Field Trip: Corning Museum of Glass

When you think of glass do you think Corning? Well if you don’t you should. And if you can take a glass vacation The Corning Museum of Glass is the place on the east coast to go. It’s located in Corning, NY which is upstate from NYC. they have a studio where you can take classes and see glass blowing and they have the coolest museum that houses an incredible collection of the history of glass. I went years ago for a Society of Glass Beadmakers conference (before they became the International Society of Glass Beadmakers), before they renovated the museum. I am really looking forward to my next east coast vacation so I can fit in a trip over to the museum.

If you wander around their web site you can see the museum is chock full of activities and glass learning experiences. The pictures I’ve posted show a bit of the museum’s attempted at creating the world’s largest glass pumpkin. Crazy…but totally cool. Check out their flickr account to see all of the pictures. Just traveling around their web site and their flickr account will make you want to go to Corning to check it all out. I know I want to go.

As if Diwali weren’t colorful and fun enough, The Festival of Lights: A Lift-the-flap Diwali Celebration by Namita Moolani Mehra, illustrated by Darshika Varm, makes it even more fun to read about with flaps and things to lift and pull to see more information or details in the illustrations.

The book is a story about a family getting ready for Diwali and what happens on the different days of the five-day celebration. There’s cleaning, shopping, crafting, food preparation and getting the home altar ready for the big day.

It covers decorating the outside of the house with rangoli, diyas and lanterns, buying sweets to share with family and friends, the sights and scents of the mandir (home temple), getting dressed up in new fancy clothes, the story of Diwali and celebrations with relatives.

Flaps (there are more than 140 in all) give you vocabulary words for different foods and definitions, as well as fun things like what’s inside the shopping basket or where the cat is hanging out. They also help illuminate the story of Diwali, which is the triumph of good over evil as Lord Ram defeated the demon Ravana to save his wife, Sita.

This pretty and colorful book helps kids understand what Diwali is and how it is celebrated, regardless of whether they practice it at home. This would be a nice book to keep in a classroom (it’s rated for kids ages 3-7) or to have at home to teach kids about Diwali even if it’s not something you celebrate. Where I live there are a lot of people from India so we are probably exposed to Diwali more than some other regions of America, but it’s a nice holiday to know about wherever you live.

Combine with the book Diwali and check out some fun lantern crafts and printables for kids to round out your experience.

About the book: 24 pages, hardcover, published 2025 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail prices $22.99.

Have you read?