Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center (SEEC) on Creating Playful Family Memories

Today’s guest post is from Brooke Shoemaker, a Museum Education Specialist at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center (SEEC). SEEC is an early childhood program that I love that you may be familiar with from past pieces on A Parent in Silver Spring. SEEC resides within the Smithsonian museums and utilizes the vast collections of the museums and the community to support its curriculum. SEEC has a full-time school during the week that serves children from two months to five years, while SEEC’s outreach arm, the Center for Innovation in Early Learning, brings playful museum learning to the public through family workshops. SEEC is typically known for its work with five-year-olds and under, but they have recently expanded our programming to include exciting offerings for kindergarten through third grade. Read on for the scoop!  When crafting our programming at SEEC, we think about how to make educational experiences playful and engaging for children and caregivers because we know play is how children make sense of their world. As play theorist Vivian Paley states, “Play is, in fact, a complex occupation, requiring practice in dialogue, exposition, detailed imagery, social engineering, literary allusion, and abstract thinking. Being both work and love for young children, play is absolutely essential for their health and welfare.” Although the importance of play has been proven, research shows that children’s play time has been declining every year. Play is the way children learn and develop lifelong skills such as teamwork, perspective taking, problem solving and critical thinking. And let’s face it, play is fun! Think about a really fun and playful memory from your childhood. You are likely to remember the details of it better than something more mundane like a trip to the grocery store or a ride to school. You can probably recall the details much better, for example, what you smelled, saw, what you were wearing, what you did, and perhaps most importantly, who you did this fun activity with. We all want to create positive memories with our children, and lasting memories are created when you are engaged in an experience together. It is with this knowledge and belief that we have created our new offerings for an older audience, which utilize this playful approach to create fun, educational and memorable experiences for families. At SEEC we know how important play is for the development of children, and we believe that play should not end in kindergarten, but instead continue throughout our lives. Play might change and look different as we grow, but it is no less essential at any age, and SEEC Celebrations and Artful Afternoons embody these ideas. SEEC Celebrations With SEEC Celebrations families can choose between an ancient Egypt or dinosaur themed party, in which children take on the role of archeologist or paleontologist to discover clues about the world long ago. Children start with several themed activities to begin the fun. These activities range from sensory play, to more creative art activities, ensuring options for all different types of interests and learners. Next, […]