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Toddler Book Club: Dragons and Friends
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Education
At the National Museum of Play® at The Strong, students and educators alike have fun while learning amid dynamic, hands-on exhibits and world-renowned collections.Programs for students and educators
The museum's play-based programs encourage learning, creativity, and discovery:
- Woodbury Preschool
- Enriching school lessons for students in pre-K through grade 12
- Professional development opportunities for pre- and in-service teachers, administrators, and parents
- Customizable programs for students with special needs
- Educational opportunities for homeschooled students
About play
Play sharpens minds and boosts creativity. It helps people grow and keeps them healthy. When children play, they learn to solve problems, make decisions, express ideas, and recognize boundaries. Children who play do better in school and become more successful adults. Learn more
Play resources
The National Museum of Play is situated at The Strong, a highly interactive, collections-based educational institution devoted to the study and exploration of play. The Strong offers play resources such as studies and reports, book reviews, links, and play quotes on its website; provides insights about play and artifacts of play in its blogs; and publishes material in its scholarly quarterly, the American Journal of Play, that synthesizes and puts into perspective major themes of play scholarship, new and emerging areas of play research, and more.
Educator e-newsletter
Keep up-to-date on The Strong’s education offerings, articles, and analyses connecting play and education. Sign up for the museum’s free educator e-newsletter.
The Grada Hopeman Gelser Library
The National Museum of Play is one of only a handful of museums in the nation to have a special public library partnership. Our child-focused library is a mini-branch of the Rochester Public Library. Teachers and students (who have Monroe County Library cards) are welcome to check out books for classroom use and return them to any public library branch in the system.
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Fun & Games
When you can’t be at the museum, have fun with these online games based on museum exhibits and collections.
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Things to See & Do
You’re never too big for this much fun! With more than 150,000 square feet of dynamic interactive exhibit space; the world’s largest collection of toys, dolls, games, and other items that celebrate play; a wide range of programs and activities; and family-friendly amenities, the National Museum of Play® provides educational, entertaining, and unforgettable intergenerational fun.Spend a few hours or an entire day!
The National Museum of Play is recognized as one of the nation’s most engaging museums for families and children:
- Stroll among the butterflies in Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden or take a walk through the outdoor Discovery Garden.
- Step onto Sesame Street, journey Down a Sunny Dirt Road with the Berenstain Bears®, and follow the Yellow Brick Road into Reading Adventureland—a life-size pop-up book.
- Grab a cape and leap into the world of American Comic Book Heroes, shop until you drop at Wegmans Super Kids Market, and challenge your perspective on play at the Field of Play.
- Sing, dance, explore, create, and discover at programs and events designed by museum educators.
- Discover the thousands of playthings on display from the museum’s world-class collections, including the iconic toys of the National Toy Hall of Fame.
- Marvel at a 1,700-gallon coral reef aquarium—one of the largest living aquarium reefs in the Northeast.
- Hop aboard the Strong Express Train or take a spin on the Elaine Wilson Carousel.
- Check out a book or get your first library card at the Grada Hopeman Gelser Library desk.
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School Programs
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Multiple Intelligences
All National Museum of Play® experiences reflect the many ways students learn. The Theory of Multiple Intelligences describes eight intelligences (featured below) that we all have and use in various combinations to know, understand, and learn about our world.
In his book, Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, Thomas Armstrong describes the eight intelligences this way:
Linguistic Intelligence: The ability to use words effectively, whether orally (e.g., as a storyteller, orator, or politician) or in writing (e.g., as a poet, playwright, editor, or journalist). 
Logical-Mathematical Intelligence: The ability to use numbers effectively (e.g., as a mathematician, tax accountant, or statistician) and to reason well (e.g., as a scientist, computer programmer, or logician). 
Spatial Intelligence: The ability to perceive the visual-spatial world accurately (e.g., as a hunter, scout, or guide) and to perform transformations upon those perceptions (e.g., as an interior decorator, architect, artist, or inventor). 
Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence: Expertise in using one's whole body to express ideas and feelings (e.g., as an actor, a mime, an athlete, or a dancer) and facility in using one's hands to produce or transform things (e.g., as a craftsperson, sculptor, mechanic, or surgeon). 
Musical Intelligence: The capacity to perceive (e.g., as a music aficionado), discriminate (e.g., as a music critic), transform (e.g., as a composer), and express (e.g., as a performer) musical forms. 
Interpersonal Intelligence: The ability to perceive and make distinctions in the moods, intentions, motivations, and feelings of other people. 
Intrapersonal Intelligence: Self-knowledge and the ability to act adaptively on the basis of that knowledge. 
Naturalistic Intelligence: The ability to easily recognize and classify plants, animals, and other things in nature. Key Points in Multiple Intelligences Theory
Beyond the descriptions of the eight intelligences and their theoretical underpinnings, certain points of the model are important to remember:
- Each person possesses all eight intelligences. Of course, the intelligences function together in ways unique to each person. Most people fall somewhere in between two poles—being highly developed in some intelligences, modestly developed in others, and relatively underdeveloped in the rest.
- Most people can develop each intelligence to an adequate level of competency. Although an individual may complain about his deficiencies in a given area and consider his problems innate and intractable, Howard Gardner suggests that virtually everyone has the capacity to develop all eight intelligences to a reasonably high level of performance if given the appropriate encouragement, enrichment, and instruction.
- Intelligences usually work together in complex ways. Gardner points out that no intelligence exists by itself in life (except perhaps in very rare instances in savants and brain-injured individuals). Intelligences are always interacting with each other. To cook a meal, one must read the recipe (linguistic), possibly divide the recipe in half (logical-mathematical), develop a menu that satisfies all members of a family (interpersonal), and placate one's own appetite as well (intrapersonal). Similarly, when a child plays a game of kickball, he needs bodily-kinesthetic intelligence (to run, kick, and catch), spatial intelligence (to orient himself to the playing field and to anticipate the trajectories of flying balls), and linguistic and interpersonal intelligences (to successfully argue a point during a dispute in the game).
- There are many ways to be intelligent within each category. A person may not be able to read, yet be highly linguistic because he can tell a terrific story or has a large oral vocabulary. Similarly, a person may be quite awkward on the playing field, yet possess superior bodily-kinesthetic intelligence when she weaves a carpet or creates an inlaid chess table. The Theory of Multiple Intelligences emphasizes the rich diversity of ways in which people show their gifts within intelligences as well as between intelligences.
Thomas Armstrong, Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom
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Plan Your School Visit
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Woodbury Preschool
Apply now for the 2013–2014 school year!
Applications for enrollment in Woodbury Preschool are taken on an ongoing basis and enrollment is offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Notification of new student placement begins on February 14, 2013. Students requesting placements in classes that are already at capacity will be placed on a waiting list. Applications for Woodbury Preschool will be accepted until all slots for the 2013–2014 school year are filled.
Download the Woodbury Preschool Application.
Download the Woodbury Preschool Brochure.
About the preschool
Woodbury Preschool at the National Museum of Play® is Reggio Emilia-inspired and is therefore responsive to the interests of the children in the class. This approach uses an "emergent" curriculum philosophy that encourages teachers and students to work together to plan the curriculum and create projects. Guided by teachers who facilitate their explorations, children delve deeply into topics that fascinate and stimulate learning.
Children at Woodbury Preschool learn and develop in playful activities set among the museum's hands-on exhibits. Small and large group activities involve art, music, cooperative games, movement, pre-reading, math, and other age-appropriate experiences.
The preschool is named in honor of the museum founder, Margaret Woodbury Strong, whose parents, John and Alice Woodbury, made the world Margaret's classroom and encouraged her to play outdoors in countless ways.
2013–2014 academic year information
School begins September 9, 2013, and ends June 5, 2014.
Days, times, ages, and fees
Tuesday and Thursday Three-year-old Program*
9–11:30 a.m., $1,824 per year.
Child must be three years old by December 1, 2013 to be eligible to enroll.Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Four-year-old Program*
9–11:30 a.m., $2,599 per year.
Child must be four years old by December 1, 2013 to be eligible to enroll.Tuesday and Thursday Mixed-age Program
1–3:30 p.m. $1,824 per year.
Child must be three years old by December 1, 2013 to be eligible to enroll.Monday, Wednesday and Friday Mixed-age Program
1–3:30 p.m. $2,599 per year.
Child must be three years old by December 1, 2013 to be eligible to enroll.* Early drop off at 8:30 a.m. for morning students is available for an additional yearly fee: $300 for Tuesday and Thursday students; $450 for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday students. Please call 585-263-2700 for more information.
Limited openings are still available for the 2012–2013 school year. Please call 585-263-2700 for more information.
Classroom setting
Class size
Small classes enable children to build confidence as they explore their world under the close supervision of early childhood teachers.
Homeroom
Specially designed classrooms serve as the children's homeroom. These colorful spaces, set apart from the museum galleries, provide a familiar, comfortable, and manageable environment for preschoolers.
Hands-on exploration
Supervised by their teachers, children also experience the colorful, imaginative museum environment including the museum's signature exhibits Reading Adventureland and Field of Play. If the weather permits, children enjoy experiences in a secure outdoor play space designed for the exclusive use of the preschool.
Parents' role
The preschool staff consider parents to be school partners and encourage classroom visits and parental involvement in class projects. Parents may arrange to observe their children through a two-way mirror in the classroom's observation area. A get-acquainted play date at the museum kicks off the program each year, and parent-teacher conferences are held regularly throughout the school year.
School closures
The preschool follows Rochester City School District school closures for holidays and inclement weather as announced on radio and television.
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Professional Development
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Hours & Admission Fees
