Three-day workshops fun for children

flagday022: Three-day workshops fun for childrenEveryday can't be the Fourth of July for children, but they have found plenty of reasons to celebrate holidays, cultures, crafts and even natural phenomena at the Kern County Museum this summer. Since June 14, the museum, located at 3801 Chester Avenue in Bakersfield, has presented three-day children's workshops at least bi-monthly for youth ages 3-10. In July there were three.

The themes vary. For example in June, Flag Day and Father's Day were only two days apart. So, the museum designed a "two-fer" workshop on June 14 where children could craft red, white and blue star whirlers and flag pins for Flag Day and a Father's Day card for dad.

More than a keep-busy activity, the themes promote thoughtful study. Nine year-old Kimber Gutierrez attended The Flag Day/Father's Day workshop and was proudest of the colorfully decorated card she made for her dad which said, "Dear Dad, You are doing a good job on the pantry. I think you are going to make it to the top of Mt. Whitney. Love Kimber."

As she talked about her creation, Gutierrez revealed how the card was a thank you for the inspiration her father provides. "I like him very, very much," Gutierrez said. "He never gives up. I made the card to show him how much I support the hard work he's doing training to climb Mt. Whitney."

Jackie Brouillette, the museum's educational services manager, plans the workshops, which she hopes will become almost a weekly activity in the fall, when school resumes.

"We make workshops events where children have fun and learn something they can take with them," Brouillette said. "The trick is not to force learning on them but present it in a fun way so they don't really realize it has taken place."

Is there a formula for successful workshops? Brouillette says originality is not always the key. Two years ago, the museum presented a workshop called "Mrs. Shore's Ocean of Fun." Then it was dropped for a year. When Brouillette resurrected it for June 24-27, the workshop sold out.

"We saw it had been very successful for a long time and persuaded Tanis Shore to once again host the event," Brouillette said. "Shore is a retired teacher who turns a natural phenomenon, the ocean, into three fun days of music, stories, crafts, treasure hunts and water play. Along the way, children digest lots of facts about the ocean, and it sparks their imaginations to ask questions."

Children paraded through the grounds with Chinese dragons and visited the museum's historic Barnes Log Cabin, Adobe, Joss, Pinkney and Weill houses as part of "Culture, Kultur, ¡Kultura!" on July 15-17. A "Paper Party" closed out July with participants using papier mache and balloons to make piñatas, and magazine pages, water and a blender to create personalized journal paper from July 29-31.

On working with papier mache (shredded paper, flour and water) nine year-old Sabrina Guzman was heard to say, "It's slimey, but you get used to it." While eight year-old Brittany York explained how the piñata works, "You poke a hole in it, air comes out, it stays the same shape, you put candy inside and patch it up."

The museum will offer "Beads, Beads, Beads" from Aug. 12-14 and "T-rex Revisited," a dinosaur experience, from Aug. 19-21.

Reservations are required three days in advance. Cost per day is $7.50 for museum members and $10 for nonmembers. Class size is limited to the first 20 applicants, and an adult must attend with children under age four.
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