WILTON — Students, community members and a grant are all helping the Western Maine Play Museum raise money.

Academy Hill students, under the direction of teachers Brenda Laverdiere and Morgan Turner, raised over $1600 for the museum through their Hannaford Business-Education project. Among those students were Isabella Webster, Madison Rutberg and Amber Smith. The students made barefoot sandals bracelets, which sold at the Academy Hill Scholarship fundraising event, adding $58 to the total amount.

The museum is hoping to have “piano stairs” where the footsteps of children moving up and down the stairs will make musical sounds. Mt. Blue High School senior Matt Loewen has taken the initiative to design and install the electronics for this museum feature as his senior project, assisted by his teacher, Rich Wilde.

Nancy Prince, of Wilton, is continuing to donate 50 percent of all sales of her book “Libby’s Loons” this year. The book is illustrated by professional watercolor artist Luann Wrenn, also of Wilton. The book may be purchased at Devaney Doak & Garrett’s Booksellers and The Calico Patch, or through Prince’s website http://www.nancyprinceofmaine.com.

With the support of Wilton resident Sharon Rainey, the museum also has support in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Robirda Collins, 99, has donated two baby quilts which will be raffled to raise funds for the museum. One quilt is a jungle print design with many different African animals; the other is a pink and purple geometric design.

Raffle tickets for the quilts can be purchased at Movies at the Museum, the outdoor movie series on the museum property, which will begin at 8:30 p.m. Friday, June 12. Movie tickets are available to purchase at the Wilton Free Public Library; $4 individual, $10 family.

Starting July 1, quilt raffle tickets will also be available at the Wilton Free Public Library; $2 each, $5 for three. Quilt raffle tickets may also be purchased through Lori Lewis at 207-645-3945. The drawing for the quilt winners will be at the Blueberry Festival in August.

WMPM has also been awarded a $3000 grant from the Francis R. Dewing Foundation. This grant will be used to furnish four rotating exhibits for the museum’s dark room. Featured will be Light Table Fun, which will include two light tables, translucent films and toys to experiment with. Black Light Fun will feature black light-reactive paint, tape, rope, crayons, balloons and wall murals. The third rotating exhibit will be Night Sky Fun, with a night sky projector, “Fireflies in My Room,” “Moon in My Room,” glow-in-the-dark stars, a 3-D solar system and a “To the Moon Playhouse Canopy.” The final rotating exhibit is called Limited Spectrum Fun, where children can experiment with the differences in what they can see with light from sodium vapor bulbs and also with full spectrum lighting.

FMI: [email protected], www.facebook.com/WesternMainePlayMuseum, www.westernmaineplay.org.