Big and Little Podcast

In the second episode of the Museum's new podcast series on empathy, Boston Children's Museum President and CEO Carole Charnow sits down with Dr. Jim O'Connell, President of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP). For nearly four decades, Dr. O'Connell has walked the streets of Boston, redefining what health care can look like. In addition to leading BHCHP, he serves as Assistant...

How do we define and express empathy? And how might we help the children (and adults) in our lives learn to practice it for themselves? In this podcast series, we'll be diving into all the different spokes on the wheel of empathy and what it looks like in action. Kicking off the series, Boston Children's Museum's Vice President of Programs and Exhibits Melissa Higgins sits down with Dr. Milena Bat...

In this next episode of the Big & Little Podcast's Creativity Series, two music professionals dive into the transformative power of jazz music and its impact on children and communities. Vaughan Bradley-Willemann, lifelong Violinist and Boston Children's Museum's Senior Director of Arts and Social Impact, sits down with composer, professor, author, and conductor of the Jazz Urbane Collective, Dr....

Bernie Zubrowski has dedicated his career to science education, both in and outside of the classroom. He has contributed to science curricula at the Education Development Center and designed numerous children's science books, exhibits, traveling exhibits during his time at Boston's Children's Museum, including Bubbles and Raceways. Beyond science education, Bernie has spent the last 25 years desig...

In this fifth installment of our Creativity Series, Carole Charnow, the Museum's President and CEO interviews Ashleigh Gordon the co-founder, Artistic Director, and violist of Castle of our Skins, a Boston-based concert and educational series devoted to celebrating Black Artistry through music. Carole and Ashleigh discuss the intersections between music, education, and creative expression, the ins...

Today on the show, Boston Children's Museum President and CEO Carole Charnow interviews Dr. Mitchel Resnick in the next installment of our Creativity Series. Mitch Resnick is the LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab and develops new technologies and activities to engage people (particularly children) in creative learning experiences. His Lifelong Kindergarten research gr...

The Museum's Creativity Series continues with a conversation on the importance of connection, collaboration, and community. Through a grant from LEGO, called the LEGO Playful Learning Museum Network, institutions across the country were tasked with creating a community of practice that focused on playful learning Joining us today are three representatives from LEGO's community of practice who conn...

The Children's Art Museum of India, or CAMI for short, is an online platform and virtual Museum space that enables young artists to submit their art and share their creativity worldwide. Manya and Krish founded CAMI in 2022 when they were 14 and 12 years old, respectively. Since then, the two have been working tirelessly to create and expand CAMI's reach and continue to carve out this important sp...

We're bringing some creative exploration to the podcast with a special Creativity Series! Our first guest, Laura Petrovich-Cheney, is an artist, maker, educator, and the Museum's current Gallery artist. Her exhibit, Weathered Shapes, Wooden Quilts brings together the traditional crafts of wood sculpture and quilt making to show the potential of rebuilding and hope. In today's episode the Museum's...

In today's episode, Boston Children's Museum's Vice President of External Relations, Charlayne Murrell-Smith talks with Research Scientist, Technologist, Filmmaker, Architect, and Educator, Topper Carew. Topper recounts his experience growing up in Roxbury, starting out as an architect and filmmaker, and his advice for crafting compelling stories. Listeners may be familiar with Topper from his pop...

How do we design for play? For two decades Cas Holman has been designing playthings and playspaces that encourage exploration, imagination, and collaboration. Through her company Heroes Will Rise, Cas creates intuitive toys that inspire creative, open-ended play, including the award-winning Rigamajig , a line of playful building kits used in schools and public spaces worldwide - and our very own B...

What happens when we're given the resources and freedom to choose where our money goes? Tune in to find out. In this episode, the Museum's President and CEO Carole Charnow talks with Jesús Gerena, the CEO of UpTogether , about the importance of investing and putting trust in the people we serve. UpTogether is a national organization on a mission to change policies, systems, and underlying beliefs...

Although we are a children's museum, we don't often hear directly from our youth. In this episode we're changing it up and welcoming our very first "little" to the Big and Little podcast. Now, don't let that word deceive you, today's guest has a powerful voice and some keen insights on what it's like to be a kid in this day and age. Meet Sama Prince, the goddaughter of Boston Children's Museum's P...

Reaching children in their earliest years not only helps them develop the cognitive, social, emotional, and physical skills they need to succeed, but can also inspire lifelong enthusiasm for learning. On today's podcast, Boston Children's Museum President and CEO Carole Charnow sits down with Dr. Jeanette Betancourt from Sesame Workshop and Sally McCrady from PNC Bank to learn more about their par...

Ahead of the CreatedBy Festival on October 15th, 2022, Digital Content Manager and Podcast Producer, Kathryn York, interviews Boston Children's Museum's Director of Strategic Initiatives, Neil Tembulkar about CreatedBy, the prevalence of STEAM in the museum space, and how to get kids inspired by STEAM. To learn more about the CreatedBy Festival and free Virtual Workshops, Demos, and STEAM Fun, che...

When was the last time you let your imagination take the wheel? As kids, our imagination created endless possibilities. An old blanket was a superhero cape. Pots and pans? A full on drum set! Imagination has the power to make the "ordinary" novel and exciting. In the wake of an increasingly digital age, however, many wonder, does imaginative play still hold the same space in children's lives? Hear...

Join tech trailblazer Madge Meyer as she talks with Carole about her journey to success as a woman and Asian American immigrant in the STEM fields and shares strategies for raising young girls excited about and engaged with STEM.

Art in early childhood helps children thrive and develop into well-rounded, socially-conscious individuals. Sadly, thousands of students across the United States do not have access to arts education.  As the founder of ARCK, the Arts Resource Collaborative for Kids, Sara Mraish-Demeter has made it her mission to give children a voice through the arts. She has helped thousands of under-resourced st...

Three simple words can have a profound effect on a child's life— "I'm a reader." 
 Unfortunately for too many children in the US, numerous challenges and barriers have made these words infrequent. 
 In the latest episode of the Big & Little Podcast, former kindergarten teacher, founder of Barbershop Books, comedian, and expert in early literacy Alvin Irby speaks about empowering kids, especially y...

Three simple words can have a profound effect on a child's life— "I'm a reader." 
 Unfortunately for too many children in the US, numerous challenges and barriers have made these words infrequent. 
 In the latest episode of the Big & Little Podcast, former kindergarten teacher, founder of Barbershop Books, comedian, and expert in early literacy Alvin Irby speaks about empowering kids, especially y...

Three simple words can have a profound effect on a child's life— "I'm a reader." 
 Unfortunately for too many children in the US, numerous challenges and barriers have made these words infrequent. 
 In the latest episode of the Big & Little Podcast, former kindergarten teacher, founder of Barbershop Books, comedian, and expert in early literacy Alvin Irby speaks about empowering kids, especially y...

The holiday season doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful. No matter what special occasion or tradition you celebrate around this time of year, along with the cheer can come large amounts of stress for parents and caregivers juggling a million things while trying to give their kids a magical season. We wanted to help identify ways to take the stress out of the season and bring back the meaning...

Listen in on a conversation with Codman Academy Head of School Thabiti Brown and third grade teacher and equity coordinator Marcus Parker about Codman's thoughtful education strategies—teaching for social justice, prioritizing student questioning and the exploration of identity, making connections between learning and the world outside the classroom, and engaging teachers and parents in conversati...

Join Carole and guests Drs. Michael Pistiner and Ali Yurkovic for an important conversation on food allergies in children. As allergy experts and parents of children with food allergies themselves, Michael and Ali speak to the prevalence of allergies in children, their own experiences as parents of kids with allergies, and how people can get involved in advocacy efforts to protect those with food...

Innovation in Education is our new 3-part series that will dive into three different schools that are innovating the traditional schooling model we are all familiar with, with non-traditional curriculums, strategies, and values. Our first guest is Bethann Jellison, principal of the Carlton Innovation School in Salem, Massachusetts.   The Carlton School, a public school categorized as a Massachuset...