Looking for something special to do with the kids on New Year’s Eve day?
Look no further than “Noon Year’s Eve,” an annual celebration at the Providence Children’s Museum happening on Sunday, December 31.
We learned more about the exciting program in a recent chat with Victoria Picinich, the Museum’s Director of Development and External Relations. “It’s a really fun morning,” explained Picinich. “We’re open for play between 9:30 AM and 12:30 PM that day. We’ve got a lot of special events planned for the day, and there’s no charge outside of regular museum admission.”
The event has become quite popular for the twelve and under set, with over 500 kids and their families attending in recent years. “We’ve got a lot of fun arts and crafts,” continued Picinich. “The kids are going to get to design their own party hats and play a musical instrument. We’ve got Ben Rudnick and Friends, a family musical group performing. They’ve got hit songs like ‘A Frog Named Sam’ and ‘Little Bitty Critter.’”
The family celebration mimics a typical New Year’s Eve. “The kids are going to make party hats with stickers and markers. We’ve got a really big 2024 art piece that families are going to decorate; we’re going to do a chain of wishes, where kids and families write down their goals and wishes for the new year, which we then add to the paper chain. We’re also having a photo booth where everybody can take silly pictures and post them on Instagram and Facebook,” added Picinich.
The highlight of the day is the traditional countdown and ball drop at Noon sharp. “It starts with a parade through the museum with our musical guest and we end up at our children’s garden. There’s a big celebration when the ball drops.”
In these days of screen-based entertainment, the museum, located in Providence’s jewelry district, continues to provide a great experience for kids and families. Popular exhibits include the “Coming to Rhode Island” immigrant experience, “Littlewoods,” for infants to four-year-olds, and the popular “Water Ways” activity.
“The Providence Children’s Museum really caters to the 10 and under crowd but we are investing in some new technologies to entice those 8- to 11-year-olds,” explained Picinich. “This is technology that they’re going to be using in their schools, in their professional lives. We’ve gotten some iPads, AR and VR technology, with apps that control little robots. We’ve got a 3D printer, a CNC machine, some really exciting stuff coming down the pipeline.”
If you can’t make it on New Year’s Eve, the museum is open for extended hours this week, Tuesday through New Year’s Eve. Hours are 9:30 am–12:30 pm, with a break for lunch and then reopening 1:30 pm–4:30 pm.
Click here to learn more about “Noon Year’s Eve.
