Children's Museum of the East End Awarded Grant for New Program

BRIDGEHAMPTON, NY — Children will see their horizons expanded due to a generous grant for a new educational initiative.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services has awarded the Children’s Museum of the East End a grant of $41,250 to launch a new educational initiative entitled “Play/Practice," a release said.

The initiative, the release said, combines outreach programming for hundreds of low-income preschool children in the community with professional development for early childhood educators.

Children’s Museum educators will partner initially with children and teachers at the Wuneechanunk Preschool and the five Head Start centers located on the East End.

The program will serve hundreds of local children and dozens of early childhood educators throughout the school year, the release said.

The idea for Play/Practice grew out of conversations with early childhood educators who noted the limited opportunities for professional development in the community.

Suffolk County’s “Welfare to Work Commission” made the same point in their report entitled, “Who’s Minding the Kids," which stated that early childhood educators were not being properly prepared to facilitate purposeful play in child care centers and preschools, the release said.

According to the Commission, “long-term research and decades of classroom experience show that a combination of child-initiated play and hands-on active learning is the most effective strategy in early education. But these time-tested methods have been disappearing from kindergarten as well as Pre-K, primarily because of a lack of training in developmentally-appropriate practice.”

“’Play/Practice’ is a great example of how the Children’s Museum will serve a critical need for workforce development in early childhood education while fostering learning through play,” said Liz Bard, the Museum’s education coordinator. “Not only will kids have the time of their lives during the workshops, it allows us to work with educators and provide a foundation upon which to build success in the classroom.”

“We are honored to receive this award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services,” said Steve Long, the Museum’s president. “The funding of this program allows us further our mission to foster learning for children of all backgrounds and abilities and to build strong connections within the East End community by providing playful experiences.”

Patch photo courtesy of Lisa Votino-Tarrant.