Posts in Portland Press Herald
Easter gets prehistoric with dinosaur egg hunt in Portland
Easter gets prehistoric with dinosaur egg hunt in Portland

On Easter Sunday at the Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine, it was the dinosaurs who had risen. 

Hundreds of small children ran throughout the museum’s three floors on the hunt for the thousand of “dinosaur eggs” hidden throughout the play structures, discovery tables and science displays. 

The museum’s annual Dino Egg Hunt is always popular, as evidenced this year by the hordes of children in their Easter best – and Easter pajamas –  and the adults trailing after them in bunny ears. Running Friday through Sunday, each two-hour hunt brought in more than 300 visitors, said Matt McDermit, the museum’s director of marketing and communications.

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Portland Press HeraldHannah DalyDino Egg Hunt, News
The Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival will give away these 7 books
The Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival will give away these 7 books

Kwesi doesn’t know how to swim. Neither does his grandmother.

But they strike a deal.

“I will learn to swim, if you do,” Nana Ruby tells her grandson.

If you want to know the rest of their adventure, you’ll have to read “Kwesi and Nana Ruby Learn to Swim,” written by Kobina Commeh and illustrated by Bárbara Quintino. The book is one of the titles featured in this year’s Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival.

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Portland Press HeraldHannah DalyBeautiful Blackbird Children's Book Festival, News
In Portland Theater Festival’s ‘Make Believe,’ 4 children reckon with growing up fast
In Portland Theater Festival’s ‘Make Believe,’ 4 children reckon with growing up fast

All of these kids have been to local theater programs at one time or another. But the people who run those camps and classes are quick to tell you that they aren’t trying to develop the next child stars. Reba Askari, the theater artistic director at the Children’s Museum and Theatre, said the organization actually doesn’t circulate casting calls even though she hears all the time from people who are looking for young actors.

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Portland Press HeraldHannah DalyTheatre
Youth Playwriting Festival brings Maine kids’ ideas to life onstage
Youth Playwriting Festival brings Maine kids’ ideas to life onstage

A favorite pastime for some children is writing plays, often gathering their parents in the living room for theatrical performances or directing their friends in the newest skit at recess. On Saturday and Sunday, the stage got a little bigger for eight Maine children as they saw their plays performed at the Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine.

The Youth Playwriting Festival showcased eight stories — four each day — written by children under 17, whose play topics ranged from normalizing the experience of occupational therapy to imagining a unicorn sleepover party.

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Portland Press HeraldHannah DalyYouth Playwriting Festival, Maddy's Theatre
Imagination Ball gives Children’s Museum a financial and emotional boost
Imagination Ball gives Children’s Museum a financial and emotional boost

Having covered nonprofit fundraisers weekly for the past 13 years, I have seen hundreds of auctions where ordinary people raise their hands — and their bid numbers — to protect the organizations and initiatives that matter to them. Never is that impulse stronger than when they feel that something they love, like the Children’s Museum & Theater of Maine, is threatened.

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Portland Press HeraldHannah DalyNews
Maine nonprofits try to navigate funding cuts, unclear rules and an uncertain future
Maine nonprofits try to navigate funding cuts, unclear rules and an uncertain future

The staff at Victoria Mansion in Portland found out about the loss of federal funding in degrees.

First came the news that President Donald Trump had signed an executive order declaring the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the primary federal support for libraries and museums nationwide, was “unnecessary.” Then the entire staff of the federal agency was placed on a 90-day leave.

Finally, Timothy Brosnihan, executive director of the mansion, got a short email last week saying the organization’s grant from the IMLS “is no longer consistent with the agency’s priorities and no longer serves the interest of the United States and the IMLS Program.”

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Portland Press HeraldHannah DalyIMLS
On New Year's Eve, party like a Mainer
On New Year's Eve, party like a Mainer

Mainers party just a little differently than the rest of the world on New Year’s Eve.

Instead of dropping a ball from a big building in a big city, we drop a wild blueberry from a church bell tower in Kennebunk. Instead of making everyone stay up to the stroke of midnight, we hold some New Year’s celebrations in the afternoon or early evening, so kids and early risers can get to bed on time.

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Portland Press HeraldHannah DalyNews, New Year's Eve
Children collaborate on "Portrait of Community" mural
Children collaborate on "Portrait of Community" mural

Assembled on a teal cardboard wall is a wide range of children’s artwork: doodles of multiple orange cats, crayon-drawn self-portraits, Acadia National Park depicted in markers, a drawing of a cup of boba tea. While the works vary in style and content, they come together in the mural to create a portrait of the children of the Portland area.

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Portland Press HeraldHannah DalyLisa DiFranza, Artist in Residence, MakerSpace
From glitz and glam to fun for the fam, there’s a New Year’s Eve party for everyone
From glitz and glam to fun for the fam, there’s a New Year’s Eve party for everyone

There are plenty of events to choose from around Maine on Sunday to ring in 2024, from planetarium shows and family-friendly celebrations to dance parties and cocktail soirees.

The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine in Portland is hosting a New Year’s Eve Indoor Beach Party from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. There will be beach-themed play experiences for kids and families, including creating ocean-inspired artwork, making sea star wishing wands and finger puppets.

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Portland Press HeraldHannah DalyNew Year's Eve, Events
11 ways to brighten up Maine’s darkest days
11 ways to brighten up Maine’s darkest days

Light your own path, with lanterns. The Children’s Museum & Theatre of Maine in Portland will host Celebrate the Solstice: Self-Guided Lantern Walk events on Thursday and Friday from 1-4 p.m.  Children can create a colorful paper lantern in the museum with a light inside. Then they can walk with it through an outdoor labyrinth path, which will be lit. Admission is $16. For more information, including about discounts, go to kitetails.org/visit.

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Portland Press HeraldHannah DalyEvents, Solstice