Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, with her glorious sense of humor, has brought a good amount of much-needed giggles to Chicago in a time when smiles can be hard to muster. Her newly launched Stay Home. Hit Play. weekly educational video series will make her more visible and accessible to Chicago students and families—something we LOVE! Read on to hear how you can invite our city’s leader into your family room and have just a little more Mayor Lightfoot in your life.
The Details
Mayor Lightfoot’s series, in collaboration with Citadel, will bring engaging, educational programming from Chicago’s cultural gems to students across the city. Every Wednesday, viewers will go behind the scenes with the Mayor at the city’s museums and cultural institutions.
Where Will She Visit?
Museum curators and staff, along with Mayor Lightfoot, will lead virtual tours of their most popular exhibits and share hidden treasures not typically seen by the average museum-goer. You’ll see places like Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, the DuSable Museum of African American History, the Museum of Science and Industry, the National Museum of Mexican Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Lincoln Park Zoo.
How Can Students Participate from Home?
Each weekly episode will include corresponding worksheet activities to further engage students and cement the day’s learnings. These worksheets can be found on the program’s official website, hitplaychicago.org.
Where and When Can You Watch?
The series kicks off with a visit to Shedd Aquarium, where viewers will see tuxedoed penguins (including the infamous Wellington), feed the ravenous sharks and say hello to Nickel the adorable rescued sea turtle.
The Shedd Aquarium segment premieres on Wed., Apr. 29 on hitplaychicago.org and airs on Fri., May 1 at 5:30 p.m. on Chicago’s PBS stations, WTTW and on Mon., May 4 at 12:30 p.m. on WTTW Prime (11.2).
Following the Apr. 29 premiere, subsequent episodes will follow the same schedule—airing each Wednesday online and Fridays and Mondays on TV.
Stuck inside? Aren’t we all! As Chicago remains on lockdown, our city’s best and brightest museums have stepped up to the virtual plate with online opportunities galore. Gather the fam, get comfy on the sofa, and pay a (virtual) visit to Chicago’s always immersive museums.
Field Museum, Maria Chambers
Chicago’s beloved Field Museum stands as one of the world’s great museums of natural history. Thankfully, kids can online chat or text message the museum’s very own titanosaur, Máximo: Ask him what life was like during the Cretaceous Period, how he came to be at the museum, and even his favorite color or what he likes to eat. Send Máximo a message using the button on this page or text him at 70221.
The Art Institute of Chicago has digitized more than 40,000 of their masterpieces, so you can tour the collection from the comfort of home. A good place to start is with some of the museum’s essential works — zoom in to see each tiny dot in a A Sunday on La Grande Jatte or admire the brushstrokes in Monet’s Water Lilies. See the digital collection and explore more ways to visit virtually here. Newly homeschooling parents will want to pay a visit to the virtual classroom resource library for art-focused lesson plans and activities.
Adler Planetarium
Bring the lab to your little scientist and spark curiosity and encourage exploration with the Adler Planetarium’s Let’s Do Science video series. Designed for families and educators, these engaging at-home experiments use household materials for fun hands-on, minds-on science activities. Experiments range from floating an egg in water to building a space-age lava lamp, and more.
Chicago History Museum
Delve into Chicago’s rich history with the Chicago History Museum: Learn about the Great Chicago Fire, the life of Abraham Lincoln, the Haymarket riots, and the evolution of Chicago’s culinary scene. One of their coolest digital experiences is the Chicago θθ Project, which offers free virtual reality experiences of defining Chicago moments like the SS Eastland Disaster and the 1933 World’s Fair. Explore online exhibits, and check out the museum’s list of classroom resources that you can easily adapt for your newfangled homeschool curriculum.
Embrace your inner Indiana Jones by exploring a treasure trove of artifacts from the most ancient days of Egypt, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and beyond at The Oriental Institute. The museum’s virtual tour lets you explore many of the objects uncovered during the University of Chicago-led excavations, from early pottery to a massive statue of King Tut.
National Museum of Mexican Art
The National Museum of Mexican Art is home to one of the country’s largest Mexican art collections. The museum’s staff and their families are finding creative ways to stay busy andentertained during the Covid-19 crisis and have compiled a list of their favorite activities to enjoy at home, including coloring pages, word searches, and even a tutorial on how to make papel picado.
Every day, even without a pandemic, Museum of Science & Industry has an Experiment tab on their website with games, videos showing a virtual tour of their massive submarine and of baby chicks being born in their Hatchery, and hands-on science experiments that can be conducted at home.
These non-profit institutions rely on membership and daily admission purchases in order to continue their rich programming. Please consider donating, purchasing a membership or paying them an in-person visit once the doors to Chicago are open once again. They all would appreciate the reciprocal support.
Lin-Manuel Miranda just announced an extension of the Hamilton Education Program, a classroom initiative that walks through Miranda’s Hamilton creation process and ends with students making and performing their own musical theatre pieces. #EduHam at Home is an extension of the program. While schools are closed, the #EduHam allows students to be creative theater artists while adhering to social distancing guidelines.
Hamilton and The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History launched #EduHam, a free digital program for students and their families to explore the world of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical and America’s founding era.
Upon registering, students receive a welcome video from Miranda as well as access to mentorships that will help them create their own performance in the form of a song, rap or monologue which they are then encouraged to submit for consideration. Ten performances will be selected to be shared on the Hamilton website with one selected by the Hamilton team to be tweeted out.
Additional resources include videos clips from Hamilton and interviews with Lin-Manuel Miranda, selected cast members, and Ron Chernow, whose biography of Alexander Hamilton inspired the musical. #EduHam at Home also provides an American history curriculum, introducing students to the people, events, and documents of the founding era. The program is recommended for students in 6th through 12th grades but open to all ages.
“Out of everything that has come from Hamilton, I am most proud of #EduHam and of the students who have created their own incredible work from primary sources,” said Miranda. “I’m thrilled that we can make Hamilton learning a family experience, led by the students at home during this unprecedented time.”
The Art Institute of Chicago (ARTIC) has way more than Renoir, Picasso, Monet and Van Gogh paintings to pique a mini art aficionado’s interest. Don’t be deterred by the quiet library-like atmosphere, read on to learn about kid-appropriate spaces that encourage little ones to discover, explore and, believe it or not, make some rowdy noise.
Let’s Start with Some Fun Facts
The two massive, iconic bronze lions that flank the ARTIC Michigan Ave. entrance were made in 1893 and given as a gift from Mrs. Henry Field (Henry Field was the younger brother of department store magnate Marshall Field). And, they have some pretty epic names: In an Attitude of Defiance and On the Prowl.
The ARTIC has almost 300,000 works of art spread out over nearly a million square feet! That’s a lot of feet for little feet to walk, so we’ll help you break down the must-sees for littles.
photo: Wendy Altschuler
What to See
The number one exhibit on our list is the Thorne Miniature Rooms. Peek in on 68 unnervingly realistic little rooms from different periods in European and American history, filled with little furniture and little lights and little fixtures—everything is little! There are many kid-friendly activities in this area, including a short tour that links to a book series about the Thorne Miniature Rooms.
The Arms, Armor, Medieval and Renaissance exhibit is also a family must-see. Where else can kids marvel at an authentic full suit of armor, with weapon in hand, perched on top of a fully decked out horse in metal armor? Children can walk by a massive collection of medieval art, metalwork, stained glass, jewelry, cannons and steel as far as the eye can see.
The ARTIC is known for its impressionism and post-impressionism art. They have one of the largest collections of late-nineteenth-century French art in the world.
photo: Art Institute of Chicago
The Ryan Learning Center, which hosts regular family activities is currently under construction to become an even more accessible, inclusive and creative space for all audiences to enjoy. Once it’s back up and running, you’ll find drop-in art classes with take-home projects that are thematically connected to artwork in the museum. Kids can also take part in age-appropriate programs and workshops.
The Family Room has toys, books and games that teach children about the ARTIC collection. On the weekend and for special events, engaging craft projects are offered. Across the hall from the Family Room, there are special exhibitions that change regularly, which encourage kids to learn, play and investigate.
photo: Art Institute of Chicago
Nibbles and Thirst Quenchers
The Museum Café, located on the lower level, has a full kid’s menu with kid-favorites. Self-service dining is available from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
In addition to the Museum Café, ARTIC offers a wide range of options, from casual to fine dining. If it’s nice outside, check out McKinlock Court. You might even get lucky and find live music on summer evenings. Bonus: Members of the museum receive a 10% discount in all ARTIC restaurants.
photo: Wendy Altschuler
Family Activities to Jot Down
On the first Thursday of each month at 11 a.m., Picture This invites the youngest visitors to immerse themselves in picture books that correlate to and help them appreciate the works of art in the galleries.
For kids that want to explore their creative side, ARTIC provides the supplies for family-friendly sketching in galleries on select Saturday and Sundays.
It’s All in the Details
Strollers are allowed in the galleries and there is stroller parking outside the Ryan Learning Center Family Room. Strollers are not allowed in the Thorne Miniature Rooms. Take note that some of the elevators are not conveniently located, which requires a bit of navigating in and out of galleries to get where you’re going. There are, however, plenty of stewards that can direct you. For personalized tours of the collections, download the free Art Institute Tours app, available for Apple and Android devices.
Start your adventure at home with JourneyMaker, an innovative digital interactive kids can use to create their own one-of-a-kind adventure with works of art from the Art Institute’s collection.
The museum is usually busiest right when they open at 10:30 until after noon. A less crowded time to enjoy the art with your kiddos would be around 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. Also, the Modern Wing entrance on Monroe Street is often much less crowded than the Michigan Avenue entrance—which means shorter lines.
photo: Wendy Altschuler
The Bottom Dollar
The best part about bringing your kids to ARTIC? Free admission for all children ages 14 & under and for Chicago teens ages 14-17. Chicago adult residents will pay $20 and Illinois adult residents pay $22. Or, you can pop in on a Wednesday evening from 5 p.m.-8 p.m. for free admission.
Art Institute Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave., Grant Park 312-443-3600 Online: artic.edu
Are your kids obsessed with showing off the latest TikTok dances? Now it’s your chance to be the cool parent when you show them this latest challenge. In response to coronavirus fears, a Vietnamese dancer named Quang Dang has started a new dance challenge promoting personal hygiene.
The dance is performed to the Vietnamese pop hit, “Ghen Co Vy”by Min and Erik in a collaboration with the Vietnamese Institute ofOccupational Safety and Health. Dang’s dance, referred to as the #GhenCovyChallenge, includes six hand-washing movements, as recommended by the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health.
The reworked lyrics, translated to English are: “Wash our hands, rub, rub, rub, rub evenly. Do not touch eyes, nose, mouth. And limit visits to crowded places. Push back the virus, corona, corona. Constantly improve your health. And clean your personal space. Let’s improve our social awareness. Push back the virus, corona, corona.”
UNICEF posted the clip on their Facebook page writing, “We love this handwashing dance from Vietnamese dancer, Quang Dang. Washing your hands with soap and water is one of the first steps to protect yourself from #coronavirus.”
A 19-month-old picks up a delicious snack, but instead of eating it they hand it over to an adult who wants it. You may think this is an isolated case, but now imagine dozens of babies giving away their treats as well. According to a study that tests the beginning of altruism in humans published on Tuesday, that is exactly what happened.
The babies “looked longingly at the fruit, and then they gave it away!” said Andrew Meltzoff, co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the University of Washington, in a statement. “We think this captures a kind of baby-sized version of altruistic helping.”
Meltzoff and his team studied nearly 100 babies who were 19 months old, a time when many babies are starting to have temper tantrums, especially when told no, according to the American Academy of Pediatricians (PDF). As they approach the “Terrible Twos” developmentally these babies are more likely to act out by hitting, biting, or scratching when denied what they want.
Studies show that food sharing among non-human primates is rare. When they do share, it appears to be among close relatives, or when they think it will benefit them by strengthening relationships with other chimps outside their inner circle.
In our society, humans often respond to people in need of food through donating to food banks, fundraising or simply sharing their lunch or snack. This study delves into the question; when does altruism begin?
Using favorites such as blueberries, bananas and grapes, the study tested whether the infants would give their food to a total stranger without being asked.
After showing the baby a piece of fruit, the researcher gently tossed it onto a tray on the floor which was within the baby’s reach but beyond the researcher’s grasp.In the control group, the researcher did not show any emotion.
The test group, called the “Begging Experimenter Group” had the researcher appear to toss the fruit accidentally and then unsuccessfully try to reach it.
If the baby was in the test group, called the “Begging Experimenter Group,” the researcher appeared to toss the fruit accidentally and then tried unsuccessfully to reach for it.
According to the study, more than half of the babies in the test group picked up the fruit and gave it to the adult. Only 4% of the babies in the control group did the same.
In a second experiment, a different group of 19-month-old babies were tested at their normal snack or meal time. Since this was a time when the babies were typically used to eating, the researchers wanted to test if they would keep the fruit for themselves.
The babies in the control group did keep the fruit, but 37% of the babies in the test group gave the fruit away to the hungry adult.
Psychologist Mark Strauss, who directs the Infant and Toddler Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh, said “we really don’t know that the differential behavior between the two groups has to do with food. It could be that the toddlers recognize in the ‘begging condition’ that the adult didn’t want to drop and they are being helpful.
Strauss, who was not involved in the study said, “Finally, given that the children may not have been hungry. There really is no evidence that the children are being altruistic, but rather just being helpful.”
Even from a young age children need to learn how to handle anxiety and depression. One nonprofit organization is on a mission to help kids learn how to manage their emotions. HeartMath Institute has created a new online interactive program, called HeartSmarts Adventure, to teach kids all about emotional well being and heart-healthy living. Through the “100,000 Coherent Kids Initiative,” they are giving away 100,000 copies of the program.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), 31% of high school students have depression. They also found that one in every four students report being bullied at school.
“We have spent two years creating this program that will teach kids what they need to know to be able to identify emotions and manage them in a healthy way,” explains Jeff Goelitz, the education specialist and senior master trainer at HeartMath Institute. “By reaching children at a young age we can begin to teach them about healthy living principles that will benefit them for the rest of their life.”
The HeartSmarts Adventure is an online program geared towards children ages four to six. Children can take part in 63 activities aimed at getting kids engaged and active as they learn about heart health and emotional well-being. The lessons include videos, physical exercise, coloring, music, and interviews with other children, along with other activities.
The program focuses on:
Mental and emotional health as well as physical health, through six units that include a variety of colorful and fun exercises.
Children learn how to talk about what they’re thinking and feeling, which is so important for their mental health.
They learn the importance of care, kindness and compassion towards others which promotes tolerance and acceptance.
They learn the importance of physical health – being active, choosing good foods and getting proper sleep which initiates good habits early in life.
“It’s important that children from a young age learn about how they can help take care of their heart health, as well as their emotional well-being,” added Goelitz. “This program has been designed to give them that foundation. They can use the lessons to stay healthy for many years to come. It’s never too early to start teaching about heart health.”
The HeartSmarts Adventure program is designed so that children can go through the lessons at their own pace. It’s designed to be a blended program, combining teacher or parent-led instruction. Visit the site for more information about the program, or to obtain a free copy to download.
Your mother may have had four girls and no boys, but does that mean you are destined to only have daughters? A recent study says no. Researchers have found that whether a family is strictly made up of boys or girls or has an equal mix is simply a matter of chance.
“If you have a lot of boys in your family, or a lot of girls, it’s just a lucky coincidence,” said Dr Brendan Zietsch, co-author of the research from the University of Queensland.
These new finding debunk the long held theory that the sex ratio of siblings is not random, rather it is based on genetics.
“In some other animals, such as wasps, sex ratio is clearly not random, and scientists thought human offspring sex ratio may be subject to similar evolutionary forces,” said Zietsch. But, he added, the idea had problems. “Most theories were about the type of sperm men make, but no one had a good idea of a biological mechanism that would create tendencies for having more boys or girls,” he said.
An international team of researchers reported in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, how they looked into records for all people born in Sweden in 1932 or later and had at least one child before 2014. The study included more than 6.7 million individuals.
The team then carried out an analysis to explore whether first cousins tended to be of the same sex. The findings revealed that there was no link, even when researchers only based their evidence on firstborn children.
“Siblings are genetically similar. Therefore, if offspring sex ratio is heritable – ie influenced by genetic differences– siblings should have similar offspring sex ratios,” said Zietsch.
The team found that within a family unit, families with only two children tended to have a boy and a girl. This split occurred more often than could be attributed to chance. Families who had more than two children did tend to have more of one sex than the other.
The researchers deduced that this occurred due to the parents choosing to add onto their families in an attempt to achieve the balance they desired by continuing to have children until they reached their goal.
The team says that the sex ratio of offspring is completly random and not inheritable.
“To be honest it is a bit surprising,” said Ralf Kuja-Halkola, a co-author of the research from the Karolinksa Institute in Sweden, noting that almost all other complex traits in humans show some degree of heritability.
The researchers found that the findings overturn a number of theories. Fisher’s principle, suggests the approximately 1:1 sex ratio in a population is maintained by an equilibrium effect operating through natural selection. If the sex ratio skews one way, children of individuals with a predisposition to have offspring of the rarer sex will be more in demand, and hence have more children themselves, such that the imbalance becomes redressed.
Kuja-Halkola recognizes there may be environmental factors that influence whether an individual will tend to have offspring of one sex, but feels it is improbable based on links to other inheritable traits.
Although not involved in the research, Professor Stuart West of the University of Oxford, said, “It is interesting that offspring and parent sex ratio don’t correlate, but that could be because nothing is going on with the sex ratio – as the [authors] suggest– or because something is going on, such as sex ratio being adjusted in response to any of the things not measured.”
Professor Ben Sheldon, also of the University of Oxford, was not involved in the study but welcomed the results. He said, “The authors show here that there is really no hint of heritable variation in the sex ratio in their dataset, and this seems a really robust finding. We know that there is very good evidence for heritable variation in the sex ratio in some animals – though these are typically living in quite different situations from humans.”
Children model their future relationships based on the love they grew up around. Parents tend to put their children first, subsequently putting their own relationship on the back burner. This recent study shows that when spouses share romantic love and affection, their children tend to stay in school longer and marry later in life.
Research about how the affection between parents shapes their children’s long-term life is not always readily available. This study uses unique data from families in Nepal. The study, co-authored by researchers at the University of Michigan and McGill University in Quebec, was published in the journal Demography.
“In this study, we saw that parents’ emotional connection to each other affects child-rearing so much that it shapes their children’s future,” said co-author and U-M Institute for Social Research researcher William Axinn. “The fact that we found these kinds of things in Nepal moves us a step closer to evidence that these things are universal.”
The study uses data from the Chitwan Valley Family Study in Nepal. The survey was launched in 1995 and collected information from 151 neighborhoods in the Western Chitwan Valley. Married couples were interviewed simultaneously but separately, and were asked to assess the level of affection they had for their partner. The spouses answered “How much do you love your (husband/wife)? Very much, some, a little, or not at all?”
The researchers then followed the children of these parents for 12 years to document their education and marital behaviors. The researchers found that the children of parents who reported they loved each other either “some” or “very much” stayed in school longer and married later.
“Family isn’t just another institution. It’s not like a school or employer. It is this place where we also have emotions and feelings,” said lead author Sarah Brauner-Otto, director of the Centre on Population Dynamics at McGill University. “Demonstrating and providing evidence that love, this emotional component of family, also has this long impact on children’s lives is really important for understanding the depth of family influence on children.”
According to Axinn, Nepal provides an important backdrop to study how parental relationships affect children’s lives. Historically, marriages in Nepal are arranged by their parents and divorce rates are low. In the 1970s change has been noted with more couples marrying for love. Divorce is still rare, but it is becoming more common.
Also, education has become more prevalent since the 1970s. In Nepal, children begin attending school at age 5, and complete secondary school after grade 10, when they can take an exam to earn their “School-Leaving Certificate.” Fewer than 3% of ever-married women aged 15-49 had earned an SLC in 1996, while nearly a quarter of women earned an SLC in 2016. Thirty-one percent of men earned SLCs in 2011. By 2016, 36.8% of men had.
The researchers also want to dig into why parental love affects children the way it does. They speculate that when parents show deep affection for each other, they also invest more time and effort into their children, thus leading them to remain in school longer. When a child grows up in a happy, loving environment, they tend to seek out similar relationships for themselves when they get older. .
The findings still remained constant after researchers considered other factors that influenced a married couple’s relationship and their children’s future. These include caste ethnicity; access to schools; whether the parents had an arranged marriage; the childbearing of the parents; and whether the parents had experience living outside their own families, possibly being influenced by Western ideas of education and courtship.
“The result that these measures of love have independent consequences is also important,” Axinn said. “Love is not irrelevant; variations in parental love do have a consequence.”
Your kids are watching slime videos, and since they are so relaxing, you should be too. Slime artists like “Mona Lisa Slimes” have gained large followings based on their amazingly accurate food-themed slime creations. Now you can buy similar slime creations to enjoy at home.
Slime obsessed fans will be happy to know that there are many options available to purchase. The newest slime creations from SlooMoo Institute are based on macarons. This new slime collection features six different “flavored” macarons, including Chocolate Banana, Cotton Candy, Mint Chocolate Chip, Taro Buttercream, Vanilla Almond, and Orange Creamsicle. Rest assured, each one smells like it’s name.
SlooMoo Institute is a slime experience located in New York City, but their products can be shipped around the country.
If you aren’t interested in macarons, there are still plenty of options to choose from, like fortune cookies and cannolis that can be customized with the slime of your choice.
