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MetLife
Foundation and Association of Children's Museums Promising
Practice Award
For the past several years,
ACM has received a grant from the MetLife Foundation to develop
the MetLife Foundation and Association of Children's Museums
Promising Practice Award. The award honors excellence and
provides recognition for innovative and creative practices
in U.S. children's museums; promotes management practices
which support alternative and creative programming; builds
a body of knowledge of exemplary programs and practices; and
establishes models for the advancement of the children's museum
field at large.
The 2011 Promising Practice
Award will recognize practices in children's museums that
prepare children to become global citizens. Achieved through
programs, exhibits, partnerships and museum policies, these
initiatives will highlight the enhancement of 21st century
skills, cultural competency, literacy and critical thinking.
Read
Summaries of Promising Practice Award Entries, 1999-2009
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Download
The 10-Year Commemorative Promising Practice Publication |
Replicate
Award-winning Promising Practices Using these Toolkits |
Toolkits
& MetLife Foundation and Association of Children's Museums
Promising Practice Replication Award
In 2004, MetLife Foundation and ACM established
the Replication Award, a $10,000 restricted grant for
former Promising Practice Award recipients to create
an online "tool kit" and InterActivity training
session so that other children's museums may learn how to
create a similar, museum-tested, award-winning program in
their own communities. Apply
to win a 2011 Replication Award.
Replicate
Award-winning Promising Practices Using these Toolkits |
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Promising
Practice: Expand children's access to and interest in
the natural world.
Created by
Long Island Children's Museum,
the Our Backyard online toolkit is designed to assist
those interested in the creation of outdoor exhibits/learning
environments. Our
Backyard Replication Toolkit
is made possible by MetLife Foundation
and Association of Children's Museums Promising Practice
Replication Award.
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New!
Promising Practice:
Combine the best of what a children's museum and a social
service organization have to offer for families with
children who have special needs.
Port
Discovery Children's Museum developed
an online toolkit, ExplorAbility, based on its programming developed
in partnership with PACT: Helping Children With Special
Needs. The toolkit provides sample program components
for children with special needs and their caregivers,
and ways to evaluate program and partnership effectiveness.
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Promising
Practice: Provide children who lack
stable housing with a homebase for
play and creative experiences.
Young at Art Children's
Museum's online ArtREACH
toolkit provides information and suggested
strategies that children’s museums can use to mobilize
parents, homeless shelters, school districts and other
key community organizations to develop a programs and
programming for homeless children.
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Promising
Practice: Build museum exhibits and environments based
on sustainable design.
Madison Children's Museum launched
GreenExhibits.org
to provide museum exhibit
designers and fabricators a resource for designing and
building exhibits and environments that best support
healthy spaces and a healthier future for kids and the
environment.
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Promising Practice:
Defuse stressful child/parent interactions in public
places.
Minnesota Children's
Museum developed museum staff training based on the
Wakanheza principle. The resulting toolkit, Supporting
Parents in Public includes
an Implementation Guide, Facilitator’s Guide, Power
Point presentation and project worksheets to train others.
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Promising
Practice: Create a youth program that benefits the museum
and teenagers.
Please Touch
Museum created Integrating Teens Into Your Museum
Family, a 111-page book and DVD that addresses partnerships,
recruiting, staffing, funding and programming to help
children's museums create youth programs that fit their
communities. Submit a Publications
Order Form to order
a copy of this tool kit (shipping costs apply).
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Promising Practice:
Support families involved with the child welfare system.
Providence
Children's Museum's Families
Together online
toolkit was developed to help other children’s
museums learn how to serve parents and children separated
due to abuse or neglect. Program strategy, staffing
and budgetary templates and other resources complete
this online tool kit.
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Universal
Design for Learning Award
VSA arts and ACM share a commitment
to inclusive and accessible learning through hands-on learning
experiences. Creating new opportunities is an ongoing challenge.
In an effort to advance knowledge and best practices, VSA
arts and ACM are pleased to present the inaugural year of
the Universal Design for
Learning Award. The award is an innovative collaboration
that will identify model programs in children's museums that
demonstrate learning standards for inclusive practice and
provide sub-awards and technical assistance to the selected
museums to refine and document their practices for dissemination.
Congratulations to the 2009
Universal Design for Learning Award Recipients!
Click
Here to view summaries
Universal Design for Learning
Award applicants (2005-2008).
Great Friend
to Kids Award
The Great Friend to Kids Award is
presented annually at the Association of Children's Museums'
InterActivity conference. The award honors those who have
made significant and outstanding contributions to strengthening
education and advancing the interests of children.
ACM will present
the 2011 Great Friend to Kids Award to The Jim Henson
Company for its longtime commitment to produce innovative
family programming that creatively addresses a range of
topics and issues with compassion, humor and whimsy. Lisa
Henson, chief executive officer of The Jim Henson Company,
will accept the award on behalf of the company at InterActivity
2011 on Saturday, May 21.
Past recipients
include Search Institute, Boys and Girls Clubs of America,
Dr. Joe L. Frost, Ed.D., L.H.D; Dr. Bettye Caldwell, Dr.
Julius B. Richmond and Dr. Edward F. Zigler (2007) for their
roles as architects and early founders of the Head Start
program, Dr. T. Berry Brazelton (2006) Erikson Institute
(2005), Kevin Clash (2004), Barbara Pierce Bush (2003),
UNICEF (2002), Dr. David Elkind (2001), Dr. Robert Coles
(2000), Children's Television Workshop (1999), First Lady
Hillary Rodham Clinton (1998), Dr. James P. Comer (1997),Fred
Rogers (1996), Dr. Ernest L. Boyer (1995), Peggy Charren
(1994), Marian Wright Edelman (1993), Dr. Howard Gardner
(1992), and Michael Spock (1991).
Click
here for details on each of the Great Friend
to Kids Award recipients.
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