Happy holidays

Happy holidays every one.  Its been quite a busy and happy week and share the news here as soon as possible.

Tomorrow we will be in Ideapark (http://www.ideapark.fi) with a few more new exhibits including a bernoulli blower.  Just putting the last pieces together for it.  We are not sure if we can put the bubble exhibit there as its in the central square and no matter how careful one is, a little soap water always spills out. 

Will post pictures after the event and if you miss us tomorrow at Ideapark, we will be back in PiiPoo (ideapark) on tuesday...

Sheela

space for the museum

We have been actively looking for space for the museum for a couple of months now. From others experiences we figured its better to give it ample time especially if we really really want to open it in April. We found a couple of places that are very promising and started talking to the owners. I met the owners for one of them yesterday. Its family owned property and I met with the young couple who are running the business now. Very nice couple, very helpful and willing to help us and negotiate.

I know its not done till contract is signed and everything so not going to say where exactly it is but looks very promising so we are very very excited....yay!!

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Olemme etsineet paikkaa museolle jo parin kuukauden ajan. Vastaavanlaisia museoita avanneilla on ollut usein ongelmana tilan läytäminen. Etsinnän aikana on tullut vastaan lupaavia kohteita, ja tänään on neuvoteltu erään omistajan kanssa. Omistajapariskunta on ollut hyvin auttavainen, ja ymmärtänyt meidän ongelmamme aloittamisen kanssa.

Nimiä ei ole vielä paperissa, mutta lupaavalta näyttää. Toivottavasti tästä löytyi koti.

First event for the museum successful

Our first event at the International Early Education Center was quite a successful one.  The age range of the children was 3-6yrs.  Each age group came seperately starting with 3yr olds and ending with 6 yr olds.  We set up 6 exhibits for most of them and had the Funflystick (electrostatic exhibit) for 6yr olds 
The train exhibit, Magnetic gear exhibit was more favored by 3-5yr olds. 
The Earth quake shake table had different reactions from different groups.  Younger kids just liked to build the houses/buildings without any worries about earthquakes:)
The magnetic drop activity showed more potential than I initially thought it would
The Tornado bottles were a huge hit.  Not so much from 3yr olds but starting from 4yr olds, it never stayed idle:)
But the biggest hit of all is the bubble exhibit.  While we will have a rope that the kid (or adult) can pull to get a bubble around themselves for the museum, as a travellign exhibit we just found a small ball pool, a hoolahoop and Marko attached two handles and we wrapped nylon all around to retain soap solution better.  Both children and teachers loved to stand and get a bubble around them.  We even got the director of the school to try it out although that picture is one of the teachers cameras or else it would be in this blog:)

And the fun fly stick turned out to be a fun activity too with kids lining up and waiting for their turn to play with it.

Here a few pics...

Promotional Opportunities for the museum

We have at least 4 events planned for just this month where we will be taking a few small exhibits for children to play thus introducing the museum. We are very excited about all the opportunities and can't thank enough to everyone who is showing such strong support and encouragement.

Next week Wednesday, we will be visiting International Early Education Center for a few hours with a few exhibits including a train table, gear table, hopefully bubble center, earthquake shake table and a few others.

Saturday Dec12, we will be in ABC Lahdesjarvi and participate in their 5th anniversary celebrations with a few of the above exhibits.

While local mall in Tampere wanted to charge us to let us bring a few exhibits to promote the museum, Ideapark, a huge mall in Lempaala (close to Tampere) offered us promotional space for free in their Central park which is right in the center of the mall. We will be there on 28th of December. They also offered us the same space during Ski weekend in February. We are very excited about this opportunity as the mall is really busy especially weekends. Thank you Anna:)

After hearing about the gig in Ideapark, another entrepreneur who opened a center for children which has a lot of thoughtful opportunities for special needs children offered us two more promotional opportunities. Just talking to Pilvi Kuitu, CEO of PiiPoo was an inspiring experience and we realized that the ideals behind both her PiiPoo center and our museum are very similar. We will be in PiiPoo on Dec 29 and again during the Ski weekend in Feb.

We will try to post pictures of the events as they come...


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Meillä on nyt 4 tapahtumaa suunnitelmissa. Tarkoitus on laittaa esille
muutamia pieniä museoon tulevia laitteita, ja täten levittää tietoa
museon avaamisesta. Olemme hyvin innostuneita näistä, ja haluamme kiittää
tukijoita kannatuksesta.

Keskiviikkona vierailemme International Early Education Center:issä.
Mukana on junarata ja hammasrataspöydät, mahdollisesti saippuakuplat,
maanjäristyssimulaattori ja muita.

Joulukuun 12 olemme ABC Lahdesjärvellä mukana juhlistamassa heidän
5-vuotis synttäreitä.

Ideapark, iso ostoskeskus Lempäälästä, tarjosi meille tilaa ilmaiseksi
keskusaukiolta. Olemme siellä 28. joulukuuta, kuten myös helmikuussa
hiihtolomaviikonloppuna. Kiitokset Anna! Tämä on huomattavasti parempi
kuin nimeltä mainitsematon keskus Tampereella, joka halusi
rahastaa tästä.

Kuultuaan meidän vierailusta Ideaparkkiin, paikallinen yrittäjä
päätti auttaa meitä tarjoamalla lisää edustusmahdollisuuksia.
Hän avasi aikaisemmin lapsille tarkoitetun keskuksen, jossa on
otettu hyvin huomioon erityistä apua tarvitsevat lapset.
Pilvi Kuitu, Piipoon toimitusjohtaja, on hyvin inspiroiva henkilö.
Huomasimme pian että toiminta-ajatus on hyvin samanlainen sekä Piipoolla
että meidän museolla. Tulemme vierailulle Piipooseen 29 joulukuuta,
ja hiihtoloma viikonloppuna helmikuussa.

Yritämme laittaa blogiin mukaan kuvia kun niitä saamme.

Tampere English Playschool and Discovery Museum

More than a decade ago, Shawn Rizzo started an English Playschool in Tampere when there were none.  She was the pioneer in introducing English education to 3+yr olds with "playing" as the main motive behind teaching.  Her International Early Education Center is a fun place for children while getting exposed to not just English language but different cultures and stories and innovative play techniques. 

I had the opportunity to meet her earlier this year and it so happens she is also from California but settled here for a while:).  Later since I mentioned to her about the museum, she has been giving not just moral support but also practical advice when it comes to business and share contacts. 

Last week while we were talking about the progress of the museum and sponsorships, she gracefully offered to sponsor a great exhibit for the children.  The exhibit's main audience is 1-6yr old children and suits our mutual belief of mixing "play and learn".  Thank you Shawn for your generosity. 

Ofcourse we will post more details as the exhibit gets designed and built....stay tuned...

Discovery Museum of Tampere, ihan suomeksi

Museon valmistelu on kovassa vauhdissa. Laitteiden rakentelu vaatii yllättävän paljon aikaa, koska ensimmäistä prototyyppiä täytyy lähes aina muuttaa. Näin käy varsinkin isompien välineiden kanssa.

Toinen ongelma näiden kanssa on materiaalien hankkiminen. Rautakaupan hyllyjen välissä on tallattu polkua jo jonkin verran. Ja monen vierailun jälkeen on huomannut että jotain jäi tuomatta. Melkein olisi helpompaa jos muuttaisi rautakaupan viereen asumaan!

Olemme liikkeellä rajoitetulla budjetilla, joten isoihin kömmähdyksiin ei ole varaa. Yritämme valita suunnitelmista sellaiset näytteille laitettavat vekottimet jotka voi rakentaa yksinkertaisemmista osista. Ja avuksi rahoitukseen haemme sponsoreita.

Onneksi emme ole aivan yksin liikkeellä. Olemme saaneet rakenteluohjeita ja vinkkejä muilta museoilta. Paikallinen tuki on rakentanut isoja osia laitteista. Kiitokset tästä.

Varsin mielenkiintoista on kuitenkin näitä suunnitella ja rakennella. Toivottavasti nämä ovat yhtä viihdyttäviä museon vierailijoille kuin ne ovat rakentajille :)

picking up pace

wow! its been more than a month since I blogged!.  its amazing how time flies.  We had a good and useful trip to California.  It was good to visit a couple of museums, one of them is a brand new that started earlier this year in good old Napa valley.  Scientopia is started by a local couple as a business providing the local children and visitors a place to take their children to.  Their Dino dig was a big hit with Manu.  Owners Marcy and Jonathan spent some time with us inspite of their busy schedules and juggling between taking care of kids and running the business to give us some pointers, tips and ideas.  Thank you Marcy and Jonathan:)

Back in Tampere, we re-started looking for a location.  Ofcourse, the place(s) we really like are the ones we can't afford (isn't it the case always!!).  We started discussions with a couple of them and continue our search as well. 

We started building exhibits in our garage and others.  We tested the bubble exhibit last weekend and it works!  The bubble solution might need a bit more tweaking but it works!.

I will try to post more often from now and keep it updated.  I hope to work on website soon as well.

-Sheela
ps:  we will also start blogging a bit in Finnish too from now

Tampere University of Technology and Us

For the past few weeks I have been talking to different professors in the Tampere university of Technology.  The professors I met so far are all very supportive of the museum and helping in designing/creating exhibits.  Starting with Prof. Adam Foster in Physics department we now have professors from atleast 4 different departments who are helping with exhibits and further contacts.  Its awesome to work with the brightest minds in coming up with ideas to share information about the research they are currently doing in form of different types of exhibits.  I am hoping we continue the trend and build "classical" exhibits and complement them with "latest" research exhibits to spark interest in science.

CEB conference yesterday

I was at the CEB conference in Helsinki yesterday.  Presented my paper titled "Play and Learn" (ofcourse following our tagline) and talks about early age exploration and getting children interested in science fields through exploration and a little about how technology should be used as a tool rather than a way of life (for children ofcourse).  I think the paper is going to be published online on their website soon and as proceedings in a couple of months.

Didn't realize I will be the first presenter for the morning session:)  The time got shortened 17 minutes with questions at the end of all presentations.  I talked for the first 10 minutes about early age exploration and why its important and got little time left to talk about Discovery Museum.  I missed most of School age children (middle school and high school) part of the presentation but overall it went good. 

And its the first public statement about opening a discovery museum in Tampere. Yay!!!

Playtime everyday

I was reading an article this morning that was posted a couple of days ago in NYtimes.   http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/let-the-children-play-some-more/?th&emc=th .  The title of the article is "let the children play (some more).  this article is based on US schools ofcourse and talks about how recess and play times have been cut down in most schools to give way to more intense education.  The article mentions how more children are getting into depression and having obesity and behavioral disorder problems.  

Coming from India, I am familiar with no downtime in school problem.  We had one recess i.e. lunch time and once a week PT (physical training).  But atleast once the school is done, however much stressful it was, we were free to go out and play (ofcourse once homework is done too..) but these days with so many electronic media all around us, favorite pasttime is not playing games outside but rather watch tv or play video games or chat on internet.  Its not just India and US...more and more countries are facing the problem..balancing between the higher demands of education and childrens well being.

In that aspect, Finland seems to be very consistent and insistent on having breaks between classes, give enough downtime for kids to rejuvenate their brains and have more playtime outside (even in the middle of winter).  They start school late but catch up with their peers around the world pretty fast.  In surveys done with children around the world, Finnish children often come in the top5 in math, science and reading abilities.  They attribute this to giving more time for children to be children, uniform core curriculum and high standard of teachers. 

When I talk about "play and learn", people here immediately get it.  They understand it very well.  Recently I was talking to the headmaster of one of the schools in Tampere about the museum and she said they believe and try to get their children especially lower than sixth grade to play and "invent" rather than just teach them theories behind everything.  Wow! what else can we ask for:)

--sheela

you know you like a museum when..

you catch yourself talking about a particular museum to 3 different people in the same day:)  Today, in different meetings, I mentioned the Tom Tits Experiment (http://www.tomtit.se/) thrice and how great it is...It does have a great collection of experiments for kids of all ages.  And the great thing is  they give you a book with all the great experiments with a picture and description not only to guide you through them during the visit but also to take home and remember. I haven't seen any other museum do that and I think that's the coolest thing.

while I talked about Tom Tits thrice, the only other museum I talk about (apart from Discovery Museum of Tampere ofcourse) is The Exploratorium in San Francisco.  Lot of science museums around the world including ours used/will use their proven recipes for exhibit building.  And they have the most amazing online presence including great resources for teachers. 

With such great museums to inspire, I am sure Discovery Museum of Tampere will become childrens favorite place locally..

Inspiration behind starting science museum

I quit my job in high-tech field to stay home and enjoy (with a little frustration on the side) the motherhood and watch Manu grow.  I take it as a huge blessing that we could afford to do that.  It so happened Manu always demanded my attention and literally spent every waking moment playing with him.  While doing so, without even thinking about it, got into a habit of talking to him about everything we do and some more.  It was fascinating to watch Manu get more interested in various things and ask for explanations.  With both of us being science junkies we started explaining little science behind everything.  Even if he doesn't understand completely, he got into a habit of asking "why" and "how" and although sometimes its difficult to explain in the easiest terms it created more and more curiosity in him which is what we wanted to achieve.

Every parent can probably relate to this story.  Earlier this year, we were driving back home after picking him up from his playschool and Manu asks "how did man make so many things?  so many tractors, so many different types of cars".  well, we weren't exactly prepared for that question I can tell you that.  It was a week after he turned 3 and I am sure we mumbled something to him about how civilization grows.  After giving it some thought we tried to explain again in much simpler terms how it all started with living in caves and then slowly progressed to where we are today and tried to answer his flurry of questions that came with that one question.  I am sure most of the information we told him didn't sink in but I was quite amazed at what all they can ask and how we can sparkle more interest in them by being a bit more prepared.

We visited Childrens Discovery Musem in San Jose (www.cdm.org) quite often last year and Manu always had a blast there. We realized one of the things missing in Tampere is childrens science museum. I started doing background research on them.  When we visited Stockholm, we visited science museums and sure enough Manu got very interested in them and keep asking when can we visit them again.  He keeps asking if we can do a "science experiment" (when he is not asking to do a art or craft project that is) and we try to find different things that are simple enough for him to do/follow and explain enough to keep his interest going.  And it inspires us even more everyday to build a discovery museum in our town where more kids like Manu can come and play (or experiment if they want to call it that) and get interested in science that lives in everything all around us.

Recenly when I told Manu we will be visiting California soon, the first question he asked is " are there science museums in california"?  and then "will you take me there...please..."?  Obviously memory is short for the kids and he forgot about CDM visits already but just the fact that a 3 yr old asks to go to a science museum is encouraging enough to put in all the effort needed into building an exciting museum in Tampere.

Start of the journey

We are starting the blog to share our journey from now through the opening of the Discovery Museum next year.  Although the process started a while ago, now the concept is slowly transforming into reality. 

Last month we visited Stockholm and ofcourse visited the Stockholm science museum and Tom Tits experiments with our 3yr old and watching him darting from one exhibit to another excitedly and trying out everything, asking questions constantly made us excited about getting this museum started in our own town.

Tampere is a very unique city although the atmosphere makes me think of it more of a town than a city.  With its two unique lakes and a very rich history and beautiful nature all around, I can't think of a more ideal place to start a Discovery Museum.  We want this museum to be a place where children of all ages can come experience hands-on exploration of nature, science and math. 

Next blog:  Where the inspiration came from to start the museum

--Sheela