Three More Mobile Museum
Pop-Up Events Coming Up!
Despite the early rain, we had a wonderful time at DeFremery Park in Oakland last Saturday, including a rare sighting of a juvenile red-tailed hawk eating his gopher lunch right next to our event! (STEM is everywhere.)
Thanks again to our partners and staff at Lincoln Families and Mandela Family Resource Center, and gratitude to Alameda First 5 for supporting our event.
Join our Mobile Museum pop-up events soon in:
- Pittsburg — Sunday, May 21 at Small World Park. This is a free event sponsored by the city of Pittsburg. Sign up for the waitlist HERE
- San Leandro — Saturday, May 27 at the San Leandro Main Library. This event is fully booked but keep checking the Eventbrite page HERE to grab a ticket for a possible opening
- Livermore — Saturday, June 3 at Stockmen’s Park. Eventbrite tickets HERE
Walk-ups are frequently admitted with space available due to no-shows.
UC Berkeley Student Projects Make a Difference
We’re truly grateful for the contributions of some amazingly talented Cal students participating in two semester-long projects who gave their final presentations to us this month. The Social Impact for Nonprofits class led by Professor Colin Boyle did a deep dive into Habitot’s social media presence, analyzing our engagement and following, and recommending ways to increase our reach to families with young children. Among their recommendations: better graphics and more reels! See their final presentation HERE.
The Berkeley Innovation multidisciplinary group of student-consultants helped conceptualize a new mobile veterinary clinic exhibit by interviewing dozens of parents and medical professionals, looking at similar exhibits at other museums, brainstorming prototypes, and recommending specific components for an exhibit design aimed at easing the experience of visiting the doctor’s office and helping young children learn about medical care. See their final presentation HERE.Funds must be raised to support this exhibit.
This Week’s At-Home Activity
Colorful Coffee Filter Flowers
Mother’s Day is coming up on May 14th! In this artistic STEM activity, your child will create a beautiful gift while observing how water causes marker ink to spread, separate, and change on a coffee filter. It’s a scientific process otherwise known as “paper chromatography.” Once the coffee filters dry, your child will then wrap them into paper flowers to create a colorful bouquet for Mom (or any person they love)!
What We’re Learning & Skills We’re Building
- Early science concepts
- Experimentation
- Fine motor skills
- Color mixing
Have you done any of our at-home activities? We’d love to hear how it went. Tell us your stories!
Buy a BoxiTot Kit for Play & Learning at Home!
This month, we’re featuring our Printing and Stamping Art Kit, which contains almost a dozen art-making activities and all the supplies your child needs to do them. These activities can be done indoors or out, and are great for families, siblings, or friends to do together. Orders are processed as they’re placed, and are usually delivered within 2 weeks. Order the kit here!
Habitot’s other hands-on art, STEM, and maker kits for 4-8-year-olds (with tips for 3’s and younger) available, too: Sprouts & Seeds, Build-a-Boat, Shadow Puppet Theater, Sandy Beach, Launch-a-Rocket, Frozen Fun, and Glow in the Dark Card-Making. Pre-recorded instructional videos or slideshows included with kits. Learn more about all BoxiTot kits and purchases!
Check out this great review of our Shadow Puppet Theater kit from The San Francisco Mama! We greatly appreciate any feedback from BoxiTot subscribers!
Bring Habitot’s Art & Maker Activities to Your School, After School Program, or Summer Program
Kids love building boats and learning about floating and sinking. Habitot can bring its boat-building activities — and a water play table to test them in — to your school, after school program, or summer program. Bookings now available for this spring.
For more information on contracts and fees, contact Katie at edcurr@habitot.org.
Join Our Site Committee!
We know East Bay families are eager to see Habitot reopen, and our Site Committee is actively working to identify the perfect space for Habitot’s new home. In the meantime, they are also looking into short-term, temporary spaces for our mini museums of popular exhibits and art and maker activities. They could use your help if you have an hour or two a week to follow up on leads, do site visits, take photos, or even talk to landlords. Please contact Lillianna at newplacetogrow@habitot.org if you’d like to learn more about volunteering on Habitot’s Site Committee.
Parenting Article of the Month
Simple Strategies to Help Your Child Manage Anxiety
By Meghan Grana “We all want to raise happy, confident children. However, it is natural for all children to experience anxious thoughts at some point and it’s important to teach kids how to deal with these difficult emotions, especially as levels of anxiety continue to increase across the country.”
Read the rest of the article here.
Early Literacy Book of the Month
Eyes That Speak to the Stars
Written by Joanna Ho
Illustrated by Dung Ho
This story follows a young Tawainese boy as he learns to love the shape of his eyes, which connect him to his family, their past, and help him see visions of the future.
Watch and listen to Eyes that Speak to the Stars read aloud here.
Love Habitot?
Habitot is a non-profit with a mission to serve children and families in our community!
Do you have a friend who would enjoy these free, weekly At-Home Activities?
Please let them know that they can sign up here.
Habitot is currently 100% mobile while we work toward reopening.
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