Tag: CT events

Ride a Vintage Train to Visit the Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny will once again pay a visit to the Danbury Railway Museum located in downtown Danbury in Litchfield Hills and you can take a ride in a vintage train through the historic rail yard to visit him. This popular annual family event will take place on Saturday & Sunday, March 23 & 24, and Friday & Saturday, March 29 & 30.

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Museum hours are 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; noon – 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Trains leave every 30 minutes from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m..
Admission is $9.00 (age 2 and up); each child will receive a small gift from the Bunny. Reservations are suggested and may be made by visiting the museums Web site at www.danburyrail.org. The short train ride in a fully-restored 1953 New Haven RR Rail Diesel Car (Budd RDC), will take visitors past the fully operational turntable, over 70 vintage railroad cars and locomotives, and many unique pieces of railroad history, including a Boston & Maine steam locomotive built in 1907 The highlight of the trip is when the train stops at the Easter Bunny’s special railroad car.

The museum’s beautifully restored circa-1910 Railway Post Office (RPO) car is open for tours. The exhibits inside the restored 1903 Danbury station will be open, along with a coloring station, temporary tattoos, Thomas® play table, and the operating model train layouts. Don’t miss a visit to the fully-stocked gift shop chock full of affordable items.

The Danbury Railway Museum is a non-profit organization, staffed solely by volunteers, and is dedicated to the preservation of, and education about, railroad history. The museum is located in the restored 1903 Danbury Station and rail yard at 120 White Street, Danbury, CT. For further information, visit the Web site at www.danburyrail.org email info@danburyrail.org, or call the museum at 203-778-8337.

For area information visit www.litchifeldhills.com.

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Step Into Art™ at Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Have your kids ever wanted to curate their own gallery, create a self portrait at a designated computer station, take part in an art hunt through an exhibit and let their imaginations run wild by creating as many different images as possible at the three-dimensional Pattern Puzzle? Now through May 12 kids can do all this and more by literally stepping inside the framework of famous paintings and experience art in Framed: Step into Art™, at Stepping Stones Museum for Children in Norwalk located on 303 West Ave. For information www.steppingstonesmuseum.org or 203-899-0606. For area information www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com

Step Into Art™ photo credit: Minnesota Children’s Museum
Step Into Art™
photo credit: Minnesota Children’s Museum

Kids enter the special exhibit by stepping through an over-sized frame and instantly become immersed in the worlds created by well-known artists. Each work is re-created as a three-dimensional, sensory, walk-in environment that includes a print of the artist’s original work, as well as important facts about the artist’s life and painting style.

There are four featured paintings in this bi-lingual exhibit that provides a different cultural experience for participants. Dinner for Threshers by Grant Wood for example teaches children about rural life at the turn of the century. Kids can tend to a chicken and eggs, prepare a meal in the kitchen, set the dining table, enjoy a noontime dinner, and mix and match the farmers’ patterned shirts. The detail the featured painting provides includes theme of patterns, the farmers’ tan lines and the hour of the meal.

John Singer Sargent’s Camp at Lake O’Hara Minnesota Children’s Museum
John Singer Sargent’s Camp at Lake O’Hara Minnesota Children’s Museum

At the popular Camp at Lake O’Hara visitors are transported to the Canadian Rockies circa 1916 to the John Singer Sargent’s Camp at Lake O’Hara. Children can climb inside a tent and explore camping gear like Sargent would have used. After cooking a pretend meal over the campfire, kids can tell stories around the fire and arrange items in a magnetic frame to show what a painting of today’s campsite may look like.

The Big Chicken by Clementine Hunter is a salute to Louisiana’s most famous female artist and folk art icon that creates imaginary animals like Hunter’s “goosters” by mixing body parts. Children and adults can load the cart in this exhibit with cotton, climb behind the reins of the giant rooster and take their load to town.

Big Chicken by Clementine Hunter Minnesota Children’s Museum
Big Chicken by Clementine Hunter Minnesota Children’s Museum

Travel south of the border when visiting Corn Festival by Diego Rivera through this work from the Court of Fiestas in the Ministry of Education Building in Mexico City. Kids will have fun exploring a rendition of one of Rivera’s frescos while adding their own whimsical flourishes such as flowers and ribbons of “corn husks” to the flower tower and on a miniature building’s mural.

About Framed: Step Into Art™
Framed: Step Into Art™ was created by the Minnesota Children’s Museum for the members of the Youth Museum Exhibit Collaborative (YMEC): Bay Area Discovery Museum, Boston Children’s Museum, Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose, Children’s Museum of Memphis, Long Island Children’s Museum, Minnesota Children’s Museum and Stepping Stones Museum for Children. The exhibit is sponsored locally by Xerox Foundation.

About Stepping Stones Museum for Children
Stepping Stones Museum for Children is an award winning, private, non-profit 501 (c)(3) children’s museum committed to broadening and enriching the lives of children and families. For more information about Stepping Stones, to book a field trip or schedule a class, workshop or facility rental call 203-899-0606 or visit www.steppingstonesmuseum.org. The museum is open daily 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

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MapleFest Audubon Sharon’s Maple Sugaring Open House

Audubon Sharon in the Litchfield Hills will be holding its annual MapleFest on Saturday, March 16 between 10 am and 4 pm at the Sharon Audubon Center, Route 4, Sharon, CT. On-going guided 40-minute tours will lead visitors through the Center’s sugaring operation, including a working sugarhouse and a re-creation of Native American and early colonial sugaring methods.

Participants can watch as pure sugar maple sap is collected from the trees and turned into delicious maple syrup. Admission for the event is $5.00 adults and $3.00 children.

This hands-on, sensory-based experience focuses on trees as living organisms and the concept of sustainable agriculture in a forest ecosystem. The staff of the Sharon Audubon incorporates forest ecology and cultural history into the joy and excitement of maple syrup production. Participants will visit 3 different stations during their guided tour with members of the staff.

The first stop is the forest, which is on the way to the sugarhouse. Visitors will be guided down the “maple trail” that is lined with sugar maple trees. Silver buckets are hung from the trees and guests are invited to take a peek under the lids to observe the watery sap dripping from the spiles into the buckets. Guests will learn proper tapping techniques and how the Audubon Center collects the sap from the buckets before transporting it to the Sugarhouse.

sharon aud maple sugar

The next stop is the sugarhouse where participants are invited to use their five senses to explore the process of syrup production. Steam can be seen bellowing from the evaporator as soon as the doors are slid open and the sweet aroma of syrup fills the air. The Sugarhouse Guide explains the entire process of how the sap is brought into the sugarhouse, fed into the evaporator and boiled down to the finished product. Tools such as syrup thermometers, hydrometers and filter presses are put to use right in front of the visitors’ eyes and guests even learn what it means to “grade” the fresh maple syrup before it is placed into bottles. Before leaving the Sugarhouse, everyone is treated to a taste of the delicious finished product.

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The last stop of the tour includes a re-creation of Native American and Early Colonial sugaring methods. Guests watch steam rise from the sap in a hollowed out log as educators add Native American hot rocks from the fire ring and tell the legend of Woksis and how maple syrup was first discovered. Moving forward to Colonial times, guest watch the creation of a Colonial spile from a piece of sumac tree that one lucky guest per group gets to take home. Lastly, the “lazy man’s balance” is demonstrated to show how colonists made making maple syrup just a little simpler.

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Fresh syrup will be available for purchase in the Sharon Audubon Center Nature Store while supplies last. For more information on MapleFest or the Audubon Sharon sugaring operation, contact the Audubon Center at (860) 364-0520 or visit www.sharon.audubon.org. Depending on sap flow, the sugarhouse will also be open each weekend in March for visitors. Call ahead to see if Audubon staff will be boiling sap. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com

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Signs of Spring at Audubon Greenwich

Slowly in March winter begins to withdraw and signs of spring slowly show themselves. There is no better place than to experience the signs of spring than at the Greenwich Audubon Center in Greenwich Connecticut.

Winter Break Adventures ~ Join the fun in February

On Saturday, March 2 from 10 a.m. – 11 a., the Audubon is hosting a program on Wheat and Gluten. Rachel Khanna will return to Audubon Greenwich to talk about what’s going on with wheat and gluten in our foods and how it affects our health. Join her for a one-hour session to learn about these ingredients and get the right information. $10. Space limited. RSVP toRakhanna@optonline.net. Also on March 2 there is a program on the Early Signs of Spring from 1:30- 3 p.m. Join Ted Gilman for fun and early spring natural history during a hike down the Discovery Trail, up to Mead Lake and back to the Center. This is for ages 5 & up. The walk is on easy to moderate terrain. RSVP to Ted at 203-869-5272 x230.

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On Saturday, March 9th from 1 – 2 p.m. there is a family bird watching event where participants will review winter birds, bird feeding and first returning migrants. Help conduct our weekly ‘Project FeederWatch’ bird count and help report these results via the Internet to Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. For ages 5 & up. RSVP to Ted at 203-869-5272 x230. Also on the 9th there will be a new art gallery exhibit titled New England Bird Watercolors by J. J. Audubon. Join art expert Joel Oppenheimer and other guest speakers from 6:00-8:00 pm to learn about Audubon’s field work in New England and to learn natural history notes about the species on display. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 9-00 am-5:00 pm and Noon to 5:00 pm on Sunday. There is no charge for the reception but donations accepted at the door. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served. RSVP requested to greenwichcenter@audubon.org or 203-869-5272 x239.

events

On Saturday March 16 from 2 – 3:30 p.m. families can learn how to make a nestbox in order to host bird families in your own yard or neighborhood by providing nestboxes for various species of birds. Ted Gilman will show a variety of nestboxes and the birds, which use them, as well as discuss their placement and maintenance. Families wishing to build their own nest box can pre-order a kit through the Audubon Nature Store or select from a variety of pre-assembled boxes in the store. For ages 5 & up. RSVP to Ted at 203-869-5272 x230 to attend and/or order nestbox kits. Also on March 16 there is a Woodcock watch from 6:45 p.m. – 7:45 p.m. Participants will help staff search for one of the rites of spring as we watch and listen for the crepuscular calls and aerial performance of these woodland sandpiper relatives. Participants will also listen for any newly emerged Spring Peeper tree frogs. Event for ages 6 & up. RSVP to Ted at 203-869-5272 x230.

On March 30 from 1 p.m. – 3:30 there is a Birding 101 Workshop: Bird Watching Basics for Adults. This is an introduction to ornithology and the tools/skills used in bird study. Enjoy a walk; learn how to use binoculars, guides, and other resources that make birding so much fun. Ideal for adults and interested youth. $12 adults; No Charge for youth. RSVP required to Ted at 203-869-5272 x230.

Audubon Connecticut and Audubon Greenwich is located on 613 Riversville Rd. in Greenwich and can be reached by calling 203-869-5272 or visiting http://greenwich.audubon.org.

For area information www.visitfairfieldct.com

JanetLeave a comment

Native American Drum Making Workshop at The Institute for American Indian Studies

The most important Native American instrument was and still is the drum. Most Native Americans prefer to use drums made from traditional materials made by a master drum maker or make their own. This is because of the strong spiritual associations of the drum….it is the heartbeat of Mother Earth.

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Indigenous peoples made several kinds of drums; log drum, water drum and the most common, the hand drum. Hand drums could be single or double-headed. In the northeast region they were traditionally made using a wooden base and an animal hide; typically deer or elk.

The drum is considered to be the first musical instrument used by humans; historians believe the drum has been virtually every culture known to mankind. The original purpose was for communicating over long distances as a type of signal.

On Saturday, February 23 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Allan Madahbee, Ojibway artist and musician, will instruct participants in making their own single-face drum while sharing the importance of the drum in Native American culture. This workshop is recommended for cildren ages 12 and up. The workshop fee is $150; $125 IAIS Members. Reservations and a $50 nonrefundable deposit is required by calling 860-868-0518. The museum is located on 38 Curtis Rd. in Washington Connecticut. For additional information www.iaismuseum.org. For area information www.litchfieldhills.com

About The Institute for American Indian Studies

IAIS is a Not-For-Profit organization. We do not receive monies from the State, Town of Washington nor any other museum or gaming facility. We reply on membership, programs and contributions for support.

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Winter Wonderland Children’s Ball February 23

Calling all little princes and princesses! Stepping Stones is rolling out the red carpet as the museum transforms into a snow-kissed wonderland for its fifth annual Winter Wonderland Children’s Ball on Saturday, February 23 from 6:00 – 8:30 pm. Children are invited to dress up in their party best for a memorable evening of fun and entertainment.

Moms and Dads, sons and daughters will be treated like the princes and princesses that they are as they enjoy a magical wintry celebration featuring dancing, hors d’oeuvres and full access to all the exhibits in the museum. Families will enjoy posing for the paparazzi as they arrive, learning ballroom moves from Robin Poska’s Ballroom Magic of Norwalk and making wonderful winter crafts.

Be sure you bring your camera. Photo opportunities abound as we celebrate the magic and wonder of the season amidst a whimsical winter backdrop of a lighted courtyard, a play-sized igloo, a life-sized snow globe, spectacular winter murals, snowflake-adorned galleries and a myriad of snow people.

Tickets for this unforgettable evening for the whole family cost $10 per person for museum members and $12 per person for non-members. Children under the age of one will be admitted for free. Winter Wonderland Children’s Ball tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. Registration is required. Space is limited, so register early. Call 203 899 0606, ext. 247 or visit www.steppingstonesmuseum.org/wonderland. For area information visit www.visitfairfieldcountyct.com.

About Stepping Stones Museum for Children

Stepping Stones Museum for Children in Norwalk, Conn., is an award-winning, private, non-profit 501(c)(3) children’s museum committed to broadening and enriching the lives of children and families. Located on five acres in Mathews Park, the LEED Gold certified museum encompasses five hands-on galleries, state-of-the-art Multimedia Gallery, Family and Teacher Resource Center, cafe and retail store.

Stepping Stones is located at 303 West Avenue, exit 14N or 15S off I-95 in Norwalk. Museum hours are Monday – Sunday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm. Admission is $15 for adults and children. Children under 1 are free. To learn more, call 203 899 0606 or visit www.steppingstonesmuseum.org.

JanetLeave a comment