September at CMOM is all about back-to-school, strategic storytelling, grandparents, and more.

Schedule:

West Indian Day Celebration
The West Indian Day Parade began in the early 20th century with Caribbean immigrants arriving in the US from islands like Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and Haiti, among others.
Sunday & Monday, September 1 – 2

Take Flight: Costume Design
Costumes with electrifying feathers are the life force of the West Indian Day Parade, with feathers symbolizing the ability to persevere and take flight on the journey into spiritual rebirth. Unleash your creativity and fashion your own wearable wings, headpieces, and costumes!
Sunday & Monday, September 1 – 2 | 10:30am – 4:15pm | Drop-in | All ages | 1st Floor | Makerspace

West Indian Day: Saltwater(color) Paintings
Celebrate the beautiful waters connecting Caribbean Islands by creating your own colorful paintings with watercolor and discover what happens when you add salt to your artworks!
Sunday & Monday, September 1 – 2 | 11:15am – 12:30pm & 2pm – 3:45pm | Drop-in | All ages | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks

Backpack-to-school Adventures
Make back-to-school an adventure as you explore art-making, design, and literacy activities!
Tuesday – Friday, September 3 – 6

DIY Art Kit
Use mixed-media materials to create a unique art kit—perfect for all your brushes, markers, pastels, and more!
Tuesday – Friday, September 3 – 6 | 10:30am – 12pm & 2pm – 4:30pm | Drop-in | Ages 5 & up | 1st Floor | Makerspace

Color Exploration: Cellophane Stained-Glass Windows
Explore color mixing and transparency as you layer strips and geometric shaped pieces of cellophane onto sticky contact paper that transforms into a unique stained-glass window!
Tuesday – Friday, September 3 – 6 | 2:45pm – 3:45pm | Drop-in | Ages 4 & younger | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks

Interactive Storytime: Isabel and her Colores Go to School by Alexandra Alessandri
Meet Isabel, who is nervous about class at a new school. This is a universal story about feeling new and making new friends and learning how to overcome those feelings of fear.
Tuesday – Friday, September 3 – 6 | 10:30am & 4pm | Drop-in | Ages 5 – 8 | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks

Grandparents’ Day
Saturday & Sunday, September 7 – 8

Botanical Sun-catcher
Show a grandparent how your love blooms by making them an arranged pressed flower sun catcher!
Saturday & Sunday, September 7 – 8 | 10:30am – 4:15pm | Drop-in | All ages | 1st Floor | Makerspace

3D Floral Bouquet
Create a three-dimensional paper flower bouquet to celebrate the bond between you and a special grandparent in your life!
Saturday & Sunday, September 7 – 8 | 11:15am – 12:30pm & 2pm – 3:45pm | Drop-in | All ages | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks

Interactive Storytime: Who Takes Care of You by Hannah Eliot
Museum educators host an interactive story-time, exploring how childcare looks different from family to family. The book Who Takes Care of You knows that whether there’s one caregiver, or two, or four—whether it’s a mommy, a grandpa, or a sitter—the most important thing for a child to know is that they are loved.
Saturday, September 7 | 10:30am & 4pm | Drop-in | Ages 0 – 2 | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks

Interactive Storytime: The Truth About Grandparents by Elina Ellis
An interactive storytime featuring The Truth About Grandparents, which celebrates the special relationship between grandparents and grandchildren.
Sunday, September 8 | 10:30am & 4pm | Drop-in | Ages 4 – 8 | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks

More Backpack-to-school Adventures
Tuesday – Sunday, September 10 – 15

Backpack Buddy Keychain
Design your own fuzzy friend to “hang” out on your backpack all school year long.
Tuesday – Friday, September 10 – 13 | 10:30am – 4:15pm | Drop-in | Ages 5 & up | 1st Floor | Makerspace

Bestie Beaded Bracelets
String alphabet beads onto a stretchy elastic cord to create a name bracelet that you can gift to a friend!
Saturday & Sunday, September 14 – 15 | 10:30am – 4:15pm | Drop-in | Ages 5 & up | 1st Floor | Makerspace

Pattern Painting
Alma Woodsey Thomas was an artist known for her bright abstract paintings that used puzzle-like patterns and repetitive brush strokes. Create your own patterned artwork inspired by Woodsey Thomas using oil pastels and watercolor paint in all of the colors of the rainbow!
Tuesday – Friday, September 10 – 13 | 2:45pm – 3:45pm | Drop-in | Ages 4 & younger | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks
Saturday & Sunday, September 14 – 15 | 11:15am – 12:30pm & 2pm – 3:45pm | Drop-in | Ages 4 & younger | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks

Open-Ended Playtime: Color Sorting Sensory Bin
Stimulate your senses and develop problem-solving skills as you sort pom-poms, pipe cleaners, and legos into their respective colors!
Tuesday – Friday, September 10 – 13 | 1:30pm – 2:30pm | Drop-in | Ages 4 & younger | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks

Interactive Storytime: Our Class is a Family
A heartfelt story with colorfully whimsical illustrations about classrooms as a safe community to be ourselves, make mistakes, and the importance behind being a friend to others!
Tuesday – Thursday, September 10 – 12 | 10:30am & 4pm | Drop-in | Ages 4 & younger | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks

Interactive Storytime: KINDergarden: Where Kindness Matters Every Day by Vera Ahiyya
A story about a classroom coming together to calm the nerves to offer inspiration to new kindergartners and the adults in their lives.
Friday & Saturday, September 13 – 14 | 10:30am & 4pm | Drop-in | Ages 4 – 8 | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks

Latinx Festival: Timeless Traditions, Culture, and Ancestry
Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month by honoring different traditions through ideas of family, ancestry, culture, and the arts. Explore fun traditions, iconic art forms, and cornerstones of Latinx cultures through art making, toy design, songs, and storytelling.
Tuesday – Sunday, September 17 – 22

Nitza Tufiño’s Neo-Borikén Mural
In honor of Nitza Tufiño’s love for the world of murals—and as an ode to the East October Street MTA Station ceramic tile mural—CMOM invites you to a week-long installation designed to foster community and belonging!
Tuesday – Friday, September 17 – 20 | 10:30am – 4:15pm | Drop-in | Ages 5 & up | 1st Floor | Makerspace

Muñecas Limé: Doll Sculptures
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.
Saturday & Sunday, September 21 – 22 | 10:30am – 4:15pm | Drop-in | Ages 5 & up | 1st Floor | Makerspace

Paper Plate Chiringas (Kites)
Make your own kite inspired by a Sunday afternoon spent in El Morro in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico and fly it throughout the Museum.
Saturday & Sunday, September 21 – 22 | 11:15am – 12:30pm & 2:45pm – 3:45pm | Drop-in | Ages 4 & younger | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks

Interactive Story Time: Rainbow Weaver/Tejedora de Arcoiris
Ixchel wants to follow in the long tradition of weaving on back strap looms, just as her mother, grandmother, and most Mayan women have done for more than two thousand years! Join Museum Facilitators as they take you on a journey through a beautiful learning experience about ancestral traditions!
Tuesday – Sunday, September 17 – 22 | 10:30am & 4pm | Drop-in | Ages 5 – 9 | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks

Art & Design
Inspired by cultural and ecological values, traditional weaving practices, and minimalist jewelry making, tap into your creative side to produce powerful and meaningful masterpieces!
Tuesday – Sunday, September 24 – 29

Eco-Home Design
Inspired by the work of Chilean architect Sebastian Contreras Rodriguez, explore cultural and environmental values to design a home that ensures harmony with nature.
Tuesday – Sunday, September 24 – 29 | 10:30am – 4pm | Drop-in | Ages 5 & up | 1st Floor | Makerspace

Sustainable Jewelry: Love + Language
Explore mixed-media materials to design your very own piece of jewelry inspired by Afrolunatika—a Puerto Rican based organic jewelry brand—and by a word that means something to you!
Tuesday – Sunday, September 24 – 29 | 11am – 12:30pm & 2pm – 3:45pm | Drop-in | Ages 4 & younger | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks

Storytime: Hey, Wall: A Story of Art and Community by Susan Verde.
A story time—told in elegant verse by Susan Verde and vibrantly illustrated by John Parra—that celebrates the power of art to tell a story and bring a community together!
Saturday & Sunday, September 28 – 29 | 10:30am & 4pm | Drop-in | Ages 4 – 8 | 3rd Floor | PlayWorks

Artist Lia Zuvilivia: Mixed-Media Makerspace
Artist Lia Zuvilivia leads an interactive artmaking workshop informed by her creative practice spanning sculpture, painting, and collage. Design your own mixed-media artwork inspired by the colorful architecture of the La Boca barrio (neighborhood) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Sunday, September 29 | 11am – 11:45am & 12pm – 12:45pm | Sign-up | Ages 5 & up | 1st Floor | Makerspace