Early Childhood Educator – Part-Time (Weekend Priority)

Chicago Children's Museum • Chicago, IL

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About The Position

About Chicago Children’s Museum: Chicago Children’s Museum (CCM) is committed to improving children’s lives by creating a community where play and learning connect. We embrace creativity and collaboration, we never stop learning, and we remember to stop and play along the way. CCM’s staff is a dedicated group of curious individuals who embrace the playful spirit of childhood. Every employee is empowered to reach their potential and recognized for the impact they have on our organization, visitors, and the community we serve. Over its 43-year history, Chicago Children’s Museum has provided innovative exhibits, arts programs, STEM experiments, imaginative play, and more to over 11 million children and their caregivers. Located at Navy Pier, the museum is intentionally designed for experimentation, creativity, and the universal pursuits of childhood. CCM focuses on accessibility, inclusion, and learning for all children, ensuring valuable and memorable experiences for all visitors.

Position Overview:
The Early Childhood Educator supports the Pritzker Playspace experience. This staff person is essential in the creation of a welcoming, safe, and accessible atmosphere and environment for Chicago Children’s Museum’s youngest visitors (infants, toddlers and preschoolers) and their families.

Requirements

• Experience working in early childhood education, child development, museum education or similar role (this includes relevant paid and unpaid work/volunteer/community work).
• Educational and/or customer-service related experience with children, caregivers, and families from a variety of backgrounds, abilities, experiences, perspectives.
• Dynamic facilitation skills and a creative, passionate, and respectful approach to working with young children and their caregivers.
• Commitment to child-centered, multi-sensory, open-ended experiences.
• Ability to work in team-oriented environment, take direction well and work independently without supervision.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, effective verbal communication with staff, children and caregivers, in groups or one-on-one. Written communication includes daily reflections of individual’s Playspace practice, tips for next day’s educators, and connecting with supervisors.
• Strong organizational skills relating to materials, visuals, space, and ideas.
• Ability to maintain a professional demeanor in a variety of situations; demonstrated problem solving, dependability and flexibility.
• Commitment to CCM’s mission, vision, and approach to early learning.
• Enthusiasm for learning and mastering new skills on an ongoing basis; willingness to be informed/certified/trained through institution-offered courses and to work within Diversity, Equity, Access, Inclusion (DEAI) frameworks and actively engage in learning about these frameworks.
• Ability to attend monthly staff meetings and trainings (combination of in person and virtual).
• Demonstrated stamina and physical endurance necessary to stand and walk in the Playspace, while maintaining high-quality interactions with museum staff and visitors. Must be able to bend, lift, and reach to access supplies, as well as push, pull, and lift objects weighing up to 40 pounds.
• Ability to crouch down, sit on the floor, and interact at the level of children is also required.
• Direct handling of a diverse range of materials, loose components, and sensory items, including those that may have a tendency to create mess.
• Ability to tolerate higher levels of noise, as museum spaces can become loud.
• Consistently provide friendly and courteous communication while engaging with visitors, staff, and speaking to groups.
• Adherence to a specified dress code is mandatory.
• Proficiency in participating in virtual meetings through platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft TEAMS.

Nice To Haves

• Course work in early childhood education, child development, or museum education a plus.
• Bilingual skills a plus.

Responsibilities

• Facilitates early learning programs developed by the Early Childhood Team in the Pritzker Playspace, adjusting activities to cater to a diverse range of visitors (various ages, abilities, interests, backgrounds, and perspectives) while aligning with program objectives.
• Engages with children, communicates with caregivers, and endeavors to establish connections with visitors as appropriate.
• Warmly welcomes our visitors and ensures that both body language and verbal communication convey a sense of hospitality. Makes an effort to engage with guests by mingling with them, positioning themselves near play areas, and being available for conversation or interaction.
• Contributes to the organization and maintenance of the Playspace environment, and the caregiver materials and resources, including changes to day-of program set-up as needed.
• Adheres to all established health and safety procedures to ensure the Playspace remains a safe, clean, and healthy environment for visitors.
• Manages Playspace capacity, including managing timed visitor check-in to the space.
• Sets and resets environment and preps materials as needed.
• Collects attendance numbers, surveys, and documentation of programs.
• Writes anecdotal observations and visitor quotations.
• Fields general museum questions from the public and acts as a museum representative.
• Supports the museum's efforts in diversity, equity, access, and inclusion (DEAI), actively ensuring these principles are embedded in interactions with colleagues and visitors.
• Attends staff meetings as needed.
• Reads and responds to weekly email communications.
• Contributes to supporting, training and mentoring new early learning educators and volunteers.
• Contributes to other functions of the Early Learning Team in a variety of ways such as the assistance in development of a variety of programs; facilitation of special events.

Benefits

• This position is eligible to participate in dental & vision coverages, and 401k after six months of service and minimum hours requirement.
• CCM also provides Chicago Paid Leave and Chicago Paid Sick time as well as accrued sick time.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Part-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed