:
SUMMER IN THE CITY 
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Playcationland:
Let kids plan a family play day in Portland (and see how much they learn by leading!)
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Summer learning comes in all shapes and sizes!
Photo by Kaitlynn Perreault
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After a long year in school, children (and parents!) are always eager to enjoy the carefree days of summer. Those weeks out of the classroom give kids an important opportunity to relax and recharge. Unfortunately, summer is also prime time for learning losses, also known as the "summer slide." (Most students lose about two months of grade-level equivalency in math over the summer months.)
Summer learning doesn't have to mean flash cards and pop quizzes; just about every fun summer activity can become a learning experience. One example: a staycation day in downtown Portland. We're not just talking about visiting the great arts and cultural destinations around town - by letting kids lead the way as you budget and plan your day, they'll be learning before you've even left home!
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NEWS IN BRIEF
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Membership
 One of the many, many things we value about our members is that they take the time to give us their insights. Whether it's responding to a survey, helping us test an exhibit prototype or just chatting with the staff during a program, our members let us know what they love and what we can do to make the Museum & Theatre better.
What we've learned from listening to our members: they want their membership to be flexible and simple, so they can focus less on rules and more on playing! With that in mind, we've eliminated our old Caregiver and Plus options and created a new, streamlined choice for upgrading your membership: +1, +2, +3. For one flat fee for the year, members can now bring friends all year long - and those friends can bring the children on the membership, even if the adults on the membership can't be there that day.
What does that mean? For example, if your family adds a +2 to your membership for $40, you can:
- Send your children to the Museum with Aunt Miranda and Uncle Moe when they comes to visit;
- Let the neighbor's twins, Billy and Willy, tag along on your next visit to the Museum;
- Invite Gramps and Nanna to join you for some quality family time at the Museum;
- Let the babysitter bring the kids to the Museum after school;
- ...or just about any other way you want to play!
Visitor Services
Another tip we got from our members? Open earlier on Sundays! On Sunday, July 14th, we happily obliged, celebrating our new Sunday morning hours with a Kick-Off Party that included treats and a reading from author Jennifer O'Connell. Now that we've extended Sundays, we're open 10am-5pm every day of the week. (Members Mondays will resume on September 9, but the new Sunday hours are here to stay!)
 On Sunday, July 21st, our friends at Gifford's Ice Cream helped us celebrate National Ice Cream Day by offering a few of their delicious Maine-made flavors to our visitors. (The s'mores-inspired Campfire flavor was a huge hit!) The next Gifford's Ice Cream Party will be on First Friday night, September 6th, from 5pm-7pm. Come by and bring your appetite!
Theatre
 Once children have fallen in love with the theatre - whether they joined a Teensy Weensy Acting Class or were enchanted by one of our theatre productions - they can't wait to get onto the stage. The years they have to wait before reaching the ripe old age of 8 (when kids can audition for their first mainstage production) can seem like decades. This fall, we're launching a new Acting Class for Ages 6 to 8, a program that will bridge the gap for young actors. This six-week workshop will help children build confidence as performers and keep honing their acting skills. Registration is open now, and space is limited. If you'd like to know more about the class, get in touch with Theatre Artistic Director Reba Short.
Exhibits
 In June, we opened Just Sew Stories: Hmong History Stitched, a new temporary exhibition within the acclaimed We Are Maine exhibit. Just Sew Stories features more than a dozen costumes, toys and tapestries created in the traditional Hmong style of paj ntaub (literally translated as "flower cloth").
 Long an important element of Hmong clothing and decorative arts, this intricate embroidery style evolved as the Hmong people were driven from their native countries during and after the Vietnam War, settling in refugee camps throughout Southeast Asia. As they traveled and resettled - many in the American Midwest - Hmong women used embroidery to tell the story of these migrations. The narrative tapestries they create are known as story cloths. The exhibition was co-curated by Museum & Theatre staff and Hmong cultural consultant Kue John Lor with support from the Frances R. Dewing Foundation. In addition to the Hmong embroidery (most created by Lor's aunt, Nao Vang, a Laos native living in Wisconsin), the exhibit features interactive components, including felt boards that children can use to create their own story cloths.
Children can tell their own stories during Story Art programs throughout the summer, when we'll practice the art of telling tales using images. Development
On Tuesday, September 10th, we'll hold our 4th annual fundraising night at Flatbread Company on Commercial Street. Join the Children's Museum & Theatre family from 5pm-9pm, when a portion of proceeds from pizza sales will go toward our scholarship program for families in need. Funds raised at events like these subsidize annual memberships and daily admission passes for families who could not otherwise afford to visit the museum and are in need of a place to explore, discover and play together.  Our major fall fundraiser, the Annual Golf Tournament, will be held on Monday, September 23rd, at Nonesuch River Golf Club in Scarborough. There's still plenty of room for players (singles and foursomes) and we have sponsorship opportunities at all levels (hole sponsorships are priced perfectly for small businesses and include one player registration!). Join us on the green for a day of fun and fundraising to raise awareness and monies for the Children's Museum & Theatre! Our tournament features contests, prizes, a tasty barbecue lunch and beautiful weather (every year - really!). Pricing and info can be found at kitetails.org or by contacting Alicia at [email protected] or 828-1234 x242.
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CALENDARS
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Our printable calendars are an asset to any family fridge or bulletin board. Print them at home (click each image below) or pick up the current month's calendar on your next visit.
Our events schedule is subject to change. For the most current schedule, as well as online event registration and ticketing, visit our calendar of events page or follow us on Facebook to get the latest updates. |
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FEATURE ARTICLE
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Playcationland:
Let kids plan a family play day in Portland (and see how much they learn by leading!)
(Continued from top. Read intro here.)
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Get creative - try making a map in 3D!
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Getting Here Your educational adventure doesn't have to wait until you get to your destination; it can start as soon as you step out the door! Using maps to navigate from one place to another helps children develop spacial reasoning skills and an understanding of local geography. (Try using an old-fashioned atlas or paper road map. Kids might be surprised to see a map that doesn't do the routing for them!) Work together to find the shortest route from your home to downtown Portland, then get creative by finding the most scenic, the longest, or the silliest way to get here! With younger children who aren't ready to navigate, try drawing a colorful map that includes your home and your intended destinations.
You can also get creative by exploring alternate modes of transportation. Find out if there's a bus route on the Portland Metro that can take you where you want to go. (With a Youth Pass, children and teens can ride the bus all summer for just $20.) Depending on where you live, you may be able to reach downtown Portland on people power. Explore the Portland Trails system to find out if there's a safe route for you to walk or bike into town.
Visit the Museum(s!)
Of course we want to be a part of your big adventure, so be sure to stop by the Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine. If you don't see us often (or you've never visited us before!), check out our website in advance and invite the children to make an agenda for your visit, selecting which programs you'll attend and where you'll start and finish your visit. If you're a frequent visitor, challenge yourselves to find a program you've never attended before - browse the calendar of events to find your new favorite program.
You can also try shaking up your typical Museum routine. For example, if you usually come in on a rainy day, stop by when it's sunny - you'll enjoy having a lot more space to explore indoors, plus awesome outdoor events that make use of our gardens and greenhouse. If an older sibling usually leads the way through the Museum, offer a younger child the opportunity to take the lead - you might end up exploring a corner you've never noticed before!
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Exploring Shangaa: Art of Tanzania.
Photo courtesy of Portland Museum of Art
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While we're Portland's only Museum created especially for children and families, our neighboring museums have plenty to offer visitors of all ages. This summer, the Portland Museum of Art features the exhibit Shangaa: Art of Tanzania. To complement it, we've worked with the African Center for Sacred Arts to install our own collection of Tanzanian art, and we're also having special mask-making events in the Explore Some More room so you can take inspiration from these traditional masks and create one of your own. On these special mask-making days - Saturday, August 10th and Wednesday, August 21st - the Portland Museum of Art and the Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine are offering free reciprocal admission. Show the fine folks at the PMA your hand stamp and you can visit them for free (and vice versa!).
Math Meets Nutrition at the Farmer's Market
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A busy day at the Monument Square Farmers' Market. Photo by Corey Templeton
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The sights, sounds, tastes and smells of Portland's outdoor farmers' markets offer a multi-sensory experience. Both market locations - Wednesdays in Monument Square (7am-2pm) and Saturdays in Deering Oaks Park (7am-1pm) - are within walking distance of the Museum & Theatre. Stopping by the Market before or after a visit to the Museum offers a great opportunity to make connections between the role-play children engage in at the Our Town farm and the real-life products that farmers bring the market. Choose a vegetable and try to figure out all the steps a farmer takes between planting a crop and selling it at the market. If you get stumped, encourage your child to ask the farmer questions. If they're not too busy stocking their stand, most farmers are excited to tell you how their farms work - and maybe even share a sample or two!
Perusing the produce is also a great time to work on some practical math skills. Give children a budget for the shopping trip - whether it's a few dollars to purchase something for themselves or enough for a family dinner - and challenge them to price-compare and get the most for their money. (A bonus: children are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables when they're allowed to select them, so they'll be cleaning their plates when it's time to eat the meal they created!)
A Very Literary City
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The cast of The Boxcar Children leads an acting game at the Portland Public Library.
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When we think of great children's literature, several Maine authors come to mind: Dahlov Ipcar, Robert McCloskey, Barbara Cooney... and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow? While he's not often thought of us a children's writer, Henry was famous for his love of children. In fact, his nephew Alexander designed the children's gate at the Longfellow Garden to honor Uncle Henry's affection for children. Built in 1907 when the Longfellow Library first opened, the gate fell intodisrepair but was restored and rededicated in 2012. The gate and the garden are both free and open to the public during Maine Historical Society's regular business hours.
If a visit to the Longfellow Garden inspires an interest in Henry's poems, stroll just a block or two down Congress Street to the Portland Public Library, where you can find everything from his complete works to an illustrated biography just for children. Stop by the Sam L. Cohen children's library for a story time or a special event - perhaps even an appearance by the Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine actors! The casts of upcoming productions sometimes give a preview performance at the children's library and lead visitors in a few acting games. This Wednesday, July 31, the young actors who helped develop the script for our fall production of Hansel and Gretel will do a staged reading at 4pm.
Whether your summer adventures take you into the wilderness, out to sea or just around the neighborhood, let kids take the lead and embrace the learning opportunities that surround you.
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