"Monkey Mind" is a popular yoga phrase to describe when the brain swings from thought to thought, unable to focus. Left to the wilds, Monkey Mind can provoke intense distraction that hijacks the brain and veers humans towards increased agitation. Unfortunately, the fast pace of people's daily lives combined with widespread mental health conditions (ADD, ADHD, depression, anxiety, etc.) can cause children and adults to feel frequently overwhelmed. However, simple techniques of breathing, visualization, and movement can clear distraction, quiet the mind, and bring a sense of calm. But how do you engage children in the practice of mindfulness? Play...with the Monkey Mind Pirates method!

Monkey Mind Pirates is an innovative approach to combining playfulness with mindfulness that is based in simple ideas you can try at home with your children to cultivate calm.

Turning into senses:
Many meditation sessions begin by ringing a chime or a bell that produces a sustained tones. focusing attention on the sound can clear the mind of distracting or aggravating thoughts. Children can practice closing their eyes and listening to the bell, raising their hands when they first hear the ringing disappear and the silence emerge. In a group of children, each can take turns ringing the chime or bell and describing their experience of listening to quiet.

Seeing the Breath:
Breathing is one of the most powerful tools to combat stress bu may not be an activity that interests children on its own. Children make deeper connections to their breath when they can see and feel the action of the breath. Ask children to hold an imaginary ball with both hands. Using your own hands, demonstrate how the ball expands on the inhale and contracts on the exhale. Encourage the children to match the size of the ball's expansion and contraction with the length of their inhaling and exhaling. The Hoberman Sphere, available in toy stores (and seen in the Museum lobby!) is a collapsible plastic ball that also can mimic this expanding, contracting action.

Moving Meditation:
Often, meditative practices state stillness as an objective towards reaching the goal of calm. Although complete stillness may be difficult for young people to attain, many children like to play with moving in different speeds -- including slow motion. You can guide children to slow down by making it a game. Begin by turning on music and asking them to walk around the room in any pattern without talking. Periodically, call out instructions, such as, "As slow as you're moving, slow it down," until they are barely moving. To extend the experience, experiment with moving back and forth between slow and fast, always ending with slow motion. Afterward, ask children to describe the experience and what they noticed at the different speeds.

Drawing on the power of image and metaphor:
Metaphors such as Monkey Mind Pirates can provide children with language to talk about stressors in their lives in a story-based way. For example, children can create a character that represents how they feel when they are stressed. The character can take any form that the child suggests -- an imaginary creature, an animal, a person. Adults can encourage the child by asking questions: What is the character's name? What does it look and sound like? How does it move? What does it like to say? The child can draw pictures, tell stories, and act out events to bring the character to life. Adults can then refer to the character as a base for on-going conversations about the child's stress level.

An added benefit to practicing mindfulness with your children is that you get to develop some of the same skills along with them. The next time you find yourself at the end of your rope, take a moment to focus your awareness on your breathing. see if you can slow down and identify what type of character best depicts the way you feel. Talking with your children about your own challenges with Monkey Mind will encourage them to talk with  you about their own as well.

-Shari Aronson

Shari is an exhibit developer at Minnesota Children's Museum, a yoga teacher for youth and adults, and a puppeteer with Z Puppets Rosenschnoz, an award-winning performance company that is one of the collaborators of Monkey Mind Pirates.


Monkey Mind Pirates is a puppetry, rock n' roll yoga adventure to help families reclaim calm -- beginning with a camp for kids ages 8-11 at the Camden Music School in North Minneapolis July 19-23 and culminating with public performances July 23-24.

Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice is entering its last month here at Minnesota Children's Museum. It's been such a popular exhibit, we wanted to share some ways to bring the experience into your home. Try creating your own volcano at home!

Supplies needed:
1/2 tbsp dish soap
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup baking soda
Red liquid watercolor or food coloring
Tray or cookie sheet
Cylinder shape container for the "volcano" (i.e., toilet paper tube, plastic soda bottle with the top cut off, or a can

Process:
In a measuring bowl, mix the vinegar, dish soap, and a few drops of food coloring together.
Place the cylinder on a tray or cookie sheet and place the baking soda at the bottom of the cynider container.
When ready, begin pouring the vinegar mixture on top of the baking soda. Stand back and see what happens.

Suggested adult interactions:
Encourage children to try experimenting with the recipe -- what happens if you add more or less of an ingredient, or compare recipes without soap and with soap. Make predictions as to what will happen.
Try batches with different food coloring and see what color they make when they mix.
Discuss what the children think is happening when the baking soda and vinegar mix.

Skills developed:
Early science of cause and effect, predictions, and experimentation

Reading books:
National Geographic Readers: Volcanoes! by Anne Schreiber
Voyage to the Volcano by Judith Stamper and John Speirs

Adult references:
More Than Magnets by Sally Moomaw and Brenda Hieronymus
202 Oozing, Bubbling, Dripping and Bouncing Experiments by Janice VanCleave

Next time you visit the Museum:
Check out Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice for your last chance to travel back in time to explore the late Cretaceous Period (when the last dinosaurs lived). Closes May 31!

Have you made a volcano at home before?
What are some of the best variations you've tried?

This activity is best for children four-years-old and older.

Supplies needed:
balloon
a cup or bowl to balance the balloon
newspaper torn roughly into 1/2" strips (do not use any paper that has a glossy coating)

Paper mache paste mixture
2 cups of water
1 cup of flour
blender
mixing bowl

Process: 
Adults assist children in pouring flour and water in blender and process until a smooth paste is formed. Pour mixed paste into a bowl.

Take a stripe of newspaper and dip it into the paper mache mixture. Place the paper between your fingers and pull the paper through like a squeegee. Smooth the wet newspaper over the balloon. Continue dipping and smoothing till the balloon is entirely covered. Allow the paper mache to dry overnight. Any leftover paper mache mixture can be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator to be used the next day.

The next day, repeat the above process for a second layer of paper. If desired, wait one more day and add a third layer for a stronger finished creation.

Once the paper mache is completely dry, the egg can be decorated. Tempera, acrylic, and poster paint can all be used to paint the egg. The egg can also be decorated with collage materials -- items such as feathers, paper scraps, tissue paper, foil, or other recyclable material can all be adhered with glue to the egg.

Eggs can also be cut in half and a small stuffed dinosaur can be placed inside.

Suggested adult interactions:
Challenge the children to think what else final paper mache creation can be.
Discuss with children how dinosaur mothers and fathers took of their children. Check out the Adult Resources for books about that subject.

Skills developed:
Mathematics skills through measuring
Small motor skills through manipulation of materials
Creative thinking skills through decorating of paper mache

Literacy connection:
Encourage children to write and illustrate a story to go along with the dinosaur egg.

Reading books:
Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs (board book) by Sandra Boynton
Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp by Carol Diggory Shields
Dinosaur Bones by Bob Barner

Adult references:
Baby Dinosaurs by Don Lessem
The Art and Craft of Papier Mache by Juliet Bawden

Next time you are here:
Check out Dinosaurs: Land of Fire and Ice to travel back in time to explore the late Cretaceous Period (when the last dinosaurs lived).

Spring break is a great opportunity to focus on family time and take a real "break" from the normal busy schedule. Some families are able to travel, which is ideal for special activities. In our present economy, however, fewer people are traveling away from home. This is when fun, creative ideas for activities at home come in handy!

Depending on the weather, outdoor activities are fun -- and family exercise is good for everyone!

• Walk to the park and scavenger hunt for winter nature items; look for animal tracks in the snow.
• Take water bottles with a squirt top, add water and some food coloring, and head outside for some artwork in the snow!
• Build a snow castle or snow turle -- a mound of snow with legs, head and shell pattern -- and then go inside and have some hot chocolate while you read books.

Bad weather can present indoor opportunities to play board games together or to create simple, inexpensive artwork.

• Use recyclables to create a mobile and hang it in your child's room. Talk about the importance of recycling.
• Curl up and read a chapter book gradually over several days.
• Make homemade play dough and create exciting pieces of art; display them in your home.

At Minnesota Children's Museum, we support children in developing a positive view of themselves and their own culture. We also engage children in exploring other traditions so they can interact effectively with a variety of people.

Developing cultural competence results in an ability to understand, communicate with, and effectively interact with diverse people. One way the Museum supports these skills is by hosting exhibits such as Children of Hangzhou: Connecting with China, which opened earlier this month.

You can help your child build positive attitudes and cultural skills at home.

• Compare your family traditions with those in other cultures such as China. What and with whom do you celebrate? How are the celebrations alike and different?
  
• Try foods from other countries. Visit a restaurant or find an ethnic recipe to make at home. Use chopsticks at home and read the book How My Parents Learned to Eat by Ina Friedman, which tells how the author's Japanese mother and American father adapted to new cultures.
  
• Attend a cultural celebration.
  
• Look for experiences in which children encounter familiar things in new ways and new things in familiar ways.
  

Ann Boekhoff
Director of Special Projects, Minnesota Children's Museum

Now that you're home from all that exhaustive Black Friday shopping, it's time for a little bubble fun!

The Museum’s bubble area in the World Works gallery is one of the its most popular spots. Bubbles are a great way to discover gravity, air, cause and effect, surface tension and geometric structures. Play along as your child explores properties of bubbles through play!

Make your own bubbles at home and then experiment using strawberry baskets, slotted spoons and other objects as bubble wands. You can make your own bubble wands using pipe cleaners. Just shape one end into a loop for the bubbles, dip and blow!

Don’t have any potential bubble wands lying around? Use your hands! Form your hands into a triangle like. Dip you hands into bubble solution and blow. How many bubbles can you make in one minute? What would happen if we made a really BIG bubble?

Homemade Bubble Solution:

You will need:
1 cup dish soap (original Dawn works well)
12 cups water
*Optional: 2 tablespoons Glycerin (from a drugstore)

Gently stir all ingredients together in a bucket and let bubble solution sit overnight for best results.

We've got a few indoor play ideas for you and your children to experiment with on this dreary October day. All you'll need are a few magnets and a couple other household items and your family can explore magnetic science.

1. Magnet Fishing Game
Make your own fish shapes and cut them out. Attach a paper clip to each fish. Next, make your magnetic fishing pole. You can use a wood dowel or large measuring sticks or anything that you can think of that can be used as a pole. Tie a magnet with string onto the end of your pole. Have fun fishing!

2. Magnetic Adventure
Go on a magnetic treasure hunt. Explore where you live and find out what attracts a magnet and what does not. Give your child a magnet and have them walk around indoors or outdoors and test objects to see whether they “stick” to the magnet. As you are exploring, play “I wonder why” and see what creative and inventive reasons come to mind.

3. Magnetic Magic
Make a magnetic maze. You and your child can simply draw several paths from straight to squiggly on a piece of paper. Draw the paths from one end of the paper to the other. Place a paperclip on the path. Can you guide it along the path, using a magnet underneath? Try it and find out!

4. Magnet To the Rescue
Drop a paper clip into a clear glass of water. Can you rescue the paper clip without wetting either your hand or the magnet? Ask your child this question before you start and brainstorm the possibilities!

Do you have other magnetic games your children like to play?

As the weather takes a colder turn, Minnesotans might like to hunker down for a long hibernation. Resist the temptation! Keep your family active, no matter the weather, by making a family fitness promise.

Make a list of physical activities your family likes to do together. All family members who agree to participate can sign the promise together and be a member of your Fitness Team. Come up with a team name!

• Go for a family walk around the block. Make the walk into a game where each team member takes turns deciding what kinds of steps, hops, or skips you’ll take.


• Do active household chores together that require steps like raking leaves.


• Draw a crazy path on the sidewalk with chalk where you need to jump, hop, skip and walk at different points, or have a hopscotch marathon.


• Step like a hurrying ant, a lumbering elephant, a prowling tiger or a scared rabbit. Can you think of more fun animal movements?


• March to your favorite music.

Family Fitness Book List
Children’s Book of Yoga, Games and Exercise: Mimic Plants, Animals and Objects, Thia Luby

Five Kids and a Monkey Solve the Great Cupcake Caper, A Learning Adventure About Nutrition and Exercise, Nina Riccio

The school year has officially begun! A key skill to build for school readiness is listening. You can help your child develop their listening skills by encouraging them to tune into the sounds around them and try to mimic them.

Create Music From Surprising Places
You can use household items to create your own musical instruments. Pots and pans can be used with wooden spoons to create drumming beats or even plastic Tupperware for a softer sound. Two pan lids could by used as cymbals. Two tablespoons taped, back to back, can be used for tapping each other or even tapping on your knees. Be creative and find the many sound possibilities in your household.

Can You Play Your Favorite Song?
After experimenting with home made sound instruments, a great way to familiarize your child with rhythm is to play along to any recorded song. They can drum, shake, tap or jingle along to any music. Remember that there is no right and wrong way to play and you will be surprised at how inventive your child can be.

Follow the Leader
Clap a simple rhythm with your hands and encourage members of the band to copy you as they play one of their homemade instruments or clap or tap their hands. You can incorporate some physical movement into your rhythms by making your own band and marching, skipping, hopping or whatever movement comes to mind as you move around inside or out.

Suggested Reading:
What’s That Sound, Woolly Bear by Philemon Sturges

Know of other great books about listening, music and sound? Share them!

Letting children use their senses is a wonderful way for them to describe and use details. Play guessing games with spices, fruits and vegetables. Let the child describe how a food smells or tastes: sour, sweet, strong, spicy.

Play guessing games with various objects by placing them in bags, pillowcases, or socks. Let the child put his/her hand inside and describe the object. How does it feel? Is it soft? Is it hard? Does it bend? How big is it?

Parents and children can make their own memory cards with index cards or colored paper. Cut out various items from grocery store ads and magazines. You can match up many things: baby animals – adult animals, colors, sizes, shapes, toys, and foods.

Food Fun Books:
Baby Food by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers
Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert
First Book of Sushi by Amy Wilson Sanger
Food ABC by Heinemann Read & Learn
Good Bread by Brigitte Weninger and Anne Moller
How Are You Peeling? by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers

Pull off those socks and get ready to play! You can play language games while your child is sitting in the car seat, on your lap, or waiting in line at the grocery store. Explore with rhymes from traditional “This Little Piggie” to adaptations like “This Little Froggie:”

Wiggle each toe of the child while saying each of the following lines:

This little froggie broke his toe.
This little froggie cried, “Oh, oh, oh.”
This little froggie laughed and was glad.
This little froggie cried and was sad.
But this little froggie did just as he should;

Tap a rhythm to the bottom of baby’s foot as you say this line:
He hopped to the doctor as fast as he could.

Suggested Reading:

First Steps in Music by John M. Feierabend

Minnesotans earn their long summer days after all those winter months. Warm weather means outdoor play for your kids and there are plenty of chances to maximize your children’s outdoor experiences!

-Ask children to compare shapes of leaves, observe the shades of green outside and try matching crayons to them, make a nature collage, or draw animals.

-Dance and movement spark creativity too. dance in the sun and watch the shadows.

-Watch and copy how squirrels and pigeons move.

-Throw leaves in the air and watch them float back down. Drama and role-play inspire imagination.

-Music is often found in the rhythms and sounds of nature. At home, children can listen and imitate sounds like wind, insects, and birds. They can even make musical instruments with natural materials like seeds, pebbles, and sticks.

In Minnesota, we really EARN our summers. Once the weather warms up, everyone's in a better mood and everyone is thinking and living more actively. It's a great time to pick up healthy habits.

There are growing concerns about children’s health today. Reports say nutrition and diets are crumbling, children don’t play outside anymore, and screen time at the computer or television has increased to more than four hours per day. However, you can help your children stay healthy and develop good habits they’ll carry with them into the future by trying a few simple things. Start by helping them participate in fun physical activity for 60 minutes a day. Encourage trying a variety of activities until children find the right activity they love to do. Remember to have fun exercising together. It’s more likely children will increase their activity level and build lifelong healthy habits if everyone is involved and having fun.

Minnesota Children's Museum offers lots of opportunities in all the exhibits for getting the activity children need. Wiggle, jump and hop to music in Our World. Climb, crawl and walk through different surfaces in Habitot. Keep the conveyor-belt moving at World Works. Or crawl around the Ant Hill in Earth World. Being active can be fun anywhere!

How do you encourage your child to keep active? What kinds of things do you as a family to keep health top of mind?

Looking to mix up your at-home art activities? Here are some BIG red ideas that will jumpstart your child’s creativity.

Painting:
Think of new ways to apply red paint to paper: try kitchen utensils, old toothbrushes, the bottoms
of shoes, or old hairbrushes and combs. What textures do you see in the red paint?

Food Coloring:
Add red food coloring to water and make ice cubes. Place the ice cubes on a tray or plate covered with paper. Paint by moving the red ice cube around on the paper As the ice melts the color is left behind on the paper!

Add one drop of red food coloring and one drop of a different food coloring to water to make
the ice cubes. What color ice cubes did you make this time? Try painting with one red ice cube and one of the new ones you made. What happens to the colors as they melt now?

Clay:
Try this clay recipe:
Mix 2 cups of salt and 2/3 cup of water in a saucepan and stir over heat for three to four minutes. Remove fromheat and add a cup of cornstarch and ½ cup of coldwater. Don’t forget the red food coloring! Stir until smooth.
Can you use your red clay to make a Clifford?

Drawing:
What are some ways that you can change a conventional drawing tool?
Select all the “red” colors in your crayon box, put a rubber band around the bunch and try to draw with it.
Tape a red marker to a broomstick and draw on a large sheet of paper on the floor for some Clifford-sized drawing.
Talk about what objects are colored red and ask, “Besides Clifford, are there other red animals?”

Suggested Book:
Clifford The Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell

Learning about safety in the home and in the neighborhood is an important part of a young child’s life. Everyday they come across situations that require them to choose a course of action. Knowing how to be safe is a great way to teach young children about being responsible for themselves and helping others to be safe too.

Watch Clifford™ be responsible and safe
Together, watch some episodes of Clifford The Big Red Dog on PBS KIDS and talk about situations in which Clifford and his friends learn how to be safe and responsible. Let children role play or draw “safe scenes” from Clifford The Big Red Dog. They can include themselves being safe in their drawing of the scene as well.

Take your child on a safety walk
Walk around the house with children and count how many safety items they can find. (first aid kit, fire extinguisher, etc.) On the reverse side, have the children point out all the unsafe items (open cupboard doors where someone could bump their heads, toys on the floor where they could trip ,etc.)

Hot and Cold
Have your toddler or preschooler help you put red dots on hot things, and blue dots on cold things. You will be surprised because they probably already understand the concept that red represents hot and blue represents cold!

Play the classic game Red Light, Green Light
Talk with your child about the meaning of the colors on a stoplight. With a small group of children, let one child be Clifford and call out “red light or “green light” to the other children. Have the children run around until Clifford calls out, "red light" and then the children have to stop moving until they hear "green light."

Suggested book:
Clifford The Firehouse Dog by Norman Bridwell
Act out the stop, drop, and roll procedures and review the Fire Safety Rules on the last page.

Create your baby’s first book using photographs of recognizable people and objects in your baby’s life. Photos could include siblings, caregivers, a favorite stuffed toy, etc.

Place photographs between sheets of clear contact paper.
Round the corners to make them smooth and safe. Punch a hole in the corner and bind pages together with yarn. This simple book is not only drool-proof, it also invites talk surrounding the pictures and familiarizes your baby with the joys and comforts of sharing books.

Ask your kids what they think Clifford the Big Red Dog™ eats and drinks to stay healthy. If you have a dog, these treats are a great way to model that animals need our love and care. If you don’t have a dog, make plans to spend time with the dog of a friend or family member.

Earth Day is next Wednesday, April 22. Here at Minnesota Children's Museum, we're marking the occasion a few days early with an Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 18. From 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., we'll be unearthing fun "green" activities like building a robot out of recycled materials and discovering the life cycle of a pencil.

If you don't make it to the Museum this Saturday, here are a few nature-inspired activities to do as a family this weekend.

• Ask children to compare shapes of leaves, observe the shades of green outside and try matching crayons to them, make a nature collage, or draw animals.
• 
  Dance and movement spark creativity too. dance in the sun and watch the shadows. Watch and copy how squirrels and pigeons move.
• 
  Or throw leaves in the air and watch them float back down. Drama and role-play inspire imagination.
• 
  Music is often found in the rhythms and sounds of nature. At home, children can listen and imitate sounds like wind, insects, and birds. They can even make musical instruments with natural materials like seeds, pebbles, and sticks.