Tag Archive for: Community

Join us for Water Safety Day!

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The Great Lakes Children’s Museum is proud to present Water Safety Day 2023; an event promoting being safe while enjoying the Greatest thing about the Great Lakes; Water! The Great Lakes can be dangerous, but by learning a little water safety, we can play in, on, and around water in a safer way! Let’s talk about safety in a fun – not scary – way so we can enjoy the Great Lakes together!

Join us for Water Safety Day May 20th, 2023 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm!

This event is FREE and open to the public! Water Safety Day will take place right outside the Great Lakes Children’s Museum, which will still be open for General Admission (we suggest a reservation if you want to play in the Museum). But stop by the fun on your way into the Museum to learn how to be safe on the water from these amazing partners:

Help us make a SPLASH at this first-annual water safety event at the Great Lakes Children’s Museum. In addition to all the fun you can always find at Discovery Pier and Elmwood Township Park like fishing, watching the tall ships, and playing at the beach, we will have several fun safety stations set up on the West side of M-22.

Lots to do!

You can learn about different types of lifejackets and how to wear them, run ‘sinking boat’ drills, attend a beach safety class with America’s Boating Club, take the PFD Quiz to get a FREE LIFEJACKET donated by Long Lake Marina, learn about swim safety and CPR with the Red Cross, see the Elmwood Fire Department Rescue Boat and Ambulance up close*, and learn about more ways to stay safe in, on, and around the water!

America’s Boating Club will demonstrate why water safety is so important: we are surrounded by water and drowning is a leading cause of death of children. But we can play safely in the water! We will learn:

  • How to wear a lifejacket—Linda Lifejacket will show you all the features of hers.
  • What is the difference between a toy and a lifejacket.
  • What your child looks like when in trouble in the water—and what they look like when wearing a lifejacket.
  • What the animals teach us about water safety; turtles, birds, sea otter.
  • Why you should always wear a lifejacket on a boat; four good reasons.
  • We will have the kids do a “sinking boat” drill to learn the importance of knowing where lifejackets are and how to put them on.
  • We will set up and conduct the Boating Quiz. When the kids complete the quiz they will get a new free lifejacket courtesy of Long Lake Marine.
  • We will show parents how to be “WATER WATCHERS” and how to throw ring buoys and help someone in trouble in the water.

At about 11:30 am, watch the Coast Guard run a recovery drill* where they will drop a rescue diver in the water at Elmwood Beach and recover the diver before they fly on home! Make sure to get there before 11:30 to see the Helicopter rescue drill!

 

*Barring any emergencies that require the attention of our Emergency Services.

You don’t need an RSVP, Ticket, or Special Invitation to attend! Everyone is welcome to join us for Water Safety Day!

Arts in Action with Mike Sincic – May 6th!

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Calling all parents, grandparents, nannies and caregivers! Arts in Action is BACK in the Great Lakes Children’s Museum! Please join us with your children for a fun, INTERACTIVE experience on Saturday, May 6th from 9:30 to 11:30am, and 12:00 to 2:00pm.
This workshop is a no pressure, drop-in format, and is included FREE for members, or with the cost of admission for guests!
GLCM partners with local artists representing interesting mediums of creative expression in Northwest Michigan to present hands-on arts and culture workshops designed for children 2-8. Our next Arts In Action workshop will feature the art of collage- with Mr. Michael Sincic!
Although Michael lost his sight two decades ago due to a brain tumor, he has made a name for himself in Northern Michigan as a popular local artist.
Join us Saturday for his special interactive workshop, where he will help your little one create a work of art in a different way than they may be used to- one that requires sharpening their sensory abilities, without using their eyes.
Don’t miss this awesome, interactive workshop for children- but FUN for the whole family!
These hands-on, skills-building activities are supported in part by generous grants from the Michigan Arts and Culture Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. THANK YOU MACC and NEA!!

Spring Break Astronaut Training is back!

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Calling all future astronauts!

Do you dream of one day walking on the surface of the Moon or setting off on an adventure to Mars? Do you think that working on the International Space Station would be exciting? Join us at the Great Lakes Children’s Museum during Spring Break for a week of Spring Astronaut Training. It just might be your “cup of tea”.  Speaking of tea: Find out how an astronaut would drink tea (or any other liquid) in space!

This is a FREE program included with tickets to any session (Morning, Noon, or Afternoon) happening during Spring Break Week (March 27th -31st). Just pick up your tickets on our Reservation Page to save your spot! (Tickets go on sale 1-week in advance)

With fun, hands on activities you will do experiments, solve problems, explore space . . . . . . and even eat a snack like an astronaut!

Children will visit each astronaut training station and earn a sticker for each activity completed.

Experiment Stations: 

Static Electricity

Surface Tension

 

Problem Solving Stations:

Reconnect The Power Supply

Design, Build, Test  (a space vehicle)

 

Explore Space:

Space Guess Quest game

 

Early Learners Station:

Moon Adventure blocks

Lunar Landscape ( Sensory exploration)

 

Obstacle Course Station:

Human Hamster Wheel

 

 

Most resources have been provided by The National Informal STEM Education Network.

 

Volunteer Opportunity!

If you’d like to volunteer to help out at GLCM, follow the link below. You can sign up to help at a time that works for you – we’ll train you on what to do! Contact the Impact Manager at impact@glcm.org or 231-674-5352 with any questions.

Click here to view volunteer opportunities!

 

New Year’s Countdown for Kids

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GLCM’s New Year’s Countdown for Kids takes place on Saturday December 31, 2022 during All Sessions (9:30-11:30 / 12:00-2:00 / 2:30-4:30 pm)

This experience is FREE with Museum Admission ($8 for children and adults, free for members). Reservations Required! This event sells out!

Would you like to welcome in 2023 but can’t wait till midnight?

It’s midnight somewhere in the world! Countdown to 2023 with the Great Lakes Children’s Museum!

Watch the ball drop and make some noise! Fabulously fun New Year’s activities will take place all throughout each session.

 

The ball drop will happen ½ hour before each session ends. Activities will include decorating the ball, making noise makers and party hats and more!

Buy Tickets! Sign Up as a Volunteer

Merry Mystery Sasquatch Search

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Join the Merry Mystery Sasquatch Search!

Monday December 26th – Friday December 30th, all sessions

This experience is FREE with Museum Admission ($8 for children and adults, free for members).

Wonder, Imagine, Believe

Ever wonder if Bigfoot exists? Can you imagine seeing a Sasquatch?  Believe it or not, the Great Lakes Children’s Museum is conducting a Merry Mystery Sasquatch Search this holiday season.  Come with curiosity. Use sasquatch science to investigate and explore the mystery of Bigfoot.  Have some fantastic fun following and making your own footprints.  Ask questions: “If bigfoot is out there, what would he eat, where would he hide, what does he sound like?” 

Find the answers to all your sasquatch questions. 

The science is in the searching. 

 

Tickets will be available for purchase the week of December 19th

(each day goes on sale a week ahead of time)

Buy Tickets! Sign Up as a Volunteer

Holiday Happenings Celebrations!

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Help us celebrate holidays from around the world!

Holiday Happenings Celebrations is an interactive experience that celebrates holidays from across the globe! Celebrate familiar and new holiday traditions in the Great Lakes Room with us! This drop-in program will be available alongside normal gallery play for two whole days!

Thursday, December 22nd and Friday, December 23rd (All Sessions)

This experience is FREE with Museum Admission ($8 for children and adults, free for members).

 

Buy Tickets! Sign Up as a Volunteer

 

 

Fresh Paint at the Children’s Museum!

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Guests at the Great Lakes Children’s Museum will notice a fresh coat of paint just about anywhere they look these days. Volunteers have stepped up this fall and have been applying paint to patchy and worn surfaces inside and outside the building.

United Way Day of Caring

On September 26 GLCM was one host site of many during the United Way Day of Caring. The Museum was lucky enough to have three teams onsite that day; Traverse Connect helped organize our storage barn, TC Light & Power spruced up the grounds and got us ready for the winter season, and the staff from BATA painted the outside of the building!

We went from various shades of red-orange and bare brick to a beautiful brick-red building on the North, East, and West sides of the building. They even painted the soffits and gray railing. Now our building is much more beautiful (and waterproof!)

GVSU Renew Crew

But what about the inside? Enter the ‘Renew Crew’ – a team of aspiring PAs from Physician Assistant Studies program. Every year, a crew from GVSU visits the Museum several times per year. This was the last visit from the 2021 crew and we closed the museum down for an afternoon of much-needed painting.

The Renew Crew helped revitalize the Freighter, Garden, Chicken Coop, Helicopter, Puppet Theater, Water Cycle, and several other odds and ends around the museum. Where once we had chipped corners and mismatched patches, now we have clean lines and bright colors. This crew is amazing!

 

 

Volunteers are critical to the mission of the Great Lakes Children’s Museum. We depend on volunteer help to go above and beyond offering a ‘decent’ facility and experience to our Museum guests. The work volunteers put into our building and exhibits doesn’t just make the place look nice – it adds care, ownership, and a sense of place. A professional painter can apply beautiful textures and clean lines, but only a volunteer can add love to a place with every paint stroke. So if you’re ever in the Museum and you see a paint drip, a mismatched color, or a brush mistake I hope it makes you smile and remember the love and care behind it. Thank you to ALL of our volunteers – we couldn’t do it without you, and we wouldn’t want to anyway.