If so, The Long Island Children's Museum is ready to help them explore their talents in a series of five exciting, once-a-week, hands-on workshops. Each of these lively workshops runs eight consecutive weeks and will be under the direction of a professional, who is currently practicing in one of the five fields the series offers: creative writing, radio and TV, music, theater and architecture.These are not sit-and-watch or read-about-it sessions. Students will have the chance to dig into their area of interest, roll up their sleeves and not only learn all about, but actively participate in, the creative processes.In You're On The Air, the group will get a taste of writing and producing for television and radio. They'll learn about sound effects, using a microphone and earphones, they'll write a radio script and tape it and also create and videotape a television commercial for a product they will imagine and then create. Some of the products that the children come up with are absolutely brilliant!In Jamming, the LICM Drummer's Circle, a percussionist will work with the students on actually composing music. In Architecture for Kids, under the direction of a professional architect, the class will plan a town, learning how to design and build all of the structures. You don't learn this stuff in school!A well-known writer of children's books, Judy Herbst, will lead the Creative Writers' Group, in which the students will do a variety of writing exercises, culminating in the creation of their very own hand-made book. You'll be astonished how creative some of these budding writers can be.Finally, in Theater Workshop, LICM's theater staff will teach the elements of theater, production and performance right on LICM's state-of-art stage, using its professional sound and light systems. Your little star will eat it up!These after-school workshops are part of the broad range of educational opportunities LICM offers to the entire community. One of the benefits of having moved into the new 40,000 square foot building last March is the additional space, which allows the museum to offer these incredible programs and workshops. "We like to keep reminding Long Island that LICM is a premier educational institution. Although we are extremely proud of our 12 outstanding interactive exhibit galleries, we're much more than the exhibits," says Bonnie Dixon, LICM's executive director. Within the building and in schools and community centers in Nassau and Suffolk, the museum offers a variety of creative programs. "We have just started a large program called Kick Start, in which we bring classes from underserved neighborhoods into the museum and bring workshops into their schools." On two evenings during the program, Kick Start includes caregivers in the workshops so that they can experience working alongside their children on learning projects. LICM education director Rhoda Andors points out that along with the outreach programs, "Almost every day, we offer visitors and/or school groups exciting workshops related to our exhibits..." "This spring we will be featuring a series of workshops based on our ToolBox exhibit, where children and their caregivers will learn how to use hand tools and then make exciting movable toys," adds Dixon. During the fall session, one workshop group learned to make kites and then went out and flew them. And the weekend theater programs are becoming "must take the kids" for many Long Island parents and grandparents. Children adore them because they're fun, exciting and there's always audience participation.Many of these programs are offered at no charge in addition to the regular admission, which is $8 for adults and children (1 and over) and $7 for seniors.
