To celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we visited the Brooklyn Children's Museum for their 2 day "I Have a Dream Celebration", which includes art workshops, film screenings, story time, and a special performances that teach families about Dr. King and his legacy of diversity and equality.

Note: I paid for my own entry to the Brooklyn Children's Museum. They did not request I write about this event, I just wanted to share. Any personal views expressed are always 100% my own.


One of the activities we looked forward to was making Protest Posters. We learned a bit about the importance of the posters for sending a message. And then we made a poster highlighting our own personal message.



While I did discuss some ideas with him, for the most part I allowed my son to come up with his message all by himself. I was so proud to see him drawing about being friends and not fighting.


After making his Protest Poster, he then learned how to silkscreen the words "I Have a Dream" on his poster. He was so excited. LOL


While our poster dried, we headed over to "Holding History: MLK’s Life", where my son was able to touch historical artifacts from 1929-1968.


Including a baseball signed by Jackie Robinson. It was pretty cool to touch and talk about these items and how they were a part of history both in MLK life and ours.


Speaking of life, our next stop was to the "DNA Bracelets" table, were we learned about genetic traits.


My son made a bracelet of "genetic code" beads and then tried to guess which animals he has more in common with. Turns out he's part cow! Ha!

While sharing a chuckle over that, we headed to the theater for a screening of animated film "Our Friend Martin", where friends travel through time, meeting Dr. King at several points during his life.


While the film did a good job of sharing info about Martin Luther King, Jr and the American civil rights movement, my son was more interested to know why the kid had no shirt on. While there's a reason for it, I had to agree it's a weird moment that he remained shirtless. For a while. Too long if you ask us.

Anyway.


The last MLK activity for the day was story time and an interactive reading of Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. among other titles that focused on MLK, Jr.’s life and values of his work. The kids enjoyed answering questions about MLK and how they can help within their communities.


Speaking of community, my son ended his day in the Block Lab putting together his NYC community of bridges, buildings and so much more. He's such a city kid.

While we enjoy the first day of activities, the Brooklyn Children's Museum still has more happening for their "I Have a Dream Celebration" including Love, Hope & Peace Postcards and a performance by Brooklyn United Marching Band.

To see the full list of activities, visit - www.brooklynkids.org

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