Old Bridge, New Purpose!

Bubble Girl celebrates the grand opening of the Union Street Pedestrian/Bike bridge with Mayor Taylor! See a photoshow of the event here.

Ellie, 6, and Micaela, 7, build a fantastic bridge at the Gilbert House!

April is Poetry Month

Mary Ann Hoberman is the Children's Poet Laureate of the United States. It's her job to promote poetry and to share it with people, especially children.

Click on the link below for a video of Mary Ann reading from her children's poetry book, I Like Old Clothes.

Here's a sample:

When somebody grows
And gives me her clothes,
I don’t say, “What, those?”
And turn up my nose
The way some people do
When their clothes aren’t new.

Hear and see Mary Ann read the whole book here.

Eggstravaganza at the Village

Click on this link to find a fun, musical photo show of Eggstravaganza at the Village.

Happy Easter!

Check back here next week for pictures from Eggstravaganza at the Village!

The Preschoolers have spoken!

Recently, students at the Preschool at A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village took a vote to name the two resident gerbils in their classroom.


After much debate, the names have been decided: Lovey and Sharky (pictured below).


















As you can imagine, the preschoolers have sharpened their observation skills by carefully noting the daily behaviors of their furry friends. In the following picture, teacher Chris has transcribed the preschoolers' observations of "what gerbils do." Preschoolers do not miss a thing!

Bridge Opening is coming...but not yet!

Please note that the Free Day in honor of the Bridge Opening has been rescheduled from April 4 to April 18.

On Saturday, April 18, you can be the first to walk across the historic Union Street Railroad Bridge that spans the Willamette River and connects Riverfront and Wallace Marine Parks.

The ribbon cutting will take place at the bridge at 10 a.m. Afterwards, walk down to the children's museum for a free day of bridge-building activities from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. See you there!

The Scoop from Intern Vinnie

Hi, my name is Vinnie, and I am a new marketing intern at A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village. Working here has been so fun so far. I grew up in the Salem area and now attend Western Oregon University. Although I had never been to the Gilbert House, I know tons of friends, family members and peers who have visited. I always heard great things about the Village but never had the opportunity to visit.

The past few weeks I’ve seen all the great things I missed growing up that my friends and family have told me about. There are so many opportunities here for learning, having a good time and making new friends all at once.

In the past few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to see lots of kids having tons of fun at the exhibits and learning, hanging out with Bubble Girl and beginning to plan some events. My favorite exhibit would probably be the Bubble Room. Who doesn’t love bubbles? Blowing bubbles? Or even being inside of a bubble? I’m sure everyone does, and that’s why it’s my favorite.

To add to all the great activities/events the museum offers I’ve come up with a few more fun ideas I will be trying to add to our list. We are putting together a great night with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (Save the Date: Sunday, August 9!) for a family night with some fun baseball to enjoy. Look for updates about this on future blogs to support your local baseball team and your kids’ museum.

So don’t miss out like I did. Come visit A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village! Check out our event schedule to see what’s going on the next few months and find some events for the entire family.