About The Documentary

Open Doors to Family Learning: Parents and Communities for Kids is a new half-hour CPTV documentary that follows Parents and Communities for Kids (PACK), a consortium of 16 arts and cultural organizations in Greater New Haven. The documentary explores two main messages:

• A parent is a child’s first and best teacher
• The community is a classroom where parents and children can engage in out-of-school learning through fun activities

The documentary gives viewers an up-close and personal view of the PACK consortium’s activities, and how its unique approach to community-based education positively impacts families in Connecticut.

Follow families as they:

• Take a trip to the Ansonia Nature and Recreation Center where they learn about birds of prey, and dissect an owl pellet to learn about the nocturnal creature’s diet
• Listen to a trio from the New Haven Symphony Orchestra play Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, and read the Russian folktale that served as Stravinsky’s inspiration.
• Visit Casa Otoñal in the Hill neighborhood in New Haven, and create crafts related to the passage of spring.

Open Doors to Family Learning: Parents and Communities for Kids is sure to bring inspiration to families and educators.

Open Doors to Family Learning: Parents and Communities for Kids is a CPTV Connecting Our Communities production in partnership with the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the New Haven Free Public Library, and the Connecticut Children’s Museum; and is made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.