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    • Live Streaming Shows for Kids
    • Virtual weekday adventures
  • Indoor Fun
    • Indoor options!
    • Even more indoor spaces
    • Theater and musical productions
    • Badlands
    • ZavaZone
    • Busy Bees
    • Not your typical kid gym
    • Nook
  • Fall
    • Ultimate guide to Halloween and fall
    • Fall foliage
    • Fall classes {virtual & in-person}
    • Boo drive thru at the Zoo
    • Fall festivals, farms, orchards and events
    • Fall bucket list
  • Winter
    • Gift guide
    • Winter bucket list
    • Cut-your-own tree farms
    • Holiday tea
    • Outdoor ice rinks
    • Holiday light displays, outdoor markets and celebrations
    • Camps, classes & parent groups
    • Holiday shows, ballets and concerts
    • Survive Daylight Savings
    • Ski and snowboard with kids
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    • Spring break camps
    • Easter, eggs and hunts
    • Mother’s Day
    • Memorial Day weekend in 2018
    • Tax day steals and deals
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    • Outdoor swimming pools
    • Summer bucket list
    • Top ice cream spots
    • Live summer music
    • Splash parks
    • Outdoor movies
    • Trains!
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    • Your favorite classes have gone virtual
    • School is out, these camps are in
    • Year-round kid classes
    • Spring break camps
    • DCPS mid-winter break camps
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    • Winter camps, classes & parent groups
    • Summer camps
    • Gymnastics and dance classes
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    • Breweries in the DC area
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    • Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
    • Chevy Chase, DC
    • AU Park, DC
    • Bethany Beach, Delaware
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    • 20 classic outdoor games
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    • Connect virtually
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You are here: Home / Sponsored Post / Museum Based-Learning: Ordinary is Extraordinary at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center

Museum Based-Learning: Ordinary is Extraordinary at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center

September 19, 2016

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Before being contacted by Cynthia Raso the Assistant Director of the Center for Innovation in Early Learning at Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center (SEEC), I had no idea the school existed. The SEEC is a school located on the Smithsonian campus serving infants through kindergartners. What makes SEEC extraordinary? First, it utilizes the Smithsonian and surrounding community as part of its classroom. Students make daily trips to museums, parks, libraries, shops, and monuments and integrate these visits into what they are learning. SEEC is more than just museum-based learning; it is also a school that thinks carefully about educating the whole child. From social-emotional learning to practicing fine motor skills, SEEC classrooms are invested in nurturing young children by employing a range of techniques that we believe will support a child’s growth and development. SEEC utilizes their almost 30 years of experience as a school to shape their family programs while taking into account the role of the parent. SEEC wants to help parents understand how best to engage with their young child at home and in museums.

smithsonian-light

At the beginning of the summer I had the opportunity to visit Smithsonian’s Center for Innovation in Early Learning for a Preschool Pioneer class with my then four year old son. The class was focused on learning about light and colors. We met in the Smithsonian Early Education Center found in the Natural History Museum where children were allowed to wander, touch and interact with the various stations that were set-up. Each one being carefully selected and relating to the class lesson of light and color. The teacher began class with a small group lesson introducing the concept of light using CD’s and talking about colors. The group then took a “field trip” out into The Natural History Museum where we found a display on the color wheel. Kids learned Sir Isaac Newton created it and what it meant by allowing them to place various colored plastic sheets on top of one another to create a new color.   Class ended with a hands-on activity of mixing paint and creating colors. It was a great chance to have my son see the museum in an up close and personal way with a sense of purpose. Research has shown that museum based-learning has many benefits for children and promotes the value of museums for kids. One of SECC’s goals is to help educate families on how to utilize museums in fun ways with their young children and I clearly saw this first-hand.

smithsonian2

SEEC’s outreach arm, the Center for Innovation in Early Learning, provides the community with opportunities to learn at every age. SEEC’s programs include both weekly workshops, weekend workshops for children 5 and under and a monthly art studio for children in K-3rd grades. On weekdays, they offer a part-time program for families with children aged 18 – 24 months that meets in the National Museum of Natural History. In January, they will roll-out a new program for adult caretakers of infants that will feature coffee and conversational tours. There are several options and you’re sure to find a program for the Bambinos in your family. Check them out below:
Community Programs you can enroll your child in:
  • Infants Investigators
  • Toddler Trailblazers
  • Twos Travelers
  • Preschool Pioneers
  • Artful Afternoons
  • Smithsonian Early Explorers (part-time program)
  • Bring Your Own Baby

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