http://www.kidsquestmuseum.com/blog/ Latest blog entries from KidsQuest Museum en-us Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:24:20 PST Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:24:20 PST SiteCrafting, Inc. CMS https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/raining-pouring/ It’s raining, it’s pouring, and it’s time for some fun! Don’t let the weather get you down. Embrace it for a fun filled day of water exploration! ... Mon, 02 Jan 2012 11:12:00 PST https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/top-toys-2011/ Still got some Christmas shopping to do? Check out these ideas from KidsQuest's Senior Museum Educator and ExploreStore Coordinator (who is of course the authority on this sort of thing)! ... Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:49:00 PST https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/kids-art/ Most children love to paint. It is a time when they get to control their environment and master new skills. At first it is all about experimenting with the brush. How does the brush move over the paper? What marks does it make? Then the learning moves on to cause and effect. Holding the brush a certain way will create different lines. Mixing two colors will make a new color. What a great discovery! Sometimes children will simply mix all the paint colors together and it will look like nothing to an adult. This is them learning how to interpret art. They are experimenting and trying to figure out if what they do will always have the same effect.    ... Thu, 17 Nov 2011 11:49:00 PST https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/give-little-lot-in-return/ What have you done to prepare yourself for the food/family/present extravaganza that's fast approaching? Here's an even better question: what have you done for someone else this year?  ... Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:01:00 PST https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/hands-on-history/ Think you know your history?  What about the history of daily life for early Washington settlers - maybe not so much?  Luckily Eastside Heritage Center will be at KidsQuest tonight for some hands-on learning.  Read on to refresh your history knowledge and then join us tonight from 5-8pm! ... Fri, 04 Nov 2011 10:01:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/halloween-coming/ Leaves are dropping, grocery stores are filling up with candy, and horror movies are in full force at the theaters. Let's face it - Halloween is all but here. This year, the KidsQuest staff has put together some ideas for ways to celebrate the season with little ones, minus the sugar headache and horror stories. ... Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:56:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/questclub-science-so-important/ Science education sometimes takes a back seat with the push of reading and math being so strong, but science is a part of our daily life. Everything we do and deal with in life is science: cooking, playing ball, growing a garden, understanding how technologies work, watching a rain storm and more. Understanding science helps kids appreciate and relate to the world around them. ... Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:51:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/benefits-sign-language/ It’s never too early or too late to begin sign language with your child. For infants, you can begin anywhere from six to ten months of age. It will take a younger child longer to produce the signs than an older child, but exposing them to sign language early on is great way to help them understand the signs receptively before they do expressively. Recent studies indicate that by using signs in tandem with spoken language, parents can start the process of two-way communication with their babies as early as eight months and enhance the verbal language development of their babies in the process. ... Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:59:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/frequently-asked-questions/ We often get questions about museum policies and procedures, both from our member surveys and in the museum’s comment box.  If you have something to say and leave your contact information along with the comment, be assured that we will get back to you. And if you have a question or concern during your visit, please feel free to talk to the staff about it – we are always there to help.   But for those of you who are curious, here are the answers to some frequently asked questions:   ... Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:02:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/happy-grandparents-day/ Sunday, September 11th is National Grandparents Day! The impetus for a National Grandparents Day originated with a housewife in West Virginia, to champion the cause of lonely elderly in nursing homes. She also hoped to persuade grandchildren to tap the wisdom and heritage their grandparents could provide. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter proclaimed National Grandparents Day would be celebrated every year on the first Sunday after Labor Day.   ... Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:22:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/focus-on-family-focus-on/ How do you teach your kids about healthy eating AND make dinner at the same time? Get them involved. You know the phrase “Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime?” It’s like that. EXACTLY like that.   ... Tue, 06 Sep 2011 16:17:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/importance-play/ The number one answer we get when we ask patrons why they purchased their membership is: "My children love the museum." We love hearing that. We all want to make our kids happy. But playtime is important in other ways too - it helps foster healthy minds and healthy bodies. Want to learn more? Below are some highlights from an article by Kim Mulford from USAToday about the importance of play. ... Fri, 26 Aug 2011 09:04:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/storybook-theater-camp-1/ You know summer is coming to an end when camps are all over, classes are on the horizon, and it's almost time for the older kids to go back to school. As one last reminder of how much fun we had at summer camp this year, our Storybook Theater teacher, Anne Zanatta Kline, is going to give us the rundown on what happened in her August camp. ... Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:07:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/days-fanciful-fairy-fun/ Last week we were lucky enough to hold a second Fanciful Fairies Camp, this time with camp instructor extraordinaire (and fairy expert!), Anne Zanatta Kline! Here she gives us a little playback of what happened: ... Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:14:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/art-explorers-camp/ I love art. It’s perfect for children, giving them the chance to use their imaginations, create, problem solve, count, work on their fine motor skills, learn about color chemistry, and so much more! It’s limitless what you can do with a little paper and paint, or glue and recyclables. ... Wed, 10 Aug 2011 09:39:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/wheres-math/ Learning math is not limited to the one-hour-a-day, five-days-a-week, nine-months-a-year school experience. Math is everywhere around us and we need to take advantage of that with our children. The more they see math in their everyday surroundings, the more comfortable they’ll be with it. Here is a list of things you can do to make math engaging and meaningful for your children. These activities barely scratch the surface of what you can do - you’re limited only by your imagination. ... Fri, 05 Aug 2011 10:42:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/fanciful-fairies/ We had a VERY magical week last week. Not only did we get dramatic with our Storybook Theater camp, but we also welcomed some very fanciful fairies into the museum for five days of fairy stories, fairy songs, fairy dances, fairy crafts – everything fairy!   ... Wed, 03 Aug 2011 10:15:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/time-moms-1/ Most of us are bad about taking time out for ourselves. We’re short on time, so we multi-task. We get all the new information we can but don't have a lot of time to search for it or double-check it for accuracy. And the information we get usually regards our kids, not ourselves.  ... Mon, 01 Aug 2011 14:47:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/dino-mite-dinos/ Last week was the highly anticipated Dino-Mite Dinos Camp (and I do mean anticipated – this camp has been sold out since April!). Our Dino-Mite mornings were devoted to circle time, storytime, discovery stations, social interaction, museum playtime, experiments and, of course, lots and lots of dinosaurs!   ... Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:17:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/picture-perfect-party/ Nowadays, kids’ parties are not always simple affairs. For those of you ready to go all out, below are some fabulous ideas to get you started.   ... Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:19:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/museum-on-move/ Have you spotted the brand new KidsQuest van yet? Be on the look out, because we are packing up and heading out to a school near you this summer! KidsQuest Children's Museum is on the move with our Field Trip to Go program, and we are filling up classrooms with fascinating ooey-gooey science experiments, inventing our own modes of transportation, investigating local wildlife and even doing our own prehistoric digs! ... Mon, 18 Jul 2011 14:24:00 PDT