I had a little lag in my posts…I’m sorry about that! I’ve really tried to keep up a once-a-week schedule, but these past few weeks have been a little out of the ordinary! The biggest excitement was when we packed up the toddler and headed out west to Seattle for the annual conference of the American Alliance of Museums .

Meredith Downing (currently at Stanford University), Megan Smith of the National Museum of American History, Claudia Ocello (Museum Partners Consulting LLC) and I led discussion groups for museum professionals interested in early childhood programs. Whether they had established programs that needed tweaking, or were just in the first planning stages, we tried to give them a place to talk together about their questions and concerns.

The packed session confirmed my gut feeling…people want young children in the museum and are looking for how to get them there, what to do with them and why it is a good idea.

Conferences always leave me jazzed for what can come next. The fact that there was so much interest in early learning in museums, and so many people looking to connect with each other and find resources got me thinking about how to keep the conversation going.

I realized, the first step is we need to FIND each other. I met a lot of people at the conference who are doing great work with young children…so why was I just hearing about them now?

Rather then leave it to chance encounters at museums…I will go with the direct approach. I want to hear from you.  Are you interested in early learning in museums? Do you have a stellar program at your institution right now for the 5 and under crowd?  Please, email me!  Tell me a bit about yourself and also, how you like to connect with other museum professionals.  Do you read blogs? Tweet? Use listservs?

Getting a sense of who is out there and how they like to connect will give us more options for bringing the conversation together…which can only do good things for all of our institutions and all of us as professionals!

I can’t wait to hear from you!  And please, spread the word to others you know who are interested and want to be involved.  I can be found here on my website, on Facebook or Twitter and I even respond to email (cabinetofcuriositiesva@gmail.com).