The National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance Encourages You to Take Your Children to the Many Great Museums Across the Country for Fun and to Broaden Their Worlds!
Every state has amazing museums that offer fascinating exhibits, great activities that will expand your child's universe-- and bring you closer together as a family! Be sure and check with your local library because many offer free family passes that will cover the admission costs to your local museums.
A sampling of current museum shows across the country:
The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry
The U-505 Submarine Exhibit:
On June 4, 1944, a German submarine known as U-505 was prowling off the coast of West Africa on a hunt for American and Allied ships, when depth charges from the USS Chatelain blasted the dreaded U-boat out of hiding. It was the end of a violent run for U-505, which had terrorized the Atlantic Ocean as part of a massive U-boat campaign that almost altered the outcome of World War II.
The Museum of Science and Industry invites you to step inside the real U-505—the only German submarine in the United States, and, now, a national memorial to the 55,000 American sailors who gave their lives on the high seas in WWI and WWII.
The San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art
ArtGameLab
Imagine a selection of crowdsourced games designed by SFMOMA's community, for SFMOMA's community. Last summer the museum put out an open call for inventive but simple and low-cost game ideas. Visitors can view the results in the Koret Visitor Education Center, and pick up instructions for prototype games to be played in the museum's galleries and other public spaces.
You are invited to participate in this experiment. Do you have an idea for a fun and engaging new activity in SFMOMA's galleries? Add your voice to the dialogue by visiting the exhibition's game design station. Watch SFMOMA's social media channels for gaming-related activities at the museum. Come play!
Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie Robinson
December 3, 2011 - May 6, 2012
Testing the Ice by Sharon Robinson, an educational consultant for Major League Baseball and vice chairman of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, and illustrated by the award-winning Kadir Nelson is a story about her father, baseball legend Jackie Robinson. The original art for the book as well as numerous preliminary sketches will be on view in the museum’s Central Gallery from December 13, 2011 until May 6, 2012. It will complement the art, also by Nelson, for We Are the Ship, a history of the Negro Leagues, which will be in the East Gallery from February 7 until June 10, 2012.
THE WHISTLE STOP - Presidential Travel by Train
Opens March 6, 2012
You are invited to participate in this experiment. Do you have an idea for a fun and engaging new activity in SFMOMA's galleries? Add your voice to the dialogue by visiting the exhibition's game design station. Watch SFMOMA's social media channels for gaming-related activities at the museum. Come play!
Seattle Museum of Flight
Space: Exploring the New Frontier
Imagine yourself at the beginning of the 20th century with visionaries like rocket pioneer Robert Goddard. Watch the launch of Russia’s Sputnik, the world’s first satellite, and see how it captured the attention of the entire planet. Bring the Space Shuttle in for a safe landing at the Kennedy Space Center. Land the lunar module on the Moon and join Apollo astronauts in an exploration of the moon’s surface. Share the experiences of astronauts from the Pacific Northwest and climb inside a full size replica of the International Space Station’s Destiny Research Laboratory. Discover how Mission Control works to keep astronauts safe, see the only Mars Viking lander left on Earth and so much more!
To learn more about the history of space exploration, check out our series of articles originally published in the Seattle Times in 2007, coinciding with the opening of Space: Exploring the New Frontier:
Houston Children's Museum
The Invention Convention
Step into a workshop of gadgets and gizmos where kids create, concoct and construct contraptions and use their imagination to become inventors! Dream-up and design in a workshop filled with half-finished contraptions, bins of spare parts, project tables, schematics and various instruments from floor to ceiling. Experiment with LEGO® bricks, propellers, magnets, batteries, switches and buzzers through facilitated, hands-on experiments and mini-workshops.
Massachusetts'
Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art
Testing the Ice: A True Story About Jackie RobinsonDecember 3, 2011 - May 6, 2012
Testing the Ice by Sharon Robinson, an educational consultant for Major League Baseball and vice chairman of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, and illustrated by the award-winning Kadir Nelson is a story about her father, baseball legend Jackie Robinson. The original art for the book as well as numerous preliminary sketches will be on view in the museum’s Central Gallery from December 13, 2011 until May 6, 2012. It will complement the art, also by Nelson, for We Are the Ship, a history of the Negro Leagues, which will be in the East Gallery from February 7 until June 10, 2012.
The Tampa Museum of Art
Romare Bearden: Southern Recollections
The Tampa Museum of Art is pleased to present Romare Bearden: Southern Recollections, an exhibition of approximately 80 works of art that span the career of this internationally renowned artist. Bearden (1911-1988) is widely regarded as one of the most important African-American artists who worked in the United States during the 20th century. He has been the focus of many solo exhibitions, including presentations at the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art. In 1987 he was awarded the National Medal of the Arts by President Ronald Reagan.
