The oakland children's fairyland will create a suite of education programs for children ages two to eight that fosters learning through the art of puppetry

The Oakland Children's Fairyland was awarded a $425,228 Project Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the Museums for America (CFDA 45.301) federal grant program. The two-year grant, beginning September 1, 2024, will fund the development and testing of three new educational programs focused on using puppetry to support kindergarten readiness and literacy development for young children in Oakland, California.

The grant-funded programs will include a field trip add-on featuring puppet story time and interactive dramatic play, a mobile theater program to bring puppet performance storytelling into classrooms, and teacher training opportunities for early childhood educators. These new initiatives will target low-income children from under-resourced communities and their teachers in the greater Oakland region, with all program components offered free of charge. Each participating child will also receive a free activity kit to continue puppet play at home, further extending the educational impact of the project.

The program will build on fairyland's long history of presenting puppetry to support kindergarten readiness and literacy development for young children in oakland. For this project, fairyland will develop and test three new program components including a field trip add-on featuring puppet story time coupled with interactive dramatic play, a mobile theater program to bring puppet performance storytelling into classrooms, and teacher training opportunities for early childhood educators. The new programs will target low-income children from under-resourced communities and their teachers in the greater oakland region. Fairyland will offer all project components free of charge and each child that participates will receive a free activity kit to continue puppet play at home.