CMEE @ Home Provides Enriching Activities For Little Ones

As Children’s Museum of the East End’s (CMEE) mission is to “spark imagination and foster learning for children of all backgrounds and abilities and to build strong connections within the East End community by providing playful experiences,” while the Museum is temporarily closed in response to COVID-19 CMEE has introduced several enriching virtual programming to keep little ones engaged.

“We want families know that the Museum is here for them so we created CMEE @ Home,” Liz Bard, the Museum’s Director of Education, explained.

CMEE @ Home offers a myriad of topics, including Songs In The Key of CMEE, CMEE Storytime!, Where Is Domino?, Homeschool for Beginners, Mrs. Leah’s Springtime Mystery Walk, and more.

“Every morning, we plan to introduce a new ‘Recipe for Play’ so families can stay engaged and explore creative ways to learn while they’re home from school,” Bard shared.

For Songs In The Key of CMEE, Staff Members have curated a few family-friendly Spotify playlists – encompassing happy tunes, sad songs, silly melodies, dance numbers, and everything-in-between. Those who have suggestions for the community playlists can e-mail [email protected] with their tune of choice.

Children can enjoy CMEE Educators reading beloved tales as part of CMEE Storytime!. Currently videos feature I Will Take A Nap! and ¡Hoy volaré!. Story suggestions can be emailed to [email protected].

CMEE’s beloved Domino the Bunny is being taken care of by a Museum staff member, although he really wishes he could be exploring the world. So, the Museum wants to know where CMEEers think he should visit. You can download a picture of CMEE’s #1 Bunny by clicking here, print it out, draw where Domino should travel to on his next adventure, and email the masterpieces to [email protected] so CMEE can share them with the rest of the Museum.

CMEE also offers advice on schooling that addresses screen time, scheduling, designating a set area for school, and more in the Homeschool for Beginners section.

When in need of some outdoor fun, partake in Mrs. Leah’s Springtime Mystery Walk. While on a stroll, take particular notice of your surroundings and then document what you and your little one sees. As spring brings Mother Nature alive, and blooms start to flourish, there is much to admire. After the trek, have them draw what they found most interesting, or have them take a picture of the captivating subject. Once completed, email the works to [email protected] or tag them on Instagram @cmeegram and they’ll share them.

CMEE has also enlisted local East End artists to create coloring pages that can be downloaded here and then little ones can use their imaginations to complete the works with bold, beautiful hues. Once again, CMEE would love to see the final products via [email protected] or @cmeegram.

“We thought that these coloring pages would be a fun way for the area’s incredible artist community to engage with children and families who are home from school for the time being,” said Steve Long, the Museum’s President. “Everyone has been so incredibly supportive during this time…every artist we shared the idea with was immediately on board and sent us drawings within 24 hours.”

Local artists who want to contribute a coloring page can contact [email protected].

For more information about the Children’s Museum of the East End, visit www.cmee.org.