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Over the summer, I had the incredible opportunity to work for the Curating the Story Museum project. As someone who has never done much research in the cultures and literatures of young people, I was unsure what to expect and how I would be able to help. However, the team were all so welcoming and m

In my research to understand Canadian children’s literature, I learned that Canada only recently began to produce Canadian published literature in the late 20th century. Most of the stories written about Canada during the Victoria period were written by visitors who were traveling and visiting Canad

Following our hard work over the Fall, the research team embarked on a recreational trip to the much talked about Dr. Seuss Experience in Mississauga, Ontario near the Square One Mall. Never taking our inquisitive research caps off, the team immensely enjoyed diving into the delightful universe of t

Since the past summer, I have switched gears from collecting and documenting archival material to showcasing the material. I have finished creating an annotated bibliography for both the images and the texts I have collected which feature children in urban, city environments. I started the project's

It has not been uncommon in my research to find museums that make exhibits about different countries, particularly popular parts of Europe and Asia. However, I have yet to discover anything that is related to Africa or African countries - until I reached the Sankofa children’s museum. This museum

Many museums are engaging children in geography through new technology that can landscape the topography of a sandbox. This is a new advancement in interactive play that uses sensor and light to materialize visuals onto raw material, making it a highly advanced form of interactive play. The Lawrenc

I took it on my own accord to research a concept I’ve come across in real life and in research: pretend play. There are several existing establishments that cater to this method of play. Pretend play is defined as symbolic behaviour in which one thing is playfully treated as if it were something

Many children’s museums are using textile and sensory experiences for young children between the ages of 4-9. The Children’s Museum of Phoenix has an exhibit called BlockMania that has various different kinds of blocks with different colors, sizes, materials, and textures. The raw material helps ch

I am currently working on sorting through and re-categorizing the previous literature review concerning children’s museums in Canada. This is inclusive of permanent galleries throughout the provinces as well as temporary/changing exhibits that have been put on display through the museums. They are a

Ethics Tutorial - Review of TCPS2 - the 2nd edition of the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans. I enrolled in a tutorial necessary for graduate students to complete before engaging in research involving children. While the tutorial's interface appeared to be

Over the past four weeks, my research for this project has been focusing on obtaining archival materials relating broadly to Canadian children’s stories, representations/depictions of children in Toronto/urban environments and representations/depictions of children in museum settings. Starting at

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I have been working slowly on the website in terms of its format and technical features. Ever since starting the research work here I feel I truly enjoy web design in terms of its function and making things as visually pleasing as possible. I have updated the video feature, I have updated the menus

Quinten and I have been researching the use of green spaces and urbanity in Canadian children’s literature. My current research is concerned with finding primary sources that use green spaces such as gardens, the countryside, fields, and forests as the setting for the plot. I found that most of my r

On December 16th the research team and I had made our way over to the Square one Dr. Seuss exhibit in Mississauga. My initial impressions of the exhibit were from the vast amount of advertising that was posted all over social media and the internet. Blogging sites were strongly advocating of the exh

This past month I’ve been looking into the evasive Children's Own Museum (“COM”). It’s sad to witness the dwindling evidence of its existence due to the lack of funding it received from the time of its inception in 1998 to its disappearance in 2014. COM started out by renting a sizable space from th

Something interesting that I have found is the attention to detail concerning safety and emergency practices for young children. The Bayou County Children’s Museum has an exhibit that directly focuses on the education of safety practice through narrative and storytelling for children between the age

Summer is finally in full swing. Ontario Place is currently in a limbo state as the city of Toronto decides on permanent plans for this prime piece of waterfront real estate. The space isn't regularly occupied during the year, but in the summer it's used for festivals, concerts, and water activit

The ethics application was submitted so my focus has shifted from ethics to assisting with conducting research. I delved deep into Palle Nielsen's exhibit that emerged out of the Playground movement in the 60s. Nielsen’s exhibit, which he titled the Model for a Qualitative Society , offered a s

Many of the children’s museums have exhibits that detail and explain the surrounding ecosystems of their environment. The Children’s Museum of the Shoals in Alabama has an exhibit called the Singing River that is a replica of the river passing through that area. The makeshift river is detailed with

The past two months of researching for the project have been both exciting and challenging. The month of May was spent primarily getting in contact with archival services to obtain permission to utilize the content I had curated. Many emails were sent back and forth with many steps taken to ensure t

Reflecting on the second month spent conducting research for the project, I feel that both the quality and range of collected material has expanded beyond the first round. I began the second month by consulting the Ryerson University Archives and Special Collections for texts, images and visual m

I am just wrapping up the paper to be presented this weekend at the conference. This is the abstract: Children have been attending museums for more than a hundred years, but their relation to the museum space has grown and changed responding to the cultural, social, and political events of the ti