The Ones that Eat the Shaving Cream, or, Museum Programs for the Masochistic

Allow me to welcome you to a very special place.

A place full of disorganization and discord.
A place where all your best laid plans are proved worthless.
A place where interpretive themes and links to the mandate are nothing but a fleeting memory.

Welcome to the wonderful world of preschool outreach.



Sure. They *look* cute...

 Let me start with a disclaimer: I love kids. Kids are awesome. I want some someday. However, the large groups of the younger variety (say, 2 1/2 to 5 years) in a museological context give me nothing but grief. I should perhaps specify that it's not their fault that I hate preschool outreach so much, but a combination of factors that I are simply amplified by their characteristics.

We're the only museum in the city that offers preschool outreach. I can't even think of any other museums that offer outreach programs in general, but I'm sure that some do for elementary schools. A quick search just confirmed my worst fears: can't seem to find any other museums that offer preschool outreach in the whole world. Some libraries, or Early Childhood Educator groups, but not museums. Interesting.

Our preschool outreach programs started as an offshoot of our on-site preschool-aged museum programs. These programs were so succesful (and unique!) that my predecessor decided to do some research into preschool outreach. It turned out that no one else offered it (surprise!) and that there was a demand for it since preschool aged children rarely went of field trips. As such, the on-site programs were adapted to be delivered at daycares and preschools.

There was a huge demand; the daycares and preschools were looking for a program like this! Unfortunately, my predecessor left before the trial phase was completed and a student was left to deliver the programs. It was a good idea in theory... not so much in practice.

I think the hardest part was (and still is) making the programs relevant outside of the museum. You know how I feel about programs having a close tie to the museum's mandate and themes, the problem is that these themes are often too difficult for preschoolers to grasp, especially without the context that the museum provides.

Imagine my surprise when some research revealed that children of that age don't even have a concept of time! So if I even try and talk about how the museum was where a man came a lived a long, long, long time ago, they'll just think, "Okay, yesterday." Their poor little brains just can't handle it as they don't really grasp the concept of the past until they're six. (Conveniently, that's when they're out of preschool...)

So I'm stuck talking about simple, simple things. My current roster includes a program about "Pioneers" (a glorified show and tell and dress-up game), a program about "Ladybugs" (really educational, I must say) and a program about "Colours" (which is the most popular because of its shaving cream marbled paper craft). The best tie-in to why the heck I'm there is, "A museum is where you learn things, today we're going to learn about...".

I suppose I should suck it up and just deal; if we're reaching out to kids and their teachers, that's good, right? But I'm not an ECE, so I can't help but feel guilty that I'm not providing an excellent product. All those teachers just watching and judging you with blank faces doesn't help either.

That's the worst part: you never know how it's going to go. The kids could be attentive, ask lots of questions, be friendly and excited, or they can be unruly, uninterested and, worst of all, sit there at watch you with blank expressions. It's a crap shoot.

As the student who delivered the outreach this summer so aptly put it:

"There are two kinds of preschool outreach;

the Montessori kids, and the ones that eat the shaving cream."

If preschool outreach has taught me anything, it's that I'm sending my kids to Montessori school.