The youngest National Museum of Play^® guests learn, play, and explore at a different pace from older children. Pre-K and kindergarten groups can enjoy Monday Kicks’ fun experiences and delightful early childhood activities one Monday each month (October through June). Designed by museum educators, this series helps teach little ones important skills through play.

Programs take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• October 15, 2012: Friendship Fiesta
• November 5, 2012: Rainforest Animals
• December 10, 2012: Winter Wonder
• January 14, 2013: Fun with Mother Goose
• February 4, 2013: Things That Go
• March 4, 2013: Fairy-Tale Fantasy
• April 8, 2013: Wizards and Dragons
• May 6, 2013: Color My World
• June 3, 2013: Gardens Galore

Who are the people and what are the things in your neighborhood? Students visit Sesame Street to discover what a neighborhood is and how neighborhoods are interdependent as they identify people, places, and things. Students see how they are alike or different from other people and things in the neighborhood. This lesson also incorporates the Elmo’s World section of the Sesame Street exhibit.

Experience a truly unique way of investigating ecology and the delicate balance of backyard science. Students learn about nutrient recycling au natural as they delve into the rather odiferous lives of detritivores. They embark on a soil safari and search for nature’s cleaning crew in the ground below their feet! Students will visit Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden. Field study guides are provided.

Students investigate garden science in and around the museum. Using real-life specimens and non-fiction books for inspiration, students learn how to record their observations with drawings and labels. Students develop questions and theories as they share their scientific thinking in a science talk, offering teachers a unique way to get students speaking scientifically.

Students observe plants and animals and develop questions and theories about living things in the museum's gardens. Using non-fiction books for inspiration, students learn how to record their observations with drawings and labels. Students share their scientific thinking in a science talk, a discussion protocol that offers teachers a unique way to get students speaking scientifically. (Formerly Science Safari.)

Rainbow Reef aquarium may look like just a home for myriad exotic fish, but there are more than 65 different organisms living within this coral wonder. Using methods of scientific inquiry, students sort, observe, and analyze data to understand and appreciate the diversity of aquatic life in the museum's salt-water aquaria. Students receive individual science kits and work in small groups.

Preschoolers are natural math buffs! Sorting, counting, and creating patterns are part of their world. Math is everywhere as they walk down Main Street in the Berenstain Bears exhibit. Preschoolers warm up with fun-filled, math-inspired movement activities. Playtime engages them in one-to-one interaction in the Bear Family Restaurant, sorting and matching activities at Farmer Ben’s Farm, and pattern-making activities in Mama Bear’s Quilt Shop. The lesson ends with a song about their pre-math play in the exhibit.

What makes a character like Wonder Woman or Batman jump off the page? Students explore the American Comic Book Heroes: The Battle of Good vs. Evil exhibit and examine the differences between flat, blank-slate characters and round, fully-developed characters. Students then create their own comic book character and flip a coin to determine whether the character is good or evil. The importance of conflict in character development is discussed.