http://www.kidsquestmuseum.com/blog/ Latest blog entries from KidsQuest Museum en-us Wed, 22 May 2013 08:08:16 PDT Wed, 22 May 2013 08:08:16 PDT SiteCrafting, Inc. CMS https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/questclub-themes/ Bubbles, inventing, and forces….oh my! What do all of these exciting science concepts have in common? They’re all themes from QuestClub at KidsQuest Children’s Museum? ... Wed, 27 Mar 2013 10:36:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/dads-meet-up-cardboard-contraptions/ Dads Meet-Up: Cardboard Contraptions series focuses on S.T.E.A.M (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) and fosters children’s imaginations, focusing them on problem solving and cooperative play. Children will also enhance their fine and gross motor skills. This class is beneficial in a child’s life because one-on-one time with a male figure will help their social and emotional development, while nurturing healthier relationships and ultimately helping your children become more compassionate individuals. ... Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:15:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/learning-foreign-language/ We all know that children are constantly soaking up everything around them, and this especially holds true to language learning.  It’s even been shown that exposure to foreign language can improve children’s attention spans and standardized test scores.  What’s even more remarkable about this is the changes that happen to infants’ brains in the first SIX MONTHS of life!   ... Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:22:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/family-fun-fitness/ One of the many benefits of being a child is that fitness is fun! For kids exercise can and should be synonymous with play. As a Museum Educator, I find that I get some of my best workouts right here at the museum while leading our visitors in activities. (StoryTime can be great cardio!) So, here are a few of my favorite movement games that you can try at home. There’s nothing like moving and grooving with some pint-size exercise partners to make working up a sweat, less like a chore and more like a party! ... Fri, 22 Feb 2013 13:03:00 PST https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/childs-best-friend-favorite-stuffed/ Stuffed animals often provide children with a friend, co-conspirator, and secret-keeper extraordinaire. My own teddy bear still means a lot to me. Here is our favorite adventure together: ... Tue, 05 Feb 2013 10:25:00 PST https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/importance-early-learning-classes/ KidsQuest's Early Learning Classes nurture the curious nature of your child and help build the early learning foundation vital to success in school and later in life. ... Wed, 26 Dec 2012 15:27:00 PST https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/love-nanodays/ Children are often told they are too small to do or understand things, but children have an amazing power: they can show adults a different way of viewing the world. Nanoscience, the science of the small, is changing the way scientists and engineers view the world too. At this scale, the materials we see and use every day have vastly different properties. They can change color, become water resistant, or conduct electricity. Nanotechnology utilizes these new properties to create new products and improve materials we use every day like computers, electronics, medicine, cosmetics, and clothing. ... Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:25:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/hands-on-history-eastside-farm/ One hundred years ago, the city we know as Bellevue was a farming community. There were a variety of crops grown including lettuce, squash, corn, strawberries, and even grapes. Spring was the beginning of the growing season as the days grew longer and warmer. It was also the time when baby chicks were hatched. Corn was dried and the kernels were removed and ground for feeding, as the chickens could not eat whole kernels. ... Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:45:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/pysanky-1/ A pysanka (plural: pysanky) is a Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated using beeswax and dyes. Pysanka is often taken to mean any type of decorated egg, but it specifically refers to an egg created by the written-wax method and utilizing traditional folk motifs and designs. There are several other types of decorated eggs in Ukrainian tradition, including: Krashanky – boiled eggs dyed a single color (with vegetable dyes), that are blessed and eaten at Easter. Krapanky – raw eggs decorated using the wax-resist method, but with only dots as ornamentation. They are traditionally created by dripping molten wax from a beeswax candle onto an egg. Malyovanky – created by painting a design with a brush using oil or watercolor paints. It is sometimes used to refer to coloring (e.g. with a marker) on an egg. Nakleyanky – created by glueing objects to the surface of an egg. Lystovky – created by dyeing an egg to which small leaves have been attached. All but the krashanky and lystovky are meant to be decorative (as opposed to edible), and the egg yolk and white are either allowed to dry up over time, or removed by blowing them out through a small hole in the egg. ... Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:16:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/things-to-do-leftover-easter/ If having an egg hunt is one of the annual traditions at your house then you know what’s left over after the thrill of the hunt has waned…lots of plastic eggs. What do you do with all of those plastic ovoids? Use them for some fun science and art activities! ... Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:59:00 PDT https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/personal-time-capsule/ Today we think nothing of opening a can of some exotic or out of season food. We rely on tin cans to bring us products from all over the world. Not that long ago supermarkets were not as well supplied as they are today, especially during the winter months. To save money and to make sure certain fruits and vegetables were available beyond the summer months, many people turned to canning their own produce. Here on the Eastside, people could take their garden products and can them safely at local canneries. ... Thu, 01 Mar 2012 09:03:00 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/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/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/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/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/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 https://kidsquestmuseum.org/blog/animal-explorers-camp/ What do Animal Explorers love best? Take a wild guess.I’ll give you a hint:   OINK! MOO! HONK! TWEET!   ... Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:01:00 PDT