Plan Your Visit

Each day Museum staff perform a variety of science demonstrations and shows for our visitors. See a list of available shows below. Show availability and times will be listed at each exhibition. 

Expedition Health

Pirates of the Human Being: Meet Your Microbial Mates

Join our captain and cartoon sidekick, Polly the parrot, on an expedition to discover some of the amazing microbes that live in and on the human body.

Expedition Dissection: Spelunking the Lung

Using high-def imagery, scientific animations, and audience participation learn about the respiratory system and how to keep it healthy during our sheep lung dissection.  

The Heart Chamber

Explore dissected sheep hearts, authentic specimens, props, and fun activities to find out that the heart is a pump, is electric, is a muscle, and has its own blood supply.

Built To Move

Find out how muscles make the body move, and then try out some moves of your own during the “Simon Says” game.

Optical Illusions

How do the eye and the brain work together to help you understand the world? Join the Magnificent Mindsight and the Amazing Eyesight to explore clever optical illusions and learn more about how you perceive the world.

Space Odyssey

Astronaut on Mars, Mars Outpost

Step up to the window of a diorama and look at Candor Chasma on Mars.  Watch an “astronaut” conduct research, and ask questions via walkie-talkie to find out about living in space.  Stop at the Experiment Bar to make discoveries about Mars.

Art Station: Titan!

A staff member leads visitors as they create their own scientific illustration of a landscape on Saturn’s Moon Titan. In the process visitors learn about both the physical features of Titan and the process of creating scientific illustration.

Mission Superchill

Come see unique and amazing experiments with liquid nitrogen which simulate the super-cold conditions on Neptune’s largest moon, Triton.

Galileo and the Leaning Tower of Pizza

Watch as we re-enact Galileo’s famous leaning tower of pizza experiment.  Or was that Pisa? This cross between watching a street performer and going to the circus teaches that a true scientist must always match his or her theory to actual scientific experiments.

Storytelling

Experience space lore from different cultures.  Get the Cat-in-the-Hat’s interpretation of Space.  Count the stars in the nighttime sky. Explore the International Space Station.  Engaging media, props and fantastic storytellers bring space-related storybooks to life.

Vacuum Chamber Experiments

What would happen if you went into space without a space suit?  Can cold water boil? See how low atmospheric pressure affects different materials as you watch a series of experiments about the properties of vacuums.

Discovery Zone

Astrotots to the Moon!

Children become astronauts and travel to the moon in order to answer the investigative question, “what shape is the moon?”

Move Through the Seasons

Children move their bodies as they explore different animal and plant strategies for living in the four different seasons.

Drum Play

Children have the opportunity to play drums alongside of talented drummers representing various cultures of the world.

How Animals Walk

Investigate what animals left tracks in the “mud” around our pond.

Prehistoric Pals

There were more than just dinosaurs living long ago. Make pals with a marine reptile and a pterosaur!

Story Time

Come and enjoy an active story time, including digital books on the Explorer’s Playhouse Screen.

Gallery Programs

Historical enactors in the wildlife and cultural halls

Ever wondered what it would be like to speak to someone from the past?  Historical enactors throughout the diorama halls portray characters such as naturalists and adventurers keen on studying the world of insects, plants, and animals.  Have fun experiencing the past and learning about nature through historical eyes.