“Make a Joyful Noise!” at the KVM

The Kalamazoo Valley Museum's holiday hands-on programming, Make a Joyful Noise, offers families a variety of activities during the holiday break. Free arts and crafts activities will take place Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1-4 p.m. The singing duo Gemini is welcomed back to the Museum on Tuesday, December 31 for concerts at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. for $3 per person. Jenifer Strauss will lead audiences through storytelling about animals and sounds from nature on Thursday, January 2nd, also at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. for $3 per person.

The Monday, December 30 theme is Shake, Rattle, and Roll! Participants will be able to create and decorate a variety of instruments including a doomroo drum, a slide flute, a maraca, a train whistle, a kazoo, wind chimes, castanets, a guitar pick necklace, a wooden guitar, and a thumb piano.

Tuesday, December 31, guests will enjoy Gemini, twins who have been performing since 1973. Using instruments of all kinds, their music has raised generations of music lovers. Gemini are winners of numerous awards including a Silver Honors Award from Parent's Choice Magazine, multiple ASCAP Awards, and the Silver Medallion Award from the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts.

On Wednesday, January 1, the Museum welcomes in the New Year with It's a Dance Party! The Museum opens at 1 p.m. with arts and crafts that will make everyone want to dance. Crafts include decorating a windsock, a fan, a dancing puppet, a ballerina, a tambourine, and a sombrero. Children can also assemble dance streamers, a movement picture on a canvas bag, and a Chinese Dragon.

On Thursday, January 2, storyteller Jenifer Strauss includes the audience in the stories she tells. For nearly two decades, Strauss has been sharing enthusiastic, participatory performances, workshops and keynotes with over 300 audiences a year. A former environmental educator and elementary teacher, Strauss combines her love for teaching and storytelling to create Story Be Told Productions, offering dynamic programs and performances for all ages that inspire and motivate listeners. Her telling style is dynamic and thought provoking, heart-warming, sometimes outrageous, but always educational.

The Friday, January 3 theme, Nature Inspired Song, focuses on creating animals and the sounds they make. Children will assemble animal wind chimes, pan pipes, a seed drum, and a rainstick. They can also decorate a rubber duck, a bird whistle, an echo tube, farm animal masks, a toad puppet, and a cow bell.

Families are encouraged to take a final spin through the exhibit Wild Music before it closes on Sunday, January 5th. Find out about all the planetarium shows available during the break as well as Challenger Learning Center missions at the Museum website: www.kalamazoomuseum.org. Admission to the Museum is free.

The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is operated by Kalamazoo Valley Community College and is governed by its Board of Trustees.