During each class, there’s an instrument free-for-all where the children can try out different sounds.

Since she was only a few months old, I’ve taken my two-year-old daughter to Music Together — first in East Providence and now on the East Side of Providence. Classes are broken into nine-week intervals with a different theme (and CD to go with it) — Triangle, Bongo, Drum, etc.. The songs include simple sound combinations like Biddy Biddy to favorites like Palo Palo and John the Rabbit, so that children can start singing along as soon as they can make sounds.

Local mom and musician Jen Romanat runs our East Side Music Together class — in our most recent class, Jen led songs on both her guitar and ukulele, and the children sang, dance, spun with the parachute, and tried out a variety of instruments including drums, maracas, and tamborines.

Who wouldn’t love parachute play?

The Music Together philosophy suggests that children learn music through adults who model it for them so the class encourages adult participation. And although the children may be quiet during the class, don’t think that they aren’t listening, absorbing and learning. My daughter who sat pensively throughout many of the songs during the last class came home singing them and making the clicking horse noise she learned that day.

Note: Jen Romanat will also be performing at the Hope Street Market on July 3, July 24, August 7, August 21; the Armory Market on July 11, July 18 and August 15; and Gladys Potter Park (Humboldt) throughout the summer.

East Side Music Together
www.eastsidemusictogether.com

Music Together
http://musictogether.com

Just Pickin’ Flowers (Jen’s Music)
www.justpickinflowers.org

Madeline creates her own art during the RISD Museum's Tours for Tots.

Someone recently asked Madeline what she wanted to be when she grew up.

“Well,” she replied. “I’m already getting started. I’m an artist.”

So apparently in support of her current career, we visited the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum yesterday during their Tours for Tots. The hour-long program, which continues Thursdays in June, offers children ages 3-5 an interactive tour of one of the museum’s exhibits, along with a chance to create their own art. Yesterday’s tour brought us to the wooden Dainichi Nyorai Buddha, which sits 9-feet tall in its own dimly lit gallery. The children learned the story of Siddhartha, as they discovered how to sit and think like Buddha. We then moved to an open room where the kids spread out on the floor and created their own crayon drawings inspired by the story. The event ended with all of the new ‘artwork’ on display for everyone to admire.

A still from Schnitt's "Once Upon a Time"

Each week brings a different tour, so you can attend more than once. And while you’re there, you can get your fix of Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, and other masterpieces, along with some less traditional art like Sarah Sze’s notepad cut into a tiny and intricate fire escape or Corinna Schnitt’s video loop Once Upon a Time, which shows what happens in an unsupervised room full of chickens, cats, birds, fish, bunnies and a goat. Who says art museums are for adults?

RISD Museum
Tours for Tots
Thursdays June 2, 9, 16, 23 at 2 pm – 2:45 pm
(meets in the Chace Lobby, free with museum admission)
www.risdmuseum.org (also see family programs)

Sarah Sze
artist website | exhibit info

Corinna Schnitt
artist website | exhibit info

The Providence Athenaeum children's section has a cozy reading area filled with children's books.

Let’s see if I’ve got this straight.  The Providence Public Library consists of the Central Library at 150 Empire Street in downtown Providence.  But since July 2009 due to fiscal problems, the other nine city branches (Rochambeau, Fox Point, etc.) have been overseen by a nonprofit organization called the Providence Community Library.  As unusual as this sounds, the two remain linked, so that one can take a book out of the Rochambeau branch with a Providence Public library card.

There’s also the Providence Athenaeum, an independent membership library housed in an 1838 Greek Revival building in College Hill, which shouldn’t be overlooked.  Although there’s an annual membership fee, you gain access to events, borrowing privileges from their collection and RISD’s, and the knowledge that you’re supporting a historic piece of the community.  If membership fee seems too steep, no matter — the library is open to the public and encourages visitors.

With all this variety comes one challenge — keeping track of events.  So if you happen to be looking for a children’s story time, for example, be sure to check the Cradles to Crayons series held at both the main and other branches, as well as the the Athenaeum’s story hours.

Providence Athenaeum
251 Benefit Street
Providence, RI
www.providenceathenaeum.org

Providence Public Library
150 Empire Street
Providence, RI
www.provlib.org

Providence Community Library
See a list of branches.
www.provcomlib.org