Confession Tuesday

I have an idea.  It is a project I’m going to run at Speakeasy, and I’m totally excited about it for some reason. 

Probably ten years ago, the Jaycees made a trip to the Hands-On Children’s Museum in Olympia.  We had a blast.  I don’t know who had more fun… the adults or the kids.  Anyway, I have wanted to start a kids’ museum ever since. 

I was thinking about that the other day and thought about doing a major event at Speakeasy where we’d basically put on a kids’ museum for the day.  But then when I was thinking about all of the ideas I had for that, I thought it might be a little bigger than I would be able to do (without help) in the next couple of months, so I pared it back to just one of the elements. 

We are going to put on an archeological adventure day for kids.  They will come into the gallery and receive a passport/adventure book.  Each station will have a stamp to add to their passports. 

• We will have the first station be the picture taking/identification station.  They will get their pictures taken and printed for their passport booklet and have a badge with their names. 
• The next station will be an introductory meeting at “base camp” on Speakeasy Island.  Everyone will introduce themselves and get an itinerary of the day’s events. 
• They will move on to the “map room” where they will be able to color and decorate their maps. 
• Then the group will move ahead to the “fossil station” where they will make bones from clay and fossils with plaster of paris.
• While those items are drying, they will move on to the station where they will hear a story and get more info about digs and other cultures.
• Finally, they will put together their own archeological dig box (a rubbermaid tote with sand/soil) and add a coordinates grid.  someone will then place their bones in the box to be dug up later.  The kit will have a brush for cleaning the items and a notebook for documenting where the items were found.

The Speakeasy artists can help with decorations and being guides for the stations.  We will project dinosaurs onto the walls and have a big volcano.  There will be greenery around and then a canopy tent for base camp.  I’m pricing sand, containers and other components and putting together a project/event proposal. 

I just hope that it will work and that we could actually get some kids to come out and join in the fun.  :)  If so, then I will start working on the bigger plan of the kids’ museum for the day.  Yay!

If you want to help out/volunteer or have any ideas to add on, let me know.  :D