The past year has been full of change, stress and sometimes unexpected joys. Yet there have been few opportunities to hear directly from the children of Chicago what this challenging year has meant to them.
Not anymore.
Once Upon Our Time Capsule, an all-new, citywide, internationally unique participatory art and storytelling project, is now underway, ready to empower Chicago’s children to share their stories of resilience.
A student at Namaste Charter School in McKinley Park (left) shows off her Time Capsule, created as an end-of-school activity earlier this week. It will be added to the growing stockpile (right) of completed Time Capsules made by Chicago children through the Once Upon Our Time Capsule citywide project.
By doing so, they’ll realize how heroic they’ve been while being confronted with a pandemic, social unrest, the shift to remote learning, and all of the changes over the past year.
This fall, their submissions will be aggregated and sealed into as many as 20 giant Time Capsules that will be stored at iconic institutions throughout Chicago. These Giant Time Capsules will tell the story of life in Chicago during the pandemic through its children’s eyes. In 2026, the Time Capsules will be unsealed at a public celebration for a new generation of elementary-school age children and families to discover.
To spur participation, organizers have posted fun, easy “How to Create Your Time Capsule” resources for kids and families on OurTimeCapsule.org/resources.
The guides, available in English and Spanish, walk through a fun, easy process to make and submit Time Capsules at home, complete with QR codes that link to videos of project teaching artists offering creative tips to make low-cost, highly-meaningful Time Capsule stories and containers.
Excerpts from the new "How To Make a Time Capsule" guide in English (above) and Spanish (below)
In addition to creating Time Capsules at home, more than 20 Chicago-based community partners are participating in this summer’s Once Upon Our Time Capsule project, hosting Time Capsule creation events this summer at free public celebrations, summer camps, scouting events and street festivals.
Following is a schedule of events where kids and families will be creating Time Capsules this summer in Chicago. For the latest updates and to see creative submissions as they come in, follow Once Upon Our Time Capsule on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Primary and middle schoolers to commemorate end of school by creating year-end Time Capsules
June 2021
Namaste Charter School
- 3737 S. Paulina Ave. in McKinley Park
- namastecharterschool.org
Namaste Charter School is an open enrollment public charter-school option in the McKinley Park Neighborhood. Their primary and middle school students are creating time capsules, facilitated by Once Upon Our Time Capsule's curriculum, as an end-of-year reflection activity.
Namaste Charter School students created Time Capsules this week as an end-of-year reflection activity.
Piccolo School of Excellence
- 1040 N Keeler Ave. in West Humboldt Park
- piccoloschoolofexcellence.org
The Piccolo School of Excellence is a Chicago Public School in West Humboldt Park, serving students Pre-K through 8th grade. Students in grades 1st-3rd are creating time capsules sharing their favorite activities, memories, characters/possessions, and experiences from life before and during the pandemic.
Kids to create Time Capsules at Carole Robertson Center summer camps on Chicago's west side
- June 21-August 20
- Carole Robertson Center for Learning
- 2929 West 19th St. in Little Village ... and
- 3701 West Ogden Ave. in North Lawndale
- crcl.net/about-us
Carole Robertson Center for Learning pairs high quality education for children to open opportunities for the whole family, delivering proven education practices in a welcoming environment to over 1,000 children from birth to age 17. The Center will integrate Once Upon Our Time Capsule into its summer camps, providing campers with opportunities for reflection, the arts and a Common Core-aligned literacy curriculum.
YWCA Metropolitan Chicago brings Time Capsule creation to CHA's Cabrini Green and Dearborn developments virtually and in person
- Monday, June 22 (virtual)
- Mid-July (in-person)
- YWCA Metropolitan Chicago
- ywcachicago.org
YWCA Metropolitan Chicago is a leading service provider in the areas of early childhood and child care provider services, family support services and youth STEM programming. YWCA will hold a virtual Time Capsule creation event on June 22, and is planning an in-person Pop-Up event in mid-July for community members in CHA’s Cabrini Green and Dearborn developments.
200+ kids to create Time Capsules at Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum via summer camps, digital resources and public programming
- July 6-August 27
- Chicago Academy of Sciences/Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
- 2430 N. Cannon Drive in Lincoln Park
- naturemuseum.org
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum supports families, students and educators in appreciating nature and science. The museum will incorporate Time Capsule creation in summer camps, digital resources and public programming for eight weeks in July and August, giving more than 200 Chicago kids the opportunity to create and contribute Time Capsules to the project.
Kids who have lost a parent to create Time Capsules at Hearts to Art Camp
- Monday-Friday, July 12-23 (ages 7-10)
- Monday-Friday, July 26-August 6, 2021 (ages 11-14)
- Hearts to Art Camp
- St. Hilary School, 5614 N. Fairfield Ave. in North Park
- HeartstoArt.org
Hearts to Art is a performing arts summer camp for young people who have experienced the death of a parent or primary caregiver. Staff, teaching artists and healing counselors will integrate and build on Time Capsule creation activities to discuss losses faced during COVID.
Summer day campers to create Time Capsules on “Superhero Day” at Apachi Day Camp
- July 14
- JCC Chicago Apachi Day Camp
- Apachi.org
During “Superhero Day” at JCC Chicago Apachi Northside Day Camp, kids will make Time Capsules, remembering how brave they've been in managing all of the change over the past year.
Chicago-area Girl Scouts to submit Time Capsules on National S’mores Day
- Saturday, August 7, 6-7:30 p.m.
- Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana
- Camp Greene Wood, Naperville, IL
- girlscoutsgcnwi.org
Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana (GCNWI) is sharing Time Capsule curricula with troop leaders and facilitators to adapt for their virtual camps. Also, on August 7, in celebration of National S’Mores Day, Girl Scouts GCNWI will host a group event at their Camp Greene Wood location where girls can bring their Time Capsules and deposit in a larger capsule that Girl Scouts will store for the next five years. All Girl Scouts who create and submit a Time Capsule are eligible for a Time Capsule patch.
All Girl Scouts who create and submit a Time Capsule are eligible for this Time Capsule patch.
See a curated exhibit of student-created Time Capsules at the Children’s Museum of Art and Social Justice
- Summer 2021
- Children’s Museum of Art and Social Justice
- 2007 S. Halsted in Pilsen
- kippchicago.org/museum
Children’s Museum of Art and Social Justice offers a space for the voices of KIPP Chicago Public Charter School students to be heard and to infuse a social justice curriculum into the arts at its eight schools. KIPP used Time Capsule curricula in end-of-year activities as kids re-entered the classroom. The museum will feature Time Capsules created by KIPP students with QR codes that link to a video of the child explaining the content of their Time Capsule.
Stop by a Chicago Public Library branch to pick up a free Time Capsule kit, return to drop it off in a Time Capsule collection bin
Free Time Capsule kits are now available at 25 Chicago Public Library branches around the city. Pick up your kit during branch hours, take it home, create a personal Time Capsule, then bring it back to the same branch to deposit in an oversized Time Capsule collection bin through August 15. Locations include:
- Altgeld Branch Library
- Austin Branch Library
- Back of the Yards Branch Library
- Chicago Lawn Branch Library
- Chinatown Branch Library
- Richard M. Daley Branch Library—West Humboldt Park
- Douglass Branch Library
- Greater Grand Crossing Branch Library
- Hall Branch Library
- Thomas Hughes Children’s Library (at Harold Washington Library Center)
- Little Village Branch Library
- Humboldt Park Branch Library
- Legler Regional Library
- Little Village Branch Library
- Thurgood Marshall Branch Library
- Northtown Branch Library
- Pullman Branch Library
- Rogers Park Branch Library
- Sherman Park Branch Library
- South Chicago Branch Library
- South Shore Branch Library
- Sulzer Regional Library
- West Belmont Branch Library
- West Englewood Branch Library
- West Pullman Branch Library
- Woodson Regional Library
Free Time Capsule kits are available at 25 Chicago Public Library branches around the city. Pick up your kit, take it home, create a Time Capsule, then bring it back to the same branch to deposit in an oversized Time Capsule collection bin through August 15.
More about Once Upon Our Time Capsule
Once Upon Our Time Capsule was launched in May by Stacey Gillett and Stephanie Hodges, two professionals with backgrounds in urban innovation and community development who live in the city with their families, with lead partners The Center for Childhood Resilience at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Chicago Public Library and My CHI. My Future. The project intends to engage as many as 20,000 children grades K-8 from across all 77 Chicago neighborhoods to capture their thoughts and experiences from 2020-21 through a range of mediums, including writing, drawing and video.
The full list of community network partners includes 826CHI, Adler Planetarium, After School Matters, Carole Robertson Center for Learning, Chicago Academy of Sciences/Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, The Chicago History Museum, Chicago Housing Authority, Children’s Museum of Art and Social Justice/KIPP Charter Network, DuSable Museum of African American History, Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana, Hearts to Art, Heartland Human Care Services, Hyde Park Art Center, Ingenuity Chicago, JCC Chicago Apachi Day Camp, Metropolitan Family Services, Namaste Charter School, UChicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital and YWCA Metropolitan Chicago.
If you are interested in partnering with Once Upon Our Time Capsule, email hello@ourtimecapsule.org to get involved.
Once Upon Our Time Capsule is supported by the generosity of Bloomberg Philanthropies, Chicago Public Library Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Polk Bros. Foundation.
Multiple Inc., a branding and marketing firm based in Chicago, Atlanta and Vancouver, is generously providing pro bono strategic branding, website and communication services for Once Upon Our Time Capsule.
For information on how to partner, to donate or to volunteer, visit OurTimeCapsule.org/donate.
For the latest Once Upon Our Time Capsule updates and to see creative submissions as they come in, follow @onceuponourtimecapsule on Instagram, @ourcapsule on Twitter.
If you are interested in partnering with Once Upon Our Time Capsule, email hello@ourtimecapsule.org to get involved.
Watch "How To Make a Time Capsule - Step 1" (above), and look for Steps, 2, 3 and 4 on
CCTV: Virtual Theatre and Learning from Chicago Children's Theatre
Samples of Time Capsule "comic strip" submissions already submitted by Chicago kids
Click here for the Once Upon Our Time Capsule partner backgrounder