Grab a cup of cheer at CMOM with traditions old and new, from exploring slime, frost, and snow to celebrating Hanukkah with dreidels and holiday storytelling, and welcoming Kwanzaa with drumming. Don't forget to prep for 2023 with a noon year's eve ball drop!

The schedule includes:

Let It Slime, Let It Slime, Let It Slime!
What comes to mind when you think of the holidays? Slime, right? Explore different recipes of this favorite gooey compounded concoction with a wintery twist. Get your hands into some slimy window clings, cloud dough, slime-filled ornaments, snow that doesn’t melt and other activities that jiggle all the way!

12/6 – 12/11 & 12/28 – 12/30: Northern Lights Window Clings (Inside Art): Inspired by the Northern lights, also known as the aurora borealis, tiny artists are invited to follow a special recipe to make sticky slime perfect for window decorations!

12/1 – 12/4, 12/17 & 12/24: Slimy Holiday SL-Ornaments (Inside Art): Take a slip down memory lane this holiday season as you design ornaments filled with colorful slime.

Head in the Clouds Week
Inspired by water and clouds, kids are invited to mix and explore slimy concoctions that use water as a main ingredient or feel light and fluffy like clouds.

12/1 – 12/2 @ 3 PM & 12/3 – 12/4 @ 11am & 2pm: Cloud Dough (PlayWorks): Explore this fluffy dough as you make cloud-like creations that expand and contract!

12/3 @ 2 & 3pm: Kids with Cameras: Glow in the Dark Slime! (Discovery Classroom): Kids with Cameras is a visual arts school focused on teaching the art of photography. Join the crew in playing with fun blacklights and backdrops and photograph your models- slime! Sign-up only!*

12/3 & 12/4 @ 11am, 12, 2, 3, & 4pm: Water Slime (Discovery Classroom): Mix up a batch of slime that’s totally see-through, like water! Use different colors and ingredients to make an ocean landscape that jiggles all the way. Sign-up only!*

Stay Frosty Week
Inspired by ice and frost, kids conduct science experiments, create wintery paintings and even make sweet treats, all using ice!

12/6 – 12/9 @ 3pm: The Color of Ice: Ice Experiments (PlayWorks): Create new colors with ice through chemical reaction paintings!

12/10 @ 2 & 3pm: Jiggle Bell Treats with Cricket’s Candy Creations (Discovery Classroom): Candy craft with Cricket’s Candy Creations and have a blast making slimy, jiggly, and edible treats that are cool enough to eat! Sign-up only!*

12/10 & 12/11 @ 1am & 2pm: Ice, Ice Painting (PlayWorks): Create an arctic masterpiece by using blocks of frozen paint!

12/10 & 12/11 @ 11am, 12, 2, 3 & 4pm: Ice Painting & Ice-cream Tasting (Discovery Classroom): Inspired by the Sapporo Snow Festival in Japan- where ice and snow sculptures incorporate color through lighting and projections- use ice and chemical reactions to create paintings and real ice cream! Sign-up only!*

Let It Snow Week
Inspired by snow, kids make ooey gooey creations to create snow paintings, mix up slime inspired by snowflakes, and play with snow that never melts!

12/13 – 12/16 @ 2pm: Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (PlayWorks): Snow is usually wet, cold, and slushes as it melts—until now! Kids are invited to explore a special kind of snow that never melts!

12/13 – 12/16: Winter Snowflake Slime (MakerSpace): Make a batch of clear slime and create a magical winter wonderland complete with shimmering glitter, dazzling snowflakes and other special ingredients!

12/18 @ 2 & 3pm: Berry Slimy Chia Pudding with Allergic to Salad (Discovery Classroom): Help chefs from Allergic to Salad stir up some berry chia pudding- a yummy, slimy treat this holiday season! Sign-up only!*

12/17 – 12/18 @ 11am & 2pm: Snowball Painting (PlayWorks): Paint a snowy scene with glittery shaving cream!

Hanukkah @ CMOM
Celebrate the start of Hanukkah by learning the origins of the dreidel game—from the importance of the game as it was used to protect freedom, the different ways to interpret its meaning, to the songs and story books the game inspired.

12/18 & 12/20 – 12/23: Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel! (PlayWorks): Design your own dreidel and learn the songs and story books the game inspired.

12/18 & 12/20 – 12/23 @ 4pm: Storytelling: Latke the Lucky Dog (PlayWorks): Kids snuggle up for a read-aloud of Latke the Lucky Dog, by Ellen Fischer, which is a Hanukkah holiday favorite!

12/18 & 12/20 – 12/23: CMOM’s Dreidel Spin-Off (Inside Art): Visit the 3rd-floor PlayWorks exhibit to design your very own dreidel. Learn the importance of the game as it was used to protect freedom, the different ways to interpret its meaning, to the songs and story books the game inspired. Bring your creation down to the1st-floor exhibit, Inside Art, and compete to see whose dreidel comes out on top!

Winter Recess
Join carolers throughout the museum, hang out with farm animal puppets, celebrate ancestors through movement, learn to samba and ring in the new year with a ball!

12/26 @ 2-4pm: Manhattan Holiday Carolers (Museum-wide): Enjoy a variety of traditional and contemporary holiday hits with Manhattan Holiday Carolers! Dressed in beautiful hand-made Victorian-style costumes, Manhattan Holiday Carolers are professional singers/actors, including award-winning cabaret artists and Broadway veterans.

12/27 @ 2 & 3pm: Interactive Storytime: Dream Snow (Discovery Classroom): One Christmas Eve, a lonely farmer dreams of snow for him and his animals. When he awakes, he finds it has snowed for real and celebrates with his farmland friends in this interactive storytime of this wintry Eric Carle tale presented by Rockefeller Productions. Sign-up only!*

12/28 @ 2 & 3pm: CUMBE Presents: Celebrate Kwanzaa with Iris Wilson (Discovery Classroom): Join Iris Wilson, whose resume includes FELA! on Broadway, Opus Dance Theater, and the film Love Train, to honor Kwanzaa in an interactive celebration of family, community, and African American culture. Learn the history and seven principles of Kwanzaa through an interactive song, dance, and candle lighting ceremony. Sign-up only!*

12/29 @ 2 & 3pm: CUMBE Presents: Samba with Quenia Ribeiro (Discovery Classroom): Spark your energy and awaken your hips with a fusion of traditional Brazilian dances and contemporary styles! Dancer, choreographer, and instructor from Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Quenia Ribeiro begins each session with a small performance where kids learn the cultural significance of movement, rhythms, and instruments. Then transition into a dance workshop where you’ll learn samba styles from Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, supported by Quenia and accompanied by musicians. Sign-up only!*

Kwanzaa @ CMOM
Learn and celebrate together the seven principles of Kwanzaa at CMOM! Every year families, and communities come together to honor the ancestors and celebrate African and African American culture. The holiday is seven days and centered around seven principles known as the Nguzo Saba; Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-determination), Ujima (Collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). Each day, CMOM invites you to contemplate these principles and how each one makes us better as we move into the next year.

12/26 @ 12/27 @ 11am & 2pm (PlayWorks): Kuumba Drum Making: Each family celebrates Kwanzaa in their own way. Celebrations often include songs and dances, African drums, and storytelling. Honor the principle of kuumba (creativity) this Kwanza as you create a drum to play for your family.

12/26: Adinkra Unity Mural (MakerSpace): The first principle of Kwanzaa, Umoja, reminds us that we are stronger when we come together. The second principle, Kujichagulia, encourages us to stay determined even when trying something new. Try your hand at carving an original stamp based on Adinkra symbols and come together to stamp on the evolving unity mural.

12/27: Design for Change (MakerSpace): The Kwanzaa principle of Ujima reminds us to help each other to solve important issues. Ujamaa encourages us to create things that help people in our community. Inspired by these two important Kwanzaa principles, design creative solutions to real-life challenges and develop ideas to help make the world a better place.

12/28: Kwanzaa Community Quilt (Inside Art): The principle of Nia encourages us to make bettering our community the purpose in everything we do and the principle of Kuumba encourages us to do this with creativity. Collage a quilt square using the colors of Kwanzaa—red, green and black — to create an artwork illustrating ways you’d like to help your community.

12/29: When You Believe Button Making (MakerSpace): The final Kwanzaa principle, Imani (Faith), reminds us to believe in ourselves and have faith that we can and will overcome challenges. As the new year approaches, think of a dream for your future or something you hope to accomplish. Design a button to wear that helps remind you to have faith in your dreams.

New Year’s Eve Ball
New Year’s Eve is all day long at CMOM! 2022-23 sees the return of CMOM's annual New Year’s Eve ball drop and dance party. Celebrate in the brand-new exhibition space Inside Art: Create, Climb, Collaborate as you ring in 2023 in style by wearing wacky hats and glasses of your own design and making some noise with your own New Year’s noise makers!

12/30 & 12/31: New Year’s Ball Drop Maker (MakerSpace): Make your own new year’s ball to bring up and down in celebration of the new year.

12/30 & 12/31: Candy Coated New Year’s Eve Hats (PlayWorks): Find inspiration from your favorite candy to decorate a delicious party hat to ring in the new year!

12/31 @ 12pm: New Year’s Eve Ball Drop (Inside Art): 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…HAPPY NEW YEAR! Don't  miss the countdown party to the New Year!

12/31 between 2-4pm: New Year’s Eve Party Featuring DJ Suce (Inside Art): DJ Suce’s work as an event and music producer, music label owner, radio host, DJ, and writer has kept him at the forefront of NYC’s grassroots movements in independent hip-hop, broadcasting, club nights, the Latino community, and activism.

*Due to limited space, this program requires you to sign-up for entry. Sign-up in the lobby one hour before the event.