Photo: Artist’s concept of Curiosity examining a rock. NASA/JPL-Caltech
Visit the Naturalist Center this Friday through Monday, August 3-6, to celebrate the landing of the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity. Play games and test your trivia of Mars and other planets in our solar system. Take a trip to the Red Planet by creating a mixed-media scene of your own Martian colony Friday, 11:00 am-4:00 pm. Catch a rebroadcast of a NASA TV press conference on the landing Monday, 2:00-3:00 pm.
Photo: NASA
Celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission at the Naturalist Center tomorrow, July 20, 2012, 11 am-4 pm! Play games and take a peek at related books, models and artifacts, including an American flag that traveled to the Moon and back aboard the Apollo 14 lunar module. For this week’s Naturalist Center Craft, make a lunar phase flip chart to better understand why our natural satellite looks different in the sky during the course of its orbit. After visiting the Naturalist Center, go back down to the main level, across from the Foucault pendulum, to see a Moon rock collected from Apollo 17, the last manned lunar mission.
Ever wonder what exactly coral is–an animal, a plant or a mineral? Find out with Naturalist Center staff by examining coral specimens, creating your own edible coral reef polyp and taking the coral reef challenge to help protect this fragile habitat.You’ll also get inspiration for the Growing Up Asian: Our Oceans Essay & Art Contest sponsored by the Asian Pacific Fund and the California Academy of Sciences.
Saturday, August 25, 3:00 – 4:30 pm at the Sunset Library Branch
For ages 8-13. Limit 25 participants. To register please call the Sunset Library at 415.355.2818.There is no cost to participate.
Jo-Ann Ordano © California Academy of Sciences
Do you enjoy the outdoors? Wish you could identify some of the interesting insects you encounter? Join the Naturalist Center to get out and learn basic identification skills in and around the Academy. This Naturalist 101 workshop is for families with children ages 10 and up.
Saturday, July 14, 2012, 10 am–noon
$10 for members, $15 non-members (does not include admission to the Academy). Space is limited. Please register online or call 415-379-8000. Meet inside the Research & Staff Entrance.
Celebrate National Pollinator Week (June 18-24) at the Academy’s Naturalist Center on Level 3! Match a variety of pollinators to the types of flowers they’ve coevolved with, and learn more about their intertwined relationships. Look through a microscope at pollen collected from California native plants on and around the museum. Put together a butterfly puzzle, and then see how many of the featured species you can find around the center.
Be sure to stop by tomorrow (Friday) between 11 am-4 pm for this week’s Naturalist Center Craft: a snazzy butterfly pin to show off your pollinator pride.
