Discover our newest exhibit, Faithful Friends, with fun and engaging programming that inspire children to ask questions and learn about the diverse world of faith, beliefs, culture, and friendship!
Kaleidoscope Room inside Faithful Friends
Activities, events and times subject to change.
A dynamic space for hands-on activities, storytelling, and cultural programming, the Kaleidoscope Colloquiums in the Kaleidoscope Room invite you to engage in crafts, games, and rotating interactive experiences inspired by global traditions. Designed to spark curiosity and creativity, these workshops will host community partners, artists, and educators who bring beliefs, faith-based and cultural storytelling to life. Families can explore a diverse collection of books and resources that encourage conversations about friendship, respect, and understanding.
Thankfulness Sandwiches: Let’s reflect on what we have to be thankful for! With this activity you can build a paper sandwich with your favorite ingredients. Each ingredient has a question about something that you can be thankful for. It takes many resources to make the ingredients for sandwiches—sun, water, the farmers, animals, machinery, ect.—just like there are lots of people and experiences that make you who you are. What/who are you grateful for?
Identity, Friendship and Respect Cubes and Magnets: Let’s learn about Identity, Friendship and Respect! You can use the cube images to discuss what the themes of Friendship, Respect and Identity mean to you! You can also sort the words/phrases on magnet wall into the 3 different categories of “Kindness”, “Respect” and “Friendship”.
Toasting Bread: Join us as we play some games to celebrate the seasonal/Celtic holiday of Lammas. Lammas is one of the 4 “quarter days” of the seasonal calendar, and it heralds the harvest season. Traditionally, this holiday began with the grain harvest and celebrated the abundance of the growing season. The baking and blessing of bread is an important part of the celebrations. With this activity you can practice your bread flipping skills and balancing skills!
Paper Lilies: We are making paper lilies to commemorate the Christian holiday of the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This holiday, especially important for the Catholic Church, marks the celebration of life for the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, and her assumption into Heaven. Lillies are closely connected to the Virgin Mary as they represent purity and innocence. There are even white lilies that bloom in mid-August around the time of this holiday!
Parts of the Farohar: With this fun drawing and coloring activity you can learn more about the Farohar, or Faravahar, the symbol of the Zoroastrian religion. This image represents the link between the spiritual and physical worlds through symbolic visuals. For example, the human head represents the importance of free will and the 3 sections of the tale connect to the Zoroastrian motto of “good thoughts, good words, good deeds”.
Paper Airplanes: Join us as we make paper airplanes to honor the Jain holiday of Paryusana! This holiday focuses on themes of forgiveness, reflection and introspection. To commemorate Paryusana, Jains practice letting go of any quarrels so that they do not take them into the New Year. For this activity we will make a paper airplane and write down something you want to “let go of” and not carry with you anymore. They you can fly it away!
Rice Maracas: Let’s celebrate the Hindu festival of Ganesh Chaturthi by making rice maracas! This holiday marks the birth of the god Ganesha, the god of prosperity and wisdom. You can learn more about Ganesha in the Faithful Friends Big Book exhibit! In the story Ganesha the Dinner Guest, we see Ganesha’s love for food including rice!
Woven Spider Webs: Let’s make a woven spider web to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. This Muslim holiday called Mawlid al-Nabi, honors the Prophet’s life and virtues. Why a spider's web? Well, this features in a popular story about Muhammad.
Build a Best Friend: What qualities make a good friend? Why is friendship important? With this activity you can build your own Best Friend paper doll to take home!
Rastafari Pinwheels: Join us in making paper pinwheels in the Rastafari colors of red, green and gold. Rastafari is a religious and social movement that began in Jamaica in the 1930s. It is a blend of Abrahamic and Afrocentric beliefs.
Fall Trees: Fall is here…...almost! Let’s make some fall trees to celebrate the Autumnal Equinox (the beginning of Fall). This year, the Equinox is on September 22nd. On this date, night and day are the same length! After September 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere, the days start to grow shorter, the temperature gets colder and plant life slows down. This leads to the leaves changing colors.
Nava Durga Emotions Spinner: Let’s make a spinner with different emotions to celebrate Navaratri! Navaratri is an important Hindu festival that celebrates the warrior-goddess Durga. Durga is very powerful and takes many different forms including nine special ones called the Nava Durga. The Nava Durga represent different qualities of the goddess and different emotions for instance Brahmacharini (Calmness) and Kushmanda (Laughter).
Apple Greeting Cards: We are celebrating Rosh Hashanah with Apple Greeting Cards! Rosh Hashanah is the start of the Jewish Year, and it is a time of goodwill and reflection leading into a time of deep introspection and atonement culminating in Yom Kippur, the most solemn Jewish holiday. Rosh Hashanah celebrations include candlelit ceremonies, prayer services and festive meals such as eating apples with honey. This treat references the hope for a sweet next year.
Confucius Cootie Catchers: We are celebrating Confucius’s Birthday by making a Cootie Catcher with some of his famous quotes. Confucius was an incredibly influential Chinese philosopher and teacher. His teachings on morality, communal respect, ancestor worship, devotion to family, the importance of education and the role of social class helped form the philosophy/religion of Confucianism as well as influenced Chinese and East Asian cultures.
Kaleidoscope Room inside Faithful Friends
Supported by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.
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