The Children’s Museum of Manhattan welcomes the new school year with an expansive lineup of programs that celebrate LatinX culture, Star Trek, Fashion Week, Grandparents Day, and Labor Day.

The schedule includes:

Patitas Y Antenas – South American Insects Week
Thursday, 9/1 – Sunday, 9/4
Learn about insects found in Central and South America and the scientists who study them: an entomologist.

• Hopping Chapulines Sensory Bin (PlayWorks): Did you know that chapulines is the Spanish word for grasshoppers? Activate your senses as you explore an Oaxacan-inspired sensory bin, filled with chapulines made by tiny artists.
• Tarantula Habitat (MakerSpace): Travel to the Venezuelan Amazon in the search for bird-eating tarantulas, and use your imagination to sculpt a giant spider as big as an adult human’s hand.
• “One Woman Insect Bureau” – Entomologist Sophie Lutterlough (Inside Art): Did you know “Entomology” is the scientific study of insects!? Stop by the Museum this week and sculpt teeny-tiny critters inspired by the work of Entomologist Sophie Lutterlough, whose expertise in insects earned her the title of “one woman insect bureau.” This program runs on Thursday, 9/1 – Friday, 9/2.
• 3D Iridescent Beetle Pins (Inside Art): Use iridescent paper and other mixed media materials to create Brazilian beetle pins, perfect for your back-to-school fit! This program runs on Saturday, 9/4 – Sunday, 9/4.
• Happy Birthday BEE-yonce! (PlayWorks): Celebrate the birth of Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter at CMOM! Join her “Beyhive” by creating bee puppets that fly and really pollinate! This program runs on Sunday, 9/4 only.

Labor Day: Monday, 9/5

• West Indian Day – Carnival Headdress (Inside Art): Brooklyn’s West Indian Day Parade is back! Celebrate at CMOM and explore the costumes and headdresses while you design your own carnival costume element.
• People in Your Neighborhood (PlayWorks): CMOM shares important concepts of Labor Day—by honoring the American worker’s contributions to the achievements of the United States—with its little visitors as we learn different ways to support our community. Create an imagined neighborhood and become a little helper yourself.

Eco-Fashion Week, Star Trek Day & Grandparents Day
Tuesday, 9/6 – Sunday, 9/11
Just in time for New York Fashion Week, reimagine a better world while exploring different materials and designers concerned with protecting our planet and contribute to a week-long installation of sustainable eco-fashion masterpieces!

• Green Runway Photo Booth (First Floor): Stop by CMOM's photo booth and show off a fashion item you’ve created at CMOM by using the hashtag: #CMOMsEcoFashionWeek.
• Deconstruct, Reconstructed Scarfs (MakerSpace): Inspired by the designs of Mateo Velásquez, deconstruct mixed patterned prints to create bold fitting scarfs drawn from the Colombian designer’s punk aesthetic! Use safety pins, metal clamps, cotton-washed denim, and other materials to incorporate bold motifs into your designs!
• Seedpod Necklaces (Inside Art): Create seed capsules to string into a necklace that is fashionable and promotes a healthier planet. This program runs daily between 9/6 and 9/11 with the exception of Thursday, 9/8.
• Star Trek Day – Sensory Tube Transporters (Inside Art): It’s Star Trek Day! Sail away to the stars and create a transporter sensory tube where you can pretend to travel through time and into different galaxies. This program runs on Thursday, 9/8 only.
• Grandparents Day – Blossom Bookmarks (PlayWorks): Make pressed flower bookmarks for your grandparents or for that special someone who has shared their wisdom and guidance with you! This program runs on Sunday, 9/11 only.

LatinX Fest – Timeless Traditions
Tuesday, September 13 - Sunday, September 18
Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month at CMOM! This year, honor different traditions through ideas of family, ancestry, and culture by exploring Latinx artists who approach these themes through music, art, writing, and dance.

• Palabras: Explore Latinx artists who use language through storytelling, art, and music all week long! Write a postcard to someone you miss, explore New York’s graffiti history, and enjoy the songs of musical artist, Flor Bromley! This program runs on Tuesday, 9/13 – Sunday, 9/18.
• Terrific Tarjetas – Postcard Design (Inside Art): Author-illustrator, Duncan Tonatiuh introduces kids to cousins Charlie and Carlitos in his book, Dear Primo. Charlie lives in America and Carlitos lives in Mexico, but they stay in touch through the letters they write to each other. Draw inspiration from Tonatiuh’s Mesoamerican illustrations to design a postcard for someone you miss!
• Mini City Street Art Installation (MakerSpace): Find inspiration from Latinx street artists, Lee Quiñones, Lady Pink, and Cekis to color a mini city with tags, images, and stylized writing. Contribute to a mini city art installation with your own mini building covered in graffiti, word art, and murals!
• Senorita Mariposa: Monarch Butterfly Collage (PlayWorks): Create a black, white, and orange butterfly collage, learn about the migration of monarch butterflies, and enjoy the illustrations by Marcos Almada Rivero in the book, Senorita Mariposa.
• Fiesta with Flor (PlayWorks): CMOM hosts a multicultural musical celebration as littles and their families learn about different musical genres through dance, storytelling, and singalongs while pretending to travel to the countries where the rhythms were born! This program runs on Sunday, 9/18 between 2-3 PM.

Latinx Fest – Friends & Family
Tuesday, 9/20 – Sunday, 9/25

• Little Libros (Inside Art): El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Day of the Child/Day of the Book) is a celebration based on childhood and literacy that began from the traditional Mexican holiday “El día de los niños.” In honor of your familia and friends, create an accordion book with pictures and words that will take you on a voyage of your childhood.
• Friends + Family Plaque (MakerSpace): Create a 3-dimensional plaque honoring your familia.
• Map to My Heart (PlayWorks): Show off those you love by adding to an evolving 3D diorama! To ensure your amor reaches folks, whether near or far, create a mini flag of the country that represents your families’ heritage.

Latinx Fest – Culture & Ancestry
Tuesday, 9/27 – Sunday, 10/2
Explore fun traditions, iconic art forms, and cornerstones of Latinx cultures through art making, toy design, songs, and storytelling.

• Muñecas Limé – Doll Sculptures (MakerSpace): Sculpt a doll from red clay and adorned in beautiful colors inspired by Liliana Mera Limé’s elegantly dressed faceless sculpted dolls. These dolls have since become an icon of Dominican culture and symbolize Dominicans’ mixture of African, European, and Aboriginal identities, races, and cultures.
• Flying Chiringas (Inside Art): As an ode to a Sunday afternoon spent in El Morro in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, make a kite and fly it as high as you can throughout the Museum!
• Pin Pon Cardboard Puppet (PlayWorks): Learn to sing the classic nursery rhyme, Pin Pon, and dress and care for your own little cardboard character. Considered to have universal Latinx heritage, Pin Pon the song and character were popularized by Chilean actor and director Jorge Guerra.