Igniting Young Minds: Cultivating Creative Play, STEAM, and Inclusivity at the Chicago Children’s Museum with Liz Rosenberg

Show Notes:

How does the power of play shape the minds of our youngest learners? How can we use STEAM as an effective tool to ignite learning? Join me as we chat with Liz Rosu-Rosenberg, an inspiring artist and educator, who is also the Art Programs Manager at the Chicago Children's Museum. In this episode, Liz shares her remarkable adventures in learning from museum volunteer in Houston to her current role at CCM (with plenty of interesting side trips along the way). And don't miss Liz's amazing cartoons, illustrations, and graphic design work! You can find them all at lizziemaerose.com!

Our conversation takes us inside the dynamic art spaces of the Chicago Children's Museum, where inclusivity and collaboration are at the heart of every activity. Liz explains how educators are trained to create welcoming spaces that encourage interaction among strangers and foster a sense of community. This episode invites you to experience the joy and community built through STEAM, play, and art at the Chicago Children's Museum.

Chapters & Timestamps:

• [01:09] Liz’s Adventures in Learning
• [04:16] Curiosity, Wonder, and Play in Informal Education
• [07:12] Crucial Elements for Creating Playful Programs that Spark Learning
• [13:45] Embracing Neurodivergence in Thoughtfully Designed Environments and Interactive Experiences 
• [20:27] Helping Educators Create Welcoming Spaces
• [26:59] Using Art to Unlock Learning and Connect to Exhibits
• [29:25] Cool Happenings at Chicago Children's Museum
• [34:58] What do concrete trucks, tree-climbing groundhogs, and squirrel feet have in common? JOY

Links and Resources:

• Follow Liz Rosu-Rosenberg on Instagram and LinkedIn
• lizziemaerose.com
• Dual Language Programs at the Chicago Children's Museum
• Gardens Grow and So Do We
• Chicago Children's Museum

Join us to explore how Liz Rosu-Rosenberg and the Chicago Children's Museum are making a difference in the lives of children and families through creative STEAM experiences and thoughtful inclusivity.

Transcript

00:02 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
So what is the power of play and how does art become part of that playful process? We are talking today to somebody who I am so excited to have on the show we're bringing Liz Rosenberg on. I first met Liz when I was visiting the Chicago Children's Museum several years ago. This is pre-pandemic and she didn't even know it was me, but she captured my heart in the artist's studio and I ran into her again at the ACM the Association of Children's Museums and was just so taken with how cool she is. She's an artist, she's an illustrator, she does the most amazing comics. When we're done with this conversation, you are going to run out and follow her on Instagram. Please welcome Liz Rosenberg to the show. 

00:52 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Liz hi. Thank you, Diane, that was so nice of you. I'm so excited to talk to you about my favorite topics, which is children's museums, play, art and comics topics, which is children's museums, play, art and comics. 

01:09 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Well, yay. So let's just start a little bit with you. Let's talk about your adventures in learning. How did you get to do the cool things that you do? Did you always want to be at a children's museum? 

01:17 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Well, that's the funniest thing is I actually never thought I wanted to be a teacher. I think I knew I liked children's museums. I actually, when I was seven years old, had a birthday party at the Houston Children's Museum and then I loved that so much that when I was a teenager and looking for opportunities to just do something in the summer, they had volunteer jobs. So I ended up volunteering at Houston Children's Museum and I loved it, but I still never thought I would teach. So the adventure to teaching was my senior year of art school. So I moved to Chicago to study art and my senior year I was looking for an internship and I saw the display for the Chicago Children's Museum. I remember it was like I hadn't even been in the building, but even just their their coordinator's display. I was like the visuals of it drew me in. 

02:22
This is back in 2009. I even got that internship through a phone interview, which I think would terrify young people today. Yeah, yeah, and I had such a great time at that internship that that is what made me decide I wanted to be a teacher. So I wanted to teach art and I'm happy to say that's like I now work at this museum. But after that internship I worked at the museum part time, always knowing I wanted to do more with the museum but knowing that the jobs in museums are harder to find. So I was a high school art teacher for a while. I wrote curriculum for an art teaching business that I really liked. The message of I oh gosh, yeah, there was lots of little things. I worked at a zoo as an educator for a while. 

03:16 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Very cool, one of my dream jobs. 

03:19 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Oh my gosh. I mean it was so incredible to be when you're thinking about learning. Teaching about animals and being right there with them, with your learners, is pretty incredible. So I feel very lucky that I got to take so many paths to figure out where I wanted to be. But yeah, it definitely took a long time to get the cool job. 

03:47 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
But it sounds like you had lots of cool jobs on the way to the current cool job. 

03:53 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Yes, yes, and so I did get to dip my toes in a lot of different places to get to this one. But yeah, so I think that's really. These exciting experiences have always kind of driven me in the curiosity, but it's always my heart's been in children's museums. There's something about that environment. 

04:16 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Well, and you just raised something that I think is really important, and that's that idea of curiosity, of bringing that sense of wonder and play to everything you do. How have all of those little lessons shaped sort of your philosophy now that you're working in the children's museum world full time? 

04:34 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Oh well, it's funny that you mentioned curiosity, because we actually do have a program called Curiosity Classrooms where we actually go out into Chicago public schools and install learning-based, like curiosity-based environments. So there are these mini environments that have natural objects, they have really beautiful light tables and even information on how to care for plants and animals, if the schools want to do that, for plants and animals, if the schools want to do that, and the whole idea is, yeah, like curiosity is the base of, I feel like, a lot of learning. I mean learning when people are like say they trick people into learning, I can't. It kind of like ruffles my feathers to hear that, Cause I'm like why does learning have to not be a fun thing. Why is that something you wouldn't want to do? Be a fun thing? Why is that something you wouldn't want to do? And I think curiosity is like the um amuse bouche of like getting to those really valuable learning experiences. So I mean, I think that's when I'm designing program in the art programs of the art studio. It's even thinking about what is the um, the hook, or like anticipatory set. As I remember the grad school term, we used uh to get our guests like committed to be like. Oh no, I want, I need to follow this through, I need to see what comes next. 

06:01 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Yeah, so describe for any listeners who maybe wouldn't have a sense of what that's like. What would an anticipatory set? What does something look like when they come into your art studio? 

06:12 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Oh yeah. So I always like to say, like when you're working in a museum, especially as an educator is you're, you're also letting the space do a lot of the work. So even the same idea with a zoo, like you have the animals or you have the enclosure that people are going to see first, so it could be something on the walls, might be something that we use. So we are very intentional with our signage. And then also it could be something that our educators ask, which is like we're doing map making right now. So it's like raise your hand if you used a map to get here today, right. So they don't really know what they're going to be doing fully, but they're all in that place of oh yeah, I used a map, or yeah, I saw a map on the way in here. So those could be, I think, ways of describing what that anticipatory set or a little hook. 

07:10
Yeah. 

07:12 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
And, like for educators who want to bring that wonder and curiosity to what they do. You do this every single day. What are some of the elements that you sort of hold dear as you're creating programs that need to spark that wonder or that curiosity for real learning, because learning is not a dirty word. Learning is something we should be doing every day of our lives. 

07:34 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Right, I think it's one thing is being genuine. So I work with a team of educators and if we don't, if we're when we're workshopping a program, if we're not continuing to stay excited, then then something needs to change. So I think it's one of those things too is really, I don't know, not believing, but just like still finding interest or finding ways for us to continue to be curious about the topic, Because part of it is also. We're serving a range of ages, and I do include adults. Well, I'm glad you should. So with maps, it's really cool to get into conversations, even with adults, about graphicacy and how you know everybody used to have to know how to make maps or understand maps. 

08:28
Like that was, you know. I think it's funny when people forget that, like all scientists had to be able to draw a little bit because there was no cameras. 

08:39 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Right. You had to be able to sketch out what you were thinking. 

08:43 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Exactly. So, you know, for all of us that work in these spaces, I like to think that many of us, like, even in the slow times, are getting to have these deep thoughts and like our own internal explorations of these topics and ideas. So that keeps us, you know, cause we'll do a program, sometimes for a month to two months, so it keeps us excited each day, um, to bring people in, um and like, yeah, bring your whole selves into it, cause I also feel like people can tell if you don't like what you're, what you're teaching about, like right, you can't sell it if you haven't bought into it. 

09:24
Right. So yeah, I think like being genuine and really not just doing something because we think we should do it, but finding the deeper value. 

09:36 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Well, and that actually connects really well to the concept of STEAM. So often, like teachers, I think today, are really focused in on, on. I've got to teach reading, or I've got to teach math, and I've got these different silos in which I need to do these things. And you're asking me to add one more thing to my list. You know, and it might be, it might be two more things. You want STEM and now you want art. You want me to figure out a way to add art. What do you say to them in terms of making it organic and fun? 

10:07 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Well, I think too, it's like, oh, that you could get hung up. 

10:15
I think this is also our brains are marvelous machines you could get hung up on. 

10:20
Oh, I don't like this idea of using this term, but instead kind of think of it as this is. This is part of being human, like the things we're learning don't exist on their own. They're going to have those parts, and I I think one thing is like I was a high school and middle school art teacher and one thing that did lead me away from more traditional, like, I guess, formal education would be the fact that I don't think I was given as much time to really figure out my, my lessons, like what are we doing? And I wonder too, if, like taking some time to really play with the idea of including that A, which it's so funny we have a tinkering lab at the Children's Museum and it's the fun thing too is like seeing how the art gets so naturally brought in, like it just I think when you're thinking of design, aesthetics just come up. So I think, too, it's like maybe it could be investigating what your current programs already are and where that seed might already be planted, and just massaging it. 

11:30 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Right and sometimes it's finding sort of that moment of I'm going to take a step back and go with where the kids are going. We were. I had a camp yesterday where we were doing the three pigs the David Wisisner book, and they were. The task was to fly your pigs. 

11:47
But I had a couple of kids who really wanted to illustrate their airplane and there were markers and I thought you know what Fine, create a beautiful airplane you can create and then figure out the engineering piece to it. And so they made these gorgeous pieces of paper and they came up with different ways and I let it go in terms of the design because it was theirs. So we did cylinders and you know they came up with these sort of cylinders that they figured out. If you checked it, your pig went a whole lot further and I was like it's creative, it's engineering, it's meeting the brief, but it was a natural way to add that art in in a way that I wouldn't have necessarily thought had I just been like no, we must do this and then we have to go do that and yeah, I love that responsiveness and I think that, oh gosh, that reminds me of like student teaching how quickly I learned. 

12:44 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Like that rigidity works against you when you're like, oh no, I have these goals, I have to meet each of these goals. When kids will show you like ways that they want to get excited about something and I love too is like you probably validated that kiddo too by being like oh wow, I like how you're decorating that plane, because I think too like we need all of those different types of thinkers on those problems and challenges. 

13:13 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Well, and I think we've got to embrace lots of different ways of seeing it. I mean, we're in such a neurodivergent society, you know, whether we're more neurodivergent than we've ever been, I don't know or whether we're just more aware that we're neurodivergent. But we need to be able, I think, to embrace those strengths that people bring to the table and not always look at it as a negative. 

13:36 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Oh, and I love that you bring up neurodivergence, because I myself am neurodivergent, I have ADHD and dyslexia, and I was held back when I was young and I, you know, I think that's why I also spent my adulthood really enjoying education, because education was a stressful place for me as a kid, you know. I mean very lucky that I had, you know, adults around me that saw my spark for art. So I felt like I actually benefited from not being afraid to fail because I had art. I had art. That was where I was like I shine, and I feel like that's like with these teen groups, like even when you were talking about the kids working on how to make things fly. I wonder, too, if they work together and we're like getting ideas from each other. I think so, because that's one thing that I'm also in as I get older, I'm realizing the power of teams on any project. 

14:41 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Absolutely, and I think that's part of what you get in the art studio at the Children's Museum and it's part of what we can help set up, whether it's a camp or a classroom, is opportunities for kids to collaborate and to learn how to communicate and to work with people who are different than them, because that's kind of what the real world's all about, right, oh? 

15:01 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
I know that's like. So in the art studio we see strangers every day and what's amazing is I was, so I get to train all my educators, and that's something I like to talk about too as a manager is like really intentional training, and taking the time to build up your relationships with your, your teachers is so important because we're hosts in that space, you know. So it. So our art studio is like a pass-based system, like we put passes an hour before each class. If it's slow, we do drop-ins, but it's almost like a class experience. But you know people are coming in for the first time. So our educators, it's so important to be confident and just hold space. 

15:45
And then also like we have communal tables, so you're gonna sit with people you don't know right, or at the beginning we ask tons of questions, and I also, because people are there for the first time, you know, I talk with my teachers about this, where people may not respond to the questions you ask, but they're still hearing the questions in their head. So if there's any young teachers listening, you know, or high school teachers high schoolers are notoriously quiet Keep asking the questions and like let that silence it and let them like have it internally. But I realized too, if you're hosting the space confidently, people even tend to connect with each other more Like, and it's not about being in their faces and talking so much, although you could probably tell I'm someone who likes to talk, but you know cause like even one thing is like, if I talk to a colleague that comes in, I try to angle it. So if there's a table nearby I could like make eye contact, absolutely, but yeah, so, but it's just, it's just exciting. 

16:51 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
See, here I am definitely getting, I think, caught on to another thread, but it's a good thread and it ties into sort of that back to school concept of you're building a community and you know for a teacher whether you're teaching elementary school, middle school, high school. You're building a community for a year long process. As informal educators we're often building community literally for a 15 minute period or an hour period, depending on what space we have. So you have to become effective at how do I bring a group together quickly? 

17:25 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Exactly. Oh, that's so. Yeah, I know I think it's. 

17:29
I'm going to close that tab. Nobody needs to hear that sound. But yeah, so it is really interesting to think about that, where it is pretty magical that we're able to instantaneously make these hour-long. So these sessions that we have are 45 minutes to an hour. People stay for however long they like, but yeah, sometimes, like it feels like a power, like a party by the end of the hour with everybody. 

17:59
And then another thing for inclusiveness is languages. You know you'll see Spanish everywhere in the Children's Museum and even myself, post pandemic, have really been working to be more comfortable using the Spanish. I have to help communicate Spanish. I have to help communicate and then also because of that, you know evidence and space for Spanish. It's space for other languages and that just makes people feel more confident to be at the museum as their family unit, right, how is it that they feel most comfortable? So it's also interesting thinking about learning and what it looks like for these family units where everybody's getting something but, like for the two year old it could be, they're getting some fine motor development, but maybe for the 75 year old grandparent they're realizing, oh, maybe I want to start a watercolor hobby, which I've seen that happen, where people who haven't picked up a paintbrush and 25, 30 years suddenly are like, why did I ever stop? Which is cool, it really is. And like so definitely when you're going to uh classes with kids as a family and museums participate, you know, and that's. 

19:16
The other thing is, I encourage people that work with adults to always add in permissions. So at the end of every introduction I encourage my educators to say you know, and adults grownups feel free to participate and make something. But if you don't feel like it, you don't have to just sit and be your child's assistant or just vibe. But I think, like our schooling I was born in the eighties was very much you needed permission to do everything and I think we forget that as adults. That's why sometimes we feel uneasy in spaces. Is that the real world doesn't have permissions, right? So it's like our kids are learning in new environments where they are very bold and have agency in a way that sometimes adults don't. But after I started doing that practice of the permissions, at the end I saw adults really relaxing and being able to learn better. If you're stressed out, you're not having a valuable learning experience. You probably could still learn under stress, but it's not as fun. 

20:27 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
no, well, and you were just talking about inclusivity, and I think that that's a really important component of play and learning as well. Um, language is definitely a part of it. I think that windows and mirrors are a huge part of that as well, and I've noticed in the art that you do and we're going to give you a link to Liz's art later because it's amazing but I noticed, like in the comics that you've been creating, particularly for the museum world, there are so many opportunities for people to see not only themselves, but to see people who might be different from them reflected in there as well. How do you go about sort of creating that inclusive environment, whether it's in the studio or in the art that you do? 

21:15 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Well, I think as an artist, I also love art, so I've had the opportunity to really be able to listen and also observe, Like they. I think if you don't acknowledge your differences, you don't see the beauty in our differences. And I think that's like. I have a dear friend who's a hijabi, and so that is a Muslim woman who wears a hijab, a headscarf, and I loved her headscarves. She would always like change them for her outfits and I took for granted that. I think she actually you know, there was times that she didn't feel as confident wearing that. 

21:51
And so just those life experiences, I think when I was making my comics and same thing with families, I think I've had some women I've interacted with over the years that would wear headscarves and I find it really important to represent these beautiful women in my comics. And I also, as an artist, I got really interested in the beauty of how hair is underneath the scarf as well. So you get these beautiful forms. So part of it's very natural, where it's again like I enjoy drawing those people and it's really a reflection of the people I see. So the same thing as the men in my comics are reflecting caregivers at the museum with children. And then another little thing that you might notice is what are they called? 

22:42 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
The for hard of hearing folks. Oh, the cochlear implants, or the hearing implants Cochlear implants. 

22:48 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
So I, at a school I was at, there was a hard of hearing department and I I got, I got to really learn a lot about deaf culture and you know, not all folks that are hard of hearing or deaf have cochlear implants. 

23:04
But there is, you know, kids talk about how they might feel insecure wearing it or even the struggle if they won't wear it at school. That was something that was a discussion that came up. So I just very and I always liked how it looked, because to me it kind of like again, it's another detail that just compliments the human body in a different way. So that kind of it just started becoming just a big part of the way I drew my comics is that I'm always present there because it's from my voice, and then I use a lot of different people to share out some of the ideas in them. But yeah, but I am always pleased that people notice and I'm also pleased when people don't notice that it's just so normal where it's like, yeah, it's just all different kinds of folks. But I appreciate that you did notice. 

24:03 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
I thought it was very cool. So what's the inspiration for your comic book work Like? Are you doing more of it I know some of it started during the pandemic and are you doing more, like officially with the museum, or is this something you're doing sort of on your own? How is that working so? 

24:21 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
I have to say comics have taken a bit of a break in the last six months, but they're never not on my mind. I even during my lunch break yesterday did a comics exercise. Comics have always been a part of my life. One of my earliest art teachers really got me interested in comic making. For someone that struggled so much with verbal language and handwriting, I think comics offered a place where the words don't always have to matter as much or you can have more control over what you mean with the words. Sure, yeah. And then I think like uh, they're just such a great way to express and I love to, I love to shout people out. Graphic medicine is this group. I don't know if you're familiar with them but there um, there's also this art teacher, cara Bean. 

25:13
Oh, you would love Cara Bean. Um, she wrote a whole book about mental health. I think she was a high school art teacher and she wanted to figure out how to explain what was happening in adolescents brains, you know. And she talks in the first chapter of this book about how sometimes with comics it's just, you're able to sort things out as you draw. Sometimes with comics, it's just you're able to sort things out as you draw. So part of it is a lot of my personal work is figuring my own stuff out. 

25:42
I have a graphic memoir I've always been working on. I have like my progress chart over here that I stopped working on a year ago or so with some family stuff came up, but I do hope to publish it someday. But it's about my experiences growing up with learning disabilities and just kind of like, and it's a very even balanced way. But I've discovered so many things while working on it, so it just I think it's just part of my routine. But I will say, like the museum during pandemic, I was given a lot more, I guess, like openness to experiment with how to include it in my work, and I have gotten to write an article for is it hand to hand? 

26:27
That's part of the ACM. And then what was the other thing? And then some of the work I've done with language inclusivity or how to be more translingual, which that's a whole other big topic. I've found comics to be helpful to demonstrate some of those ideas as well, so I get to include my colleagues in the comics, which it's fun seeing how excited they get when they see themselves. 

26:55 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Well, and on your website you, I'll be a. 

26:56 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Dr Diane Cool. 

26:59 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
And on your website you have some really cool concept art too. The museum nerd in me was just going crazy for the stuff that you had done to sort of showcase what you're doing at Chicago Children's Museum as well. That's gotta be really cool to show the power and potential of what the exhibits can be. 

27:18 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Yes, so I you know the museum is also a very big engine for learning spaces outside the museum. So there is a program that goes beyond the museum called Playful Learning Landscapes, which is this idea of going into neighborhoods and activating spaces. One of my favorites that we did was a laundromat and math, so it was like infusing the laundromat, which, the more you think about it, it's just so exciting Like. One thing is we kept talking about all the shapes that are in laundromats, like and then the oh but, so to bring these to communities, we also want to be able to explain what our vision is. So I had the opportunity of being the illustrator, so I got to draw what we envisioned and what is a big thing for us is also drawing the people of those communities in the spaces. So that was really fun, getting to learn about neighborhoods and like looking to the people there. So, and we've done different spaces, like one recently was engaging with literacy and social emotional learning, and so it was, and that is my that's my passion. 

28:31
Yeah, I think it's your passion too, but it was really exciting to think about how to activate the spaces with, like local architecture. You know, chicago is just brimming with just beautiful buildings. 

28:50
It really is I mean again, working in a children's museum, because they're not as big of institutions. You do get an opportunity to work on all these other teams, and that's one thing I love to gush about is that everything at Chicago Children's Museum is not done by one person, Like there's always. So many of us that from different departments are, you know, pushed into other people's projects Because, again, we just know things are stronger with the more hands in them, you know. I don't think we have the phrase of too many cooks. 

29:25 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Well, and it's very clear just going through the various exhibits that there's so much care and love that goes into them. So what are some of the cool things that are going to be coming up at Chicago Children's Museum this fall? 

29:39 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Oh, yes. So another thing I didn't even get to touch upon is that our art studio was activated by Hebrew Brantley. He's a African-American, chicago-based street artist, but now it's like his art is everywhere. He lives in LA now, but he redid our whole art space. He only makes art of children and he puts them in empowering spaces, and so we have this exhibit coming called Aim High. It's from, I believe, the Pittsburgh Children's Museum and it's about the Tuskegee Airmen. Hebrew Brantley has turned his famous character into a Tuskegee Airmen, essentially. 

30:23
He's got the goggles and the mask, and so all of this just lives in our art studio space. You know we have this. And then also there is this area right outside the art studio that has like an installation of Hebrew Brantley's. So I am just so excited for when Aim High comes about, the Tuskegee Airmen for kids to make that, that conclusion naturally about. You know, oh, that's where those those superhero characters came from, right? And if you're not familiar with the Tuskegee Airmen, they were Black fighter pilots in World War II and this was again like there was so much, it's just, it's so rich, it's so amazing. 

31:10
I feel like just come check it out. I think there's going to be a lot of pretend play for kids to imagine that they're flying. But also, what I'm excited about is that we, you know, as a children's museum, it's mostly immersive, experience based, but I think there's going to be some objects too that are going to be on display, which I I'm a sucker for objects Like I love just looking at things like going to stores, I can even make it into like a museum experience and I'm like let objects Like I love just looking at things like going to stores I can even make it into like a museum experience. I'm like let's just let me look at everything. But yeah, so definitely come check that out. 

31:44
And we have three different program spaces the art studio, tinkering lab and Pritzker play space for our earliest learners and all three of our spaces will be doing activations to relate to Aim High. So we do try to tie in and that's our. We have a rotating exhibit space, so I'm very excited for this exhibit Because, again, with Hebrew Brantley, I just think that's just you dream of having opportunities for kids to see context in that way. Oh, absolutely, I just think that's just you dream of having opportunities for kids to see context in that way. 

32:20 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Oh, absolutely Now. If people would like to follow the museum or follow you, how do they find you? 

32:27 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Okay, so we're at Chicago Children's Museum. We have actually multiple children's museums in the Chicagoland area. Definitely check them out. That's also something I love is that we are able to talk to other museums very easily, but we are at Navy Pier and that's sometimes confusing because people think we're all connected. We are all independent of each other but friendly, but we're at Navy Pier and we have Instagram, facebook, youtube Also. I made a ton of videos during pandemic that I actually like still recommend to certain families because like, oh, you would love ice block archaeology. So, and definitely we love sharing ideas. So if you're a teacher, you know, try some of our stuff out and then, yeah, so that's where to find Chicago Children's Museum. 

33:23 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
And then, if we want to follow you and your art, where do we go, liz? 

33:39 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
lives under. Well, first of all, I use the name Liz Rose Rosenberg, so that just is to find me easier. There's a lot of Liz Rosenbergs in the world. And then my kind of like artist name is Lizzie Mae Rose, l-i-z-z-i-e-m-a-e-r-o-s-e, based off of a nickname from my dad when I was a little kid, but LizzieMayRosecom, and it's LizzieMayRose on Instagram. Instagram. My grid has been quiet lately, but it will be activating up. I have some ideas of things I want to create, but my stories. I'm often posting videos of things at the museum, like next week. I always document when we transition the art studio from project to project, so we're finishing up map making and then we're doing clay days, and it's just for a month, so probably won't be there by the time this is posted, but it's exciting because it's a program we did last in 2019 and I don't think I mentioned that. Like, I've been hanging around this museum for like 15 years now. 

34:38 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Which is amazing, which is it's a gift. 

34:42 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
It truly is, and a lot of people boomerang in our museum too. So it was like I think I only left fully for like two years, but like even I was like working once a month when I was teaching. But yeah, it's a fun place. 

34:58 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
That's awesome, and so last question for today um what currently brings you joy? 

35:06 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Ooh, okay, so lately I've been really into concrete trucks. I don't know trucks, I don't know. There's something about concrete trucks where it's like they're always moving but then they have the part that's turning while they're moving forward. In Chicago they have red and white stripes, most of them I have found in other places. That's not the case. So recently I've been feeling very joyful about, if I'm traveling or out of town, getting to see a concrete truck and seeing what design they decide to have on it. 

35:48 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
That's very cool, spoken like a true artist. You know, it's funny, the things that bring us joy. Mine has been in the last week, discovering that groundhogs climb trees. Really, I have caught two groundhogs in trees in the last week and I think it's because we're almost in drought conditions and so I'm guessing that they are climbing trees to get the tenderer more juicy leaves. But I had no idea. It's like you just kicked the ground out of Groundhog. So now when I'm going for walks, I'm literally looking into trees to try to see if I can locate another one. 

36:28 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Fascinating. I had no idea. See, I love learning things like that, like that's like someone recently told me to look at squirrels feet when you see them climbing up trees. 

36:38 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Ah, that's another really good thing to do, yeah. 

36:42 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Did you hear about that? Where it's like they have I think it's their back legs turn in really weird ways. 

36:47 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Okay, now I'm going to be looking for that when I go for my walk today. 

36:51 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Right, like oh, and squirrels always bring me joy, me too. 

36:55 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Well, and that's part of, I think, what a joyful learner is. It's being able to stop and look at the really weird random stuff in life and kind of think about oh that's interesting, I wonder why. How can I use that? 

37:10 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Right, exactly, I think life can be really, really stressful, so it's fun to just be able to be in the total present. You know, like that's when you're like in these, like the active meditation of observing something you know and then like, but there still is when you learn those nuggets about something you're passionate about, like learning my groundhog speaking trees. It's like shh. 

37:36 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
It's so cool. Liz Rosenberg, you bring me joy and I think that you will have brought joy to so many people today. Thank you for joining me on the Adventures in Learning podcast and I sure hope we can bring you back again. 

37:49 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Oh, I love that. This has been so much fun. Thank you so much, and I hope, if anybody is in Chicago, you come by and see us. 

37:59 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
If you're the friendliest staff ever go stop. 

38:03 - Liz Rosenberg (Guest)
Oh yeah, all of our staff are encouraged to chat. I mean, it's also. I worked at a. Oh my gosh, I was about to say. Oh yeah, I worked at a contemporary art museum and as a guard, you're like not allowed to talk to people because of all of the donors and, like you know, people's investments or something. But children's museum, on the other hand, everybody talks together. 

38:24 - Dr. Diane Jackson Schnoor (Host)
Yeah, awesome. Well, thank you for joining us.