Madison Children's Museum

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1. Tom Linfield, Long-Time Arts Champion, Chosen to Lead Madison Children’s Museum

   May 23, 2024 9:17 am Leave a Comment

   June 28, 2024 is official start date

   The Madison Children’s Museum board of directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Tom Linfield as the organization’s new president & CEO. With extensive experience in philanthropy and a deep connection to the local community, Linfield will bring a unique perspective and passion to his new role.

   

   “I am exhilarated by the opportunity to join Madison Children’s Museum,” says Linfield. “This is a cherished local institution, a nationally recognized museum, and one of the most innovative and creative organizations I’ve ever worked with. From the Rooftop Ramble down to the pay-what-you-can cafe, the museum continues to find ways to delight and engage their diverse visitors. Their commitment to equity and inclusion, integration of sustainable practices, and history of involving local artists in exhibition creation, are all reasons I’m so excited to join the team.” 

   Linfield currently serves as vice president of community impact at the Madison Community Foundation, where he has been employed for the last 20 years. He has helped distribute grant money to hundreds of local nonprofits and formed deep connections in the local community with donors and organizations.  

   He has served as part of a team at Madison Community Foundation that grew their assets from $100 million to $400 million, built a $330,000 community gardens project that tripled the number of food pantry gardens and community gardens in the greater Madison area, and leveraged over $27 million in federal Paycheck Protection Program funding (Covid relief) for Dane County nonprofits. 

   Linfield has strong connections to the museum: as a volunteer, contributing artist, and parent. When the museum reopened on the Capitol Square in 2010, he created the mosaic “L” that still hangs on the first floor. He fondly recalls bringing his own children to explore and discover the wonders of the museum in their younger years. 

   He also has longstanding relationships with museum staff. “Tom is an artist and a creative spirit,” says Brenda Baker, the museum’s vice president of exhibits, facilities, and strategic initiatives. “He has an unusual combination of strengths: a drive for excellence, a commitment to community—and a sense of whimsy and playfulness—that will meld seamlessly with what MCM does best.” 

   This is a pivotal time for MCM, one that offers space for new leadership and strategic planning. The Caretakers of Wonder project, a national, MCM-led initiative addressing the effects of climate change on young children, is entering a new phase. A major new MCM exhibit, the Nice Age Trail, opens on June 1. The museum is partnering with Lilly Endowment Inc. on an initiative with great potential to further MCM’s work via a major grant. And the museum just completed hosting the largest ever international children’s museum conference, in partnership with the Association of Children’s Museums, an event years in the making. 

   “I was lucky enough to participate in the recent conference hosted here by Madison Children’s Museum,” says Linfield. “Professionals from around the country were in awe of what our museum has accomplished. Deb and her team have really built something extraordinary.” 

   Linfield’s first day on the job as president & CEO of Madison Children’s Museum is set for June 28, 2024. 

   Deb Gilpin, MCM president & CEO for the last 11 years, will work through July 3, committing some consulting hours after that to ease the transition. Gilpin is retiring after 37 years in the field.  

   Matt Premo, president of the MCM board, says, “Tom brings strong community connections, deep knowledge of how nonprofits operate and are funded, and an innovative approach that will make him a dynamic and effective leader.”

   Jennifer Johnson, executive search committee chair and former MCM board chair, adds, “After a long national search vetting many qualified candidates, the hiring committee and board are thrilled to welcome Tom to Madison Children’s Museum.” 

   The board retained the services of the Arts Consulting Group, a Chicago agency that has extensive experience in executive leadership searches.   

2. A Third Act for Slippery the Calf

   December 11, 2023 12:24 pm Leave a Comment

   The museum’s exhibit From Coops to Cathedrals: Nature, Childhood, and the Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright closes on January 2, 2024, but the museum has a longstanding practice of reusing and upcycling exhibit elements, often in surprising ways.

   

   One of the most iconic elements of Coops is a calf unofficially named “Slippery” who started out as part of a dairy-themed exhibit when the museum was in its former location on State Street. Slippery is so-named because, for a while on State Street, there was a sign on the calf that said, “Be careful climbing on me, I’m slippery.” Kids understandably began to call the calf Slippery and the name stuck.

   Every election season, the museum sets up a temporary exhibit called The Polling Place, where children can see realistic ballots and vote on matters in the museum. (Thus was Poop Day instituted, when the four- year-old vote turned out in strong numbers. These elections have consequences.) When the museum moved from State Street to its current home on N. Hamilton Street, kids voted on which old elements should be included in the new space and the cows won. Instead of recreating the former exhibit in the new location, the cows were incorporated in new ways. One became part of the “cow jumping over the moon” over the museum’s atrium and another overlooks the Wonderground. Slippery joined Coops in 2017, and became a popular feature, with kids brushing, bottle-feeding, and riding the calf constantly.

   Plans are already underway for how this beloved bovine can become a part of another exhibit. So it won’t be “goodbye” to Slippery, just “So long, and see you later!” 

   

   

   

   

3. Birthday Parties Going Green at MCM

   January 5, 2023 12:03 pm Leave a Comment

   Kids’ birthday parties often create mountains of plastic trash. Plastic tablecloths, forks and spoons, disposable decorations, cheap party favor toys, etc. Last year, when we restarted our birthday party program, we wanted to do better by our guests and by our environment.

   Madison Children’s Museum now provides reusable plates, cups, bowls, and cutlery in kid-approved colors as part of every party package. Our staff washes the dishes after the party, so parents don’t need to stress about cleanup without resorting to plates and cutlery which would end up in a landfill afterward. The tables in our party room are covered in the same paper we use in the art studio, with crayons provided so guests can color between activities, replacing disposable plastic tablecloths. Even our party room decorations are made by our staff out of paper and other recyclable materials, so families can skip buying balloons or other single-use decorations and still have a beautiful, festive atmosphere.

   

   

   

   

   For our deluxe party package, which comes with goody bags for the guests, we replaced generic, plastic party favors with a coloring book developed by our staff, crayons, a reusable cup, stickers, and a play pass. We also created a birthday party poster that kids can color on during the party, making a memorable keepsake without generating even more plastic waste.

   

   We even reduced waste in our birthday party program behind the scenes, slashing the number of printed forms we generate for every party. And at MCM when

   Kids have loved the updates and parents appreciate both the aesthetics and the chance to throw a birthday party that doesn’t end up in the landfill. And as a museum, we love that sustainability and environmental stewardship are part of every event at Madison Children’s Museum.

   

   

   

   Learn more or book a birthday party at MCM.

4. Wonderground Graph Theory

   October 20, 2022 9:34 am Leave a Comment

   The Wonderground Phase 2 construction is complete which means that the most unusual, creative outdoor play space in Madison is now open once more!

   The Wonderground Phase 2 expansion takes the already-popular outdoor playspace to another level. The Thicket climbing grew a whole new platform with a double-decker “birdhouse” and a twelve-foot tall spiral slide as well as ladders, climbing tubes, and bridges connecting all parts of the climbing structure, providing innumerable paths to travel, exponentially magnifying the play potential of the whole sculpture.

   Well, not really innumerable. There are ways to figure out just how many paths there are through the Thicket. Can YOU calculate it out?

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5. Parenting in times of turmoil (the WI v. Kyle Rittenhouse verdict)

   November 19, 2021 4:28 pm Leave a Comment

   November 19, 2021

   As a children’s museum, we care about the safety and well-being of children and their families, as well as the community we are raising these children to inherit. We owe it to our children to work toward a world where racism, gun violence, and police brutality are unacceptable.

   As our community processes the results of this trial, we as parents and caregivers need to look to the immediate needs of our children. In the short term, you can limit children’s access to news and discussion of frightening events. Young children often can’t contextualize events the way adults and adolescents can, meaning that distant dangers can feel immediate and one event reported repeatedly can feel like many instances of violence. For more information, NPR’s Parenting: Difficult Conversations series has a useful podcast/article: What To Say To Kids When The News Is Scary.

   In the long term, ignoring racism and violence will not protect our children from their effects. Caregivers should talk to children in age-appropriate ways about these tough topics.

   In 2020 we put together a selection of resources on teaching children about racism. Tragically, these are as relevant now as they were then:

   • Talking Race With Young Children, Parenting: Difficult Conversations series by NPR
   • An Activity Book for African American Families: Helping Children Cope with Crisis, National Black Child Development Institute and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
   • Resources for Talking about Race, Racism and Racialized Violence with Kids, Center for Racial Justice in Education

   

   To that list, we’ll add the picture book Something Happened in Our Town: A Child’s Story About Racial Injustice (Marianne Celano, PhD, ABPP, Marietta Collins, PhD, and Ann Hazzard, PhD, ABPP, illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin and published by the American Psychological Association’s Magination Press.) As per the publisher “Something Happened in Our Town follows two families — one White, one Black — as they discuss a police shooting of a Black man in their community. The story aims to answer children’s questions about such traumatic events, and to help children identify and counter racial injustice in their own lives. Includes an extensive Note to Parents and Caregivers with guidelines for discussing race and racism with children, child-friendly definitions, and sample dialogues.”

   There’s much work to be done. As an organization deeply invested in creating a society where all children and families can play and learn together, and as a cornerstone of our downtown, we will stay active in the conversation and the work.

6. Brain Builders: A Starry Night in Wisconsin

   December 22, 2020 10:51 am Leave a Comment

   You don’t need a paintbrush to make beautiful artwork!  Just using cotton balls, paint and the dip and dot method created this beautiful marbled paint effect. 

   

   

   Materials needed: 

   • white card stock
   • cotton balls
   • blue paint
   • white paint
   • yellow construction paper stars
   • photo of your child

   Younger children can do this simple technique and will enjoy dotting, while older children can focus on filling the entire space.  When your painting is all dry, don’t forget to add a picture of your child in a big warm coat!  You could even add a 2020 to your creation, because, let’s face it, we all need to remember the good parts of this year–the children who keep us smiling and fill our hearts.  This makes an excellent gift for friends and family!  

   

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7. Early Explorers: DIY Sensory Board

   June 30, 2020 2:36 pm Leave a Comment

   by Heather Davis, MCM Early Learning Manager

   Older babies and toddlers love to touch, feel, and explore. You can make a sensory board with items you have in your home. You’ll need a piece of cardboard, a hot glue gun, and some creativity. 

   

   Items I used: 

   • Piece of an old bath mat
   • Puff balls/pom poms/cotton balls
   • Straws
   • Clothespins 
   • Sparkly ribbon
   • Card stock cut into shapes 
   • Recycled bottle caps
   • Bubble wrap
   • Tissue paper 
   • Popsicle sticks 

   

   Other items you might have that you can use: q-tips, loofah, wash cloth, aluminum foil, buttons, dried beans, pasta, egg carton, coffee filters…  What will go on your sensory board? 

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   Early Explorers activities are designed with the developmental needs of babies and toddlers in mind. Watch for more Early Explorers activities as part of MCM at Home.

8. Look Down! Sidewalk Surprises are popping up all around town

   June 22, 2020 8:43 pm Leave a Comment

   

   Look down. The sidewalk just got a little less pedestrian—and a lot more joyful.

   In  these times of great stress and isolation, creative, healing play is especially important.

   In that spirit Madison Children’s Museum launched Sidewalk Surprises today, in collaboration with the city of Madison. 

   This community-wide exhibit is enlivening city sidewalks with playful, whimsical, cross-cultural hopscotch challenges, encouraging movement and physical activity. Using dozens of game patterns from around the world, MCM is infusing physical play with citywide math and cultural learning.

   Museum staff and local artists are covering sidewalks across Madison and beyond  with hundreds of these temporary hopscotch courses, mazes, and labyrinths. Chalk artists are working throughout the week and will complete the courses by Friday, June 26. The spray chalk will last several weeks, depending on the weather, giving many children a chance to enjoy them.

   These solo sidewalk games encourage walking—and skipping, hopping, and jumping—through spaces, rather than gathering. The games support social distancing as they create joy. This is especially important since many of children’s most beloved places in the community are currently closed—Madison Children’s Museum among them.  

   Based on the book Hopscotch Around the World (Mary Lankford), the hopscotch games support cultural and math learning, spatial awareness, small and gross motor skills,  and dexterity. They will be spread across the city’s  many, diverse neighborhoods and enhanced by online learning resources.

   Over thirty different kinds of sidewalk games and activities will be represented. As a group, they include multi-cultural themes, games for younger children, and courses that can be accessed by those with different abilities, including wheelchair users.

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   An online gallery and map of game locations will be posted at the end of June.

   Since closing in mid March, Madison Children’s Museum has produced activity kits and online programs through MCM at Home—that programming continues, but now MCM Roadshow takes center stage. MCM Roadshow is a series of temporary, popup play experiences throughout our community. Sidewalk Surprises is first in the series.

   “Kids’ need for open-ended, creative play hasn’t changed. But the opportunities for those rich play experiences have diminished,” says Brenda Baker, director of exhibits for the museum. “We know that plenty of good online resources for kids have sprung up during the pandemic. But parents and caregivers are looking for more opportunities for their kids to play outside. Using sidewalks as our canvas, I think we’ve found a way to recreate some of the museum experience in unexpected places—where kids will practically trip over these invitations to play, move, and learn.”

   MCM is partnering with the City of Madison and collaborating with surrounding municipalities, neighborhood centers, neighborhood associations, and local artists. In an attempt to help artists affected by the pandemic, the museum has worked with Karin Wolf, city arts administrator, to enlist community artists. Some of those participating were also involved in the city’s recent downtown mural project. 

   MCM staff has worked within the City of Madison’s social distancing and sidewalk marking guidelines to ensure safety.
   
   “These playful games and activities, spread throughout the city of Madison, are the work the museum does best—creating joyful, active, play-based learning experiences for our community’s children that reinforce critical educational concepts,” says Baker.

   Sidewalk Surprises is a Madison Children’s Museum Roadshow Project, creating temporary public art in collaboration with the City of Madison. The project is joyfully made possible by Madison Community Foundation and Endres Manufacturing Company Foundation. 

   Sidewalk Surprises is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional funding from Alliant Energy Foundation, American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation, US Bank Foundation, Madison Arts Commission, Veridian Homes, Dane Arts, American Transmission Company, and Madison South Rotary. 

9. Early Explorers: Toddler Stacking Tower

   June 9, 2020 12:00 pm Leave a Comment

   by Heather Davis, MCM Early Learning Manager

   Many of us don’t love the idea of so many kids toys made out of plastic, but the wooden options are just so expensive. Plus it’s hard to justify investing in fancy toys that the kid may play with for a couple hours at most. The solution: DIY toys made out of cheap, recyclable or up-cycled material that are ok to rip, mangle, and then discard. Enter the DIY Toddler Stacking Tower!

   

   Materials needed:  

   

   • paper plate
   • hot glue gun
   • aluminum foil tube
   • paper towel tubes
   • scissors
   • construction paper (if desired)

   Directions: 

   1. Glue/hot glue the construction paper to the aluminum foil tube (if desired). 
   2. Hot glue the aluminum foil tube to the paper plate (you’ll need a decent amount of glue).
   3. Glue construction paper to the paper towel tubes and cut into rings.
   4. Stack!

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10. Nature Monday: Number Hunt

    April 6, 2020 8:30 am Leave a Comment

    by Joyce Hemphill

    

    Celebrate spring with a family walk. Enjoy the colors and sounds as they unfold with the increasingly warmer weather. As you walk challenge one another to a Number Hunt. As the saying goes, “The family that plays together, stays together.”

    

    Number Hunt can be played anywhere and it doesn’t require any additional supplies. To play, carefully look at your surroundings and find one of something. The first person to shout it out earns one point. For example, “I see one dog!” Next, look for two of something, such as “I see two brown birds at the feeder!” Now search for a quantity of three  … and so on. At the end of the walk the person who has earned the most points gets to choose the next game or activity.

    A sister game to Number Hunt is Numeral Hunt. The object of this game is to find the numerals starting with zero or one, your choice.

    For more nature ideas, visit our friends at NatureNet.org.

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    Nature Mondays is part of MCM at Home. Follow us on social media for more tips, games, crafts, and ideas to learn through play at home.

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