I arrived at the children’s museum on Saturday, November 5th at 9:45 AM sharp, mug in hand full of different facial expressions written on paper strips. I thought this would be the perfect experiment for children because they absolutely love making faces. This experiment would also be especially good for children because they are going to be exposed to new and different faces as they grow up, so it is interesting to see how our faces differ from another.
I was assigned to perform my experiment in the “library” of the children’s museum which was a warm and cozy sun-lit room filled with books, puppets, and a small puppet show structure. I knew before the kids even arrived, that since I was sitting in the library, my experiment would be competing with the puppet show, and would probably lose. Emily was also assigned to sit with me in the library, and coincidentally, she planned to also perform an experiment relating to facial expressions.
I was not sure how many children I should have prepared for but I imagined about 7 or 8 kids in each room at a time. As soon as a bunch of kids entered the room, I planned to ask them how they’re feeling, and tell them that I could tell because of the look on their face. Everyone that entered the library seemed excited and happy; however, everyone’s cheer was directed at the fact that there was a puppet show stage in the corner. Kids were usually accompanied by parents, and once they realized that Emily and I were present to teach some sort of lesson, they encouraged picking out a book to be read by one of us or put on a puppet show for us.
While reading to a number of kids, I noticed that it was similar to my experiment because I was producing all different positive facial expressions. I was able to ask questions pertaining to the books and have kids point out different qualities on each page. They were enthralled to be asked about what was going on in the story and laughed at funny pictures while observing and pointing out certain things on their own. Several kids chose three or four books to be read, and had to be retrieved by their parents because they would have liked to have stayed the whole day.
When it came to the puppet show, I noticed that kids matched their facial expression to the feeling that they were displaying through the puppet. That was a small but more involved way to carry out my experiment, so kids did actually learn about facial expressions while they were present in the library. Kids also took suggestions well such as “why don’t you add the pig to the puppet show?” There was a happy spirit once you entered the library because you saw the kids’ faces light up.
I found the visit to the children’s museum to be very rewarding because not only was I fortunate enough to brighten a child’s day by reading to them, but they were able to brighten mine. I was able to interact with children of different age groups in the Cortland area, and observe their behavior and excitement to learn, but mostly to read. It was important because there may be several kids who do not get read to at home and definitely benefited from our time in the library.
