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This week's Collections object is a Centennial Goblet! This glass goblet was produced by Gillinder Glass Factory in Philadelphia during the 1876 Centennial Exhibition and could be purchased as a souvenir. It features the raised image of the Liberty Bell!

Put on your looking eyes and see if you can find it during your next visit! For more info about Hide and Seek of the Week, click here.

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The Junior Jazz Festival continues this weekend with loads of kid-friendly, interactive jazz performances! Read on for more details from Francis Coates, Music Coordinator at Please Touch Museum.

Pinky: Who is performing this weekend and what's their background?
Francis: This weekend's performer is no stranger to Please Touch Museum. Arpeggio Jazz Ensemble has been entertaining and educating the children of Philadelphia on Jazz for many years now. Warren Oree, the band leader, is a very accomplished musician. The group performs all over the country and all over the world. You can hear the influence of the different cultures and regions they have visited in the music they perform.

Pinky: How is the band adapting their music so it is kid-friendly and fun for the whole family?
Francis: The wonderful thing about Arpeggio is that they don't perform jazz standards. Most of the music performed is original music and is very positive and uplifting. A few featured selections from Arpeggio's Man Bites Dog album are "Joy Song" and "Better Than B-4," which are all super positive and kid-friendly, making them highly enjoyable for the entire family.

Pinky: How will kids be able to engage in the performances?
Francis: It all starts with movement. One of the things we all like to do when we hear good music whether it is Jazz, Rhythm & Blues, or Country is to clap our hands, tap our feet, or just get up and dance! Children and parents are encouraged to enjoy themselves during the performance by dancing in their seat, or in the designated dance areas in the theater. Music is for everyone to enjoy and Jazz is no exception. Also, Arpeggio really likes picking volunteers from the audience to come on stage and play different instruments so be prepared to have a short solo.

Pinky: How fun! I'd love to jam with Arpeggio! So how else are the performances interactive and educational?
Francis: Arpeggio does a great job of explaining basic concepts of jazz during the performance in ways that both children and adults can understand and retain. One of the ways Arpeggio starts their performances is by creating a new song right on stage. The audience is included in this process by either

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Tomorrow, Saturday, January 9 at Noon, Please Touch Museum will unveil its newest feature. . . .

We are over the moon about the opening of this very special, intimate programming space located in the museum's Kids Store. You can expect to see a variety of programming happening there seven days a week: story times, story telling, puppet pals, and special visits from our favorite storybook characters!

The Story Castle will provide kids with a smaller and quieter space to enjoy PTM’s interactive, dramatic, and storytime programming. While it is easily accessible from the gallery floor, it is tucked away in our Kids Store so that you and your child can enjoy a story and other programming in a calm, relaxed atmosphere.

Literacy skills are an important educational benchmark in young children, and the Story Castle will offer kids a chance to participate in PTM’s interactive literacy programming in an environment conducive to enhanced focus and concentration. It is never too early to read with your child and introduce them to books and reading, and engaging activities help to create the cognitive foundation that is necessary for a lifetime of learning.

I hope you can join me tomorrow at Noon for the grand opening celebration, which will feature storytimes every hour on the hour, plus special appearances by Cinderella and the Queen of Hearts, along with your favorite PTM puppet pals!

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Please Touch Museum kicks off the holiday season with a trip to the village-- The Enchanted Colonial Village!

Millions of families in the 1960s and 70s took holiday trips to Lit Brothers Department Store in Center City to shop and visit the Enchanted Colonial Village. For over 40 years, it has been a staple in Philadelphia and continues to delight children and adults alike. Designed by Lit Brothers display designer, Thomas Comerford, the Village was built by a German toy firm specifically for the department store. It is a 3/4 life-size display, which originally depicted 18 scenes of a small colonial hamlet preparing for the holidays. After Lit Brothers closed in 1977, the Sun Oil Company (Sunoco) bought the display, but was unable to find a new home for the Village. In '82, it was restored by Williamson Trade School of Media, PA and given to Longwood Gardens for their holiday celebration.

After a few other stops in the late 80's and 90's, Please Touch Museum purchased the Village for $1 in the year 2000 and restored the remaining eight scenes. To this day, the Enchanted Colonial Village provides families with a glimpse into the past, while giving them a chance to share their favorite childhood memories!

I recently talked to Milton Boone, Exhibit Technician Extraordinaire at Please Touch about the Village. Read on for more...

Pinky: So how long does it take to put up the Village every holiday season?
Milton: It usually takes about two weeks to get everything in the right place and set up all of the accessories.

Pinky: What is the Village made of?
Milton: Mostly wood. The buildings are all made of wood. Even the people figures are made of wood and paper and painted. A lot of it has been updated... most of the figures have new technology inside to make them move. A lot of the eyeballs had to be replaced. Oh, and a lot of the clothing was updated, too!

Pinky: And what do you like most about the Village?
Milton: I am always amazed by how many people remember seeing it for the first time at Lits and how much they enjoy it! Some visitors will even point out if something looks wrong- like a mechanism isn't working the way they remember it! It's a great holiday tradition.

Be sure to stop by and see this Philadelphia tradition bef

0 Comments on Now on display: The Enchanted Colonial Village! as of 1/1/1900

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Hello everyone! Remember when I told you about Please Touch Museum's participation in this year’s DesignPhiladelphia week? Well, it officially kicks off TODAY and I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am! The exhibit runs through Tuesday, October 13, 2009 and I wanted to give you a little sneak peek of what to expect. Below is a selection of some of the amazing hand-made dollhouses on display. Be sure to stop in before it’s too late!

The exhibit is a great way for kids to see that anyone can make art, as long as you let your imagination run wild! Dollhouses come in all kinds of shapes, colors and sizes, and there's no one specific way to create and decorate your dream house. Please Touch Museum's hands-on philosophy is colorfully exhibited in the highly innovative dollhouses children, adults, artists and students created. Creative thinking and exploration are promoted, and the exhibit is sure to inspire other kids and their grown-ups to get crafty at home and learn through play!

After viewing the DesignPhiladelphia exhibit, kids can create their own buildings in our Program Room! Some of the open-ended play opportunities include:

Building Houses with Books and Cards:
In this activity, kids can build structures and houses from two different sets of materials: Jumbo-sized playing cards and clips that hold them together so that kids can make elaborate houses of cards; or a stack of books and blocks, which kids can use as building objects in conjunction with the blocks to make their own imaginative buildings.


Architecture Blocks:
These are block sets that build famous buildings. The blocks are shaped like architectural pieces, as opposed to regular blocks, which resemble regular shapes. Although they contain the pieces to make the prescribed building, the activity is open-ended in that kids can use the blocks to create their own works of architecture.

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Interaction and exploration are central to Please Touch Museum's mission of creating learning opportunities through play. Today, I spoke to Alice Gonglewski, Creative Dramatics Manager at Please Touch, about our Creative Dramatics playtimes, which run every Tuesday and Thursday at 11 a.m. throughout September.

Pinky: What are Creative Dramatics playtimes?
Alice: These fun playtimes create an opportunity for kids and their grown-ups to participate in facilitated dramatic and imaginary play activities. The playtimes are designed to offer special in-depth dramatic explorations of a topic or subject. The interactions are always adjusted to complement the child's interest in and reaction to the props and games.

Pinky: What can kids (and adults!) learn during the programming?
Alice: That you don't have to be a trained actor to enjoy drama! The same way that anyone can benefit from making art, anyone can benefit from drama games and exploration. Everyone is invited to participate in playtimes for as long (or short) a time as they wish! The activities incorporate many different elements of drama such as movement, pretending, improvisation, role playing, sensory exploration, and emotional awareness. We use props, costumes, books, stories, and pictures to explore the subjects or themes of the playtime. We pretend to do or be different things using our bodies and imaginations.

Pinky: That sounds like loads of fun! After taking part in a Creative Dramatics playtime, what can parents take home and do with their kids outside of the museum?
Alice: Encourage movement and pretending with your child! Young children love to "be" animals, machines, or people doing different jobs. Kids also benefit from dramatic exploration that develops emotional awareness. Acting out familiar stories can help a child understand human behavior and develop communication skills. Above all, cultivate your child’s imagination. Allow plenty of time for open-ended play. Challenge your child occasionally to look at things from a different perspective: What do you think it would be like to live inside a pumpkin? Or encourage them to dream big: What will cars be able to do when you are a grown-up? Thinking outside the box is often what solves the world’s problems, so it’s our job as adults to nurture the next generation of creative thinkers!

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New faces, new places-- I get the shivers just thinking about starting Kindergarten! So I sat down with Beth Schnapp, Community Programs Specialist at Please Touch Museum who fortunately eased my nerves and told me all about the Children's Museum's awesome Kindergarten Mixer, held this coming Saturday, Aug. 8 at Please Touch Museum!

Pinky: Beth, tell me about the Kindergarten Mixer and how it helps with the "big step" jitters?

Beth: The 8th Annual Kindergarten Mixer is done in partnership with the School District of Philadelphia, Kindergarten is Key Initiative and United Way, so lots goes into the event. The purpose behind the mixer is to bring together families with soon-to-be kindergarten students for an afternoon filled with fun; and it's all free! There's both entertaining and informative activities available all afternoon. Kids will get to enjoy snacks and a great opening ceremony, along with the opportunity to make new friends. It's a great way to help kids feel comfortable in mixing with new people and getting excited about a new stage in their lives.

Pinky: How does the mixer benefit parents?

Beth: there's tons to do and learn for parents, too! Parents will have the opportunity to speak with School District representatives and learn about different educational resources available through the Franklin Institute, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Academy of Natural Science, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and many others. Parents will also get a feeling for what it will be like on the first day of school. It's never a dull moment at our mixers!

Pinky: Thanks Beth! I can't wait to see how many new friends I make at the mixer!

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Pinky: Hi Stacey! What made the museum decide to offer "Grown-Up" Tours?

Stacey: Moving to Memorial Hall offered a variety of opportunities for the museum: great new exhibits, wonderful and engaging events, new opportunities for play AND a unique and interesting history from the birth of this building! Memorial Hall is such a gem in our city, being once the home of sculptures, paintings and other works of genius. We didn't want to ignore that history, or its design and functions over the years. We want to share the museum and all its components with everyone-- no matter what their age!

Pinky: What can grown-ups expect to learn while touring the museum?

Stacey: They will learn about the architecture of Memorial Hall, the restoration of the building, toys and icons of Philadelphia area childhood (like the monorail from Wanamaker’s Department Store, the television set of Captain Noah and more!),as well as the amazing history of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. A lot of people don't know that there was once an Olympic-size pool and two jail cells in our building; two of the coolest things to learn during the tours. Another highlight is a stop at the historic and highly detailed c.1889 model of the Centennial fairgrounds!

Pinky: Are the tours guided?

Stacey: We actually offer both guided and self-guided tours! On a guided tour, you will get a variety of insights and history into the building and the opportunity to ask your tour guide any questions you might have about Memorial Hall, both past and present. On a self-guided tour, visitors can take the "Centennial Journey" through the building. They will be equipped with a museum map, and will make use of informational panels along the way, giving them a first-hand look at all of the history associated with this National Historic landmark. We want our visitors to leave having learned a piece of our nation’s past and the remains that still stand tall today!

Pinky: There's so much to do! Are the tours available every day?

Stacey: Guided tours are available Tuesdays through Fridays, and self-guided tours are available daily. We welcome everyone to take an adventure into our yesteryears!

Pinky: Thanks, Stacey! I can’t wait to take the tour!

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