Welcome -Family days - do they work for you?

[Robert Kiihne]

On September 24th 75 museum professionals (most of whom were educators) spent the day listening to four great speakers and talking about the museum experience. At the end of the day many of you asked for a forum online to continue the discussion.

Welcome to the Program family learning forum- you asked for it you got it.

To start things off: At the Sept. workshop I heard about a number of very successful family day programs:
The ICA has Play Dates once a month,
The Peabody Essex Museum has Atrium Alive! Once a month
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology hosts a great day of the dead celebration geared towards families (one of my family’s favorites)

On the other hand here at the USS Constitution Museum we have had a hard time getting families to make a special trip to our institution for a day of activities.
Have others had successes or failures – if so why do you think that is?

[acarter]

Historic Newton recently hosted our first annual Homestead Hayfest. This family day program was a tremendous success, and we had over 300 happy visitors at the Jackson Homestead in a single day. For an historic house museum, this was a huge crowd!

All of the activities at the Hayfest were intended for family participation. Here are some of the activities:

--Contra dancing: family members learned the dance steps together.
--Butter making: Shaking a jar full of heavy cream was an activity parents and children could do together. Even better, they got to take home their butter and instructions for how to make their own at home!
--Silhouettes: Parents and children could draw the outline of each others' profiles and then work together to complete and decorate their own silhouette portraits.
--Costumed interpreters: Families engaged with William Jackson and his daughter Ellen, learning about everyday life in the 19th century in their conversations with them.

This is only a sample of the activities offered on the day of the Hayfest, but we had overwhelmingly positive response. With this is mind, I think family days offer a unique opportunity for families to share educational and meaningful experiences with each other and with other families in their community.