New York State Museum Announces Holiday Week Activities
The New York State Museum will celebrate the holidays with a series of interactive programs designed to educate, entertain and engage visitors of all ages December 27-30.
All activities are free and will be held Tuesday through Friday between1 and 4 p.m. Participants will have the opportunity to explore the winter constellations, watch a film, warm up with winter stories, do arts and crafts projects, celebrate Kwanzaa and engage in other hands-on activities. Activities are open to all ages unless otherwise noted.
“Winter Stars” are the topic on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. Visitors will enter an inflatable planetarium where they will explore the constellations viewable during the holiday season and learn techniques to guide them through the nighttime sky. The origins of constellation myths will also be discussed during this 30-40 minute presentation. Tickets are free but limited and must be picked up in the main lobby. This program is recommended for ages 7 and up.
“The Second Day,” a 40-minute documentary that looks at 9/11 through the eyes of a child, will be presented on Friday at 1 and 3 p.m. in the Huxley Theater. Filmmaker Brook Peters was attending his second day of kindergarten a few blocks from the World Trade Center when the planes struck the Twin Towers. At age 11, he decided to make a film about that fateful day and its aftermath to give his fellow students and teachers at schools near Ground Zero an opportunity to share their experiences with the world. “The Second Day” is the touching and inspirational documentary that he completed when he was 14. The film provides a unique and hopeful perspective on 9/11 through the eyes of young people and educators who lived through it.
A Kwanzaa celebration will be held on Tuesday from 3-8 p.m. on the Museum’s fourth floor Terrace. There will be an African marketplace, singing and traditional foods.
Museum educator Truemaster Trimingham will lead a hands-on program “All About Whales” on Wednesday at 1 and 3 p.m. Also on Wednesday, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Laura Payack of the New York State Office of Mental Health will show participants how to build a model of a neural network using recycled packing peanuts.
Museum staff member Ann Winnicki will read “Winter Time Tales” to young visitors, ages 3-6, in front of the Sesame Street exhibit on Wednesday and Friday from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
On Thursday from 1:30 to 4 p.m., Regina Keenan from Hudson River Fish Advisory Outreach will present “The Who’s Who of Hudson River Fish.” Participants can create a fish imprint to take home using the Japanese art of “gyotaku” and get some health advice about eating Hudson River fish. Also on Thursday during the same time, Museum art instructor Peggy Steinbach will show the beautiful artwork the Shakers created for their seed packets and invite participants to design their own packets and pack some seeds inside to take home or give as a gift.
Museum staff member Nancy Berns will present a hands-on activity about owls on Friday from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. She will show participants how to dissect owl pellets to determine what owls eat and why their delicate bodies are not damaged by the bones they eat every day.
For further information visit http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/programs/holidayweek/
Established in 1836, the State Museum is a program of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education. Located at the Empire State Plaza on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission is free and the Museum is fully accessible. Further information about Museum programs and events can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.
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