Feeling Crafty this Spring?

By Jacalyn Modrzynski, Lead Educator

Who is feeling crafty this spring? Let’s have fun making a unique craft using construction paper in an unusual way! When we use paper we often use it as a flat canvas for the rest of our artwork, but paper can be more than just flat. Paper can be springy, curly, and it can even hold weight! What can you do with your paper?

For this craft you’ll need:

  • This template or draw your own
  • Construction paper
  • Scissors
  • Coloring supplies
  • Glue stick

For this craft you can:

  • Print out this template or draw your own
  • Color in the turtle
  • Cut out strips of construction paper
  • Fold each end of the construction paper
  • Glue ends of the construction paper to the edges of the circle

For extra fun:

  • See what weight your paper can hold
  • Fold up your paper accordion style
  • Roll up your paper on a pencil for a cute curly effect

Click here to download and print your own Turtle Template!

Rainbows: The bridge between the natural and super natural

By Mara Gordon, Play to Learn Facilitator

Did you know that rainbows are an optical illusion? That means that rainbows don’t have a physical form or have a specific location in the sky.

Rainbows happen when light hits water droplets at a 42 angle. This causes the light to experience refraction (also known as redirection) and reflection.

As the light enters a water droplet, it is refracted before getting reflected out. Then, as this reflected light leaves the droplet, it is refracted again, at multiple angle.

Rainbows are actually full circles; We only see them as arcs from the ground due to our perspective. If an astronaut in space saw a rainbow on Earth, they would see a perfect rainbow circle!

Rainbows have a lot of social and cultural significance around the world. Traditionally, rainbows are portrayed as bridges between the natural and the supernatural. In Norse mythology, a rainbow called the Bifrost connects Earth with Asgard, where the gods live.

In the ancient beliefs of Japan and Gabon, rainbows were the bridges that human ancestors took to descend to the planet. One of the most popular stories about rainbows comes from Irish legends that there is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow that is guarded by leprechauns.

In more recent history, rainbow flags have become a symbol for the LGBTQ+ community and represents acceptance and the beautiful diversity of nature. Rainbows are an amazing natural phenomenon with strong historical and cultural significance, but they’re also just really beautiful & fun!

Just like people, every rainbow is unique and looks different to every person who sees it. Here at Explore & More, we love rainbows because they help us celebrate all the amazing & different people in the world.

As we get ready to start celebrating spring holidays like St. Patricks’ Day, be on the lookout for rainbows and get ready to experience all the beautiful colors that make up our world!

The Science of Rainbows

By Annie Savinon, STEM Educator

Annie’s STEM Lab: Happy March to all! If you are like me, March reminds you of green shamrocks and vibrant rainbows! But have you ever wondered how rainbows happen in the sky?! Read along and share with your little one, the science of rainbows!

To get an outcome of a rainbow in the sky, there needs to be both sunlight and rain drops. But how do rain drops and sunlight create this beautiful multi-colored spectacle?

An interesting fact to help support this is that rainbows are formed in the opposite direction of the sun. If the sun is to the right of me, someone who is standing outside, the rainbow will be on the left of me, and if the sun is behind me, the rainbows will be in front of me.

Rainbows happen to be one of the many, beautiful scientific phenomena in our world. A (scientific) phenomenon is any event that is observable, including the use of instrumentation to observe, record, or compile data.

Another very eventful phenomena example that is coming up in our neighborhood is the Solar Eclipse! Phenomena are truly beautiful, and fascinating, which causes one to wonder and ask questions about the world around us! 

We know that we only see rainbows during the daytime, not ever at night when the sun has set. That is due to the light of the rainbow, which comes from the sun’s rays. But one may ask, how do the colors of a rainbow in the sky become multicolored?

This also happens with a prism, when a single ray of white light breaks up into several beams of colored light. Although it is hard to imagine, white light is comprised of seven colors! These are the same seven colors that are found in a rainbow. 

In the sky, raindrops act as miniature prisms and with the necessary help of the sun’s rays, they reflect the seven colors into the sky, formed as a rainbow. We know these colors as violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red!  

Another fun rainbow fact is that each person who can see a rainbow, will not see it exactly the same, unless they are standing at the exact same spot, they will see the rainbow from a slightly different angle. How fascinating! 

Next time it rains, I hope you and your little one can see a rainbow!  

Happy hunting! 

Community & Inclusion

By Alexis Turan, Access & Inclusion Intern

March is National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month.

Every year, the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD), highlights the many ways in which people with and without disabilities come together to form strong, diverse communities.

Their campaign seeks to raise awareness about the inclusion of people with developmental disabilities in all facets of community life, as well as awareness of the barriers that people with disabilities still often face.

In order for everyone to be able to participate in everyday community activities, practices and policies need to be designed to identify and remove barriers. These can include physical barriers that prevent accessibility, communication barriers and people’s attitudes toward how disabilities are perceived. It is important to not define people by their disability or what they are unable to do.

Instead, the priority should be fixing physical and social environments to meet everyone’s needs. An example of this type of shift in thinking would identify “small print” and “stairs” as barriers, not vision issues or the use of a wheelchair. Solutions such as magnifiers, elevators and ramps assist many people at different times in their lives. This change in focus toward universal accessibility can benefit everyone in the community.

This month, take time to reflect on how you can impact your community toward becoming more inclusive.

  • Explore on-line diversity awareness trainings and disability etiquette. United Spinal Association distributes a booklet that provides tips to help promote positive interactions between people and raise everyone’s comfort levels. It also reinforces how important it is to respect people as individuals and to not make assumptions about their needs. The guide is free as a download.
  • The National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD) has a resource guide to promote National Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. Their website also provides DDAM 2023 logos and artwork to download and share through social media during the month of March.

Introducing: The Broadway Market Exhibit at Explore & More!

By Will Kawalec, Cultural Program Educator 

I am taking this months Culture Corner as an opportunity to discuss an exciting change to Explore & More. Some may have heard the news that the Being Good Neighbors exhibit, (made up of the Hispanic Heritage House, Puppet Theater, and West Side Bazaar), is undergoing a major makeover. This transformation will change this exhibit space to an exhibit modeled after a Buffalo landmark, The Broadway Market.

Revitalize the Market

With gracious funding from the City of Buffalo, the team at Explore & More is excited to be creating a space that not only honors the history of the Broadway Market, but also introduces a whole new generation of Western New Yorkers to the historic community space. In conjunction with the City of Buffalo, and the Broadway Market itself, we hope this exhibit works to revitalize the market and captures the imagination of children and their families who visit Explore & More. This exhibit transition has been a long time coming, and here at Explore & More, we are exceptionally excited to share these changes with you.

The Broadway Market was established in 1888 by Polish immigrants, looking to create a meeting place and marketplace that was reminiscent of their homeland of Eastern Europe. Broadway Avenue on the Eastside of the city was the site selected for this new public space. The Eastside during the late 19th century was an area that was predominately occupied by Polish immigrants, and with the creation of this market, a cultural meeting place was established that became a cornerstone of the Buffalo community.

The Market Today

Today the market is still a cultural pillar, and is reflective of the eastside neighborhood, though where the neighborhood was once predominantly Polish, it is now one of the most diverse areas in the Western New York region and the market reflects this demographic changes. You can still buy your butter lamb, and pierogis, though you can get soul food favorites, South Asian cuisine, and enough desserts to satisfy any sweet tooth.

The Broadway Market has seen its fair share of changes since its organic origins in 1888. Over the next century and a half, the market would undergo several changes including its location, and storefront. The market is currently in its third iteration, and there are plans for major renovations in the near future.

As we approach the sesquicentennial of the founding of the original market, both the Broadway Market and Explore & More’s version will combine to usher in the next hundred and fifty years of commerce, culture, and community. So in the very near future, please join Explore & More in the opening of a revitalized exhibit space, the Broadway Market!

Field trips are back! Please be aware that it will be busier than usual.