I led a workshop last weekend called “Everyday Museums: Re-imagining Classroom and Community Spaces.” It is a fancy title, but basically what I try to do is get early childhood educators to think of their classrooms as museums. This isn’t in a “Do Not Touch” kind of way, but instead taking inspiration from the way that museums put objects at the center of their learning.

It may seem like a bit of a stretch at first, after all what do a toddler classroom and an art museum have in common? So, we brainstorm. In the photo above you can see all of the words that come to mind when you think of “Museum.” Words like contemplation, art, guides, quiet, learning and, yes, even boring fill the page.

Then I ask them to have me circle any words that ALSO apply to their classroom. You can see that, with only a few exceptions, most of the words overlap.

Remember that if you ever think that the things you learn in (and from) museums can’t apply to your classroom…or that the things that work in a classroom have no place in the museum.