Educator Programs

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Have fun while you learn from Chicago Children's Museum’s experienced education staff. Bring your group of educators, parents, high school students or college students to CCM for a self-guided or guided visit or, for a more in-depth learning experience, arrange a professional development workshop at the museum or at your site.

Educator Programs Self-Guided and Guided Visits

Self-guided and guided visits to CCM provide valuable opportunities to observe child development, family interactions, open-ended learning, and much more. Led by museum educators, guided visits can be focused to suit your group. Both self-guided and guided visits are available seven days a week.

Professional Development Workshops

Participants will gain practical tools to apply in their work with children—and can earn CPDUs, too. Offered year-round, these two-hour workshops can accommodate between 10 and 30 participants, and can take place at CCM or at your site. Please call 312.464.7743 to arrange a workshop for your group, or to inquire about planning a workshop series or custom-designed professional development opportunities

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Play and Learning: Exploring the Connection
Explore the fascinating world of children’s main vocation: play! We’ll investigate, observe, and discuss the role of play in children’s social, emotional and cognitive development. Participants will leave with concrete tools for identifying the amazing feats of learning that occur during play and how to champion play in their communities

Number of participants	10-30
Duration	2 hours

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Using Documentation to Communicate Learning
Get over bulletin boredom! Documentation is an essential tool for showing your community the powerful teaching and learning that is happening in your classroom. We’ll share practical skills to help you create meaningful classroom displays and gain insight into your students’ learning.

Number of participants	10-30
Duration	2 hours

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The Journey of Art: Sustaining Creativity Through Open-Ended Activities
Learn by doing, as you explore process and product approaches to teaching young children. Discover how open-ended activities encourage children’s natural creativity and help them become confident, independent learners.

Number of participants	10-30
Duration	2 hours

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Now Youíre Talking! The story of how children acquire language
This interactive, playful workshop highlights the remarkable language-learning feats of young children. Teachers and caregivers will discover ways to promote language acquisition through music, art and reading. Leave feeling amazed at children’s abilities and empowered to help them make the most of their natural aptitude for learning language.

Number of participants	10-30
Duration	2 hours

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Inspiring a Love of Books
When kids get turned on to reading, they read for pleasure, and soon their reading skills skyrocket. But how can you lead more reluctant readers to the launching pad? This workshop demonstrates how playful activities can foster children's literacy skills while motivating them to want to read, read, read!

Number of participants	10-30
Duration	2 hours

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Finding a Method to Your Scientific Madness
Discover the wonders of science in everyday life. This roll-up-your-sleeves workshop helps establish a “science-as-inquiry” model for the classroom. Designed for non-science specialists, this workshop will increase participants’ level of comfort in teaching the scientific method. By the workshop’s end, participants will have the tools to guide even the youngest learners in creating innovative science fair projects.

Number of participants	10-30
Duration	2 hours

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(Re) Creating Spaces: Innovative Ways to Enrich Your Learning Environment
The right environments can inspire creative thinking in children and the important adults in their lives. In this workshop, we’ll share simple and inexpensive strategies for transforming your space (you’ll create a 3-D blueprint!) into a learning environment that supports hands-on activities, creative thinking, reflection and the concept of “environment as third teacher.”

Number of participants	10-30
Duration	2 hours

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Problem Solving in Architecture and Beyond!
Build a structure from the ground up and get to the bottom of architecture’s biggest dilemmas. Inspired by Chicago’s one-of-a-kind skyline, this workshop will explore the role of force, function, and more in determining a building’s form. Architecture will serve as a platform for developing problem-solving skills that can be transferred across curriculum.

Number of participants	10-30
Duration	2 hours

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