Smithsonian Voices

From the Smithsonian Museums

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13 Innovative Programs That Invite Early Learners to Explore the Smithsonian

These free regularly scheduled, drop-in programs across the Smithsonian introduce the youngest learners and their caregivers to a wide-range of playful, engaging, age-appropriate topics, including shapes and storytelling, animals and nature, and music and movement

Children Approaching the Smithsonian Building

Learning Alongside the Smithsonian for the Hundredth Day of School

A group of students wait in line at a Post Office. Each student has a stamped envelope they are handing to the postal worker behind the counter.

Field Trips at the National Postal Museum Deepen Student Learning and Connections

Young child experiences hands-on play experience with objects

Equitable Access to Quality Early Learning Experiences Matters

Activities that give young children the opportunity to build meaningful, personal connections with animals can be the spark for a lifelong love of wildlife and cultivate a lasting conservation ethic.

Using Empathy for Animals to Engage Young Children in Early Engineering Education

The National Zoo education team created an interactive, virtual field trip experience for 600 D.C. Public Schools kindergarteners to learn more about rainforest habitats, connecting to a children’s book they had read together. Here, the facilitator introduces students to a rainforest resident, the roseate spoonbill. (Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

Imaginations Run Wild with a Virtual Visit to the National Zoo

When abstract concepts, such as fairness, race and differences, are explored with picture books, spoken about during play or introduced in activities like art-making, they are accessible to children and better understood. (Jaclyn Nash, National Museum of African American History and Culture)

Starting Conversations that Support Children Before Traumatic Events Happen

Learning about a major news event as it transpires can be stressful for families to navigate and process together. (Getty Images)

Talking to Children After a Traumatic Event

A boy adds a wish for the health of delivery workers during the 2020 pandemic. This paper wish tree is inspired by artist Yoko Ono’s Wish Tree for Washington, on view at the Hirshhorn Museum’s Sculpture Garden.

Using Museum Resources to Help Preserve Childhood in a Pandemic

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