Musings – live versus real

Many times in my museum career, I have been asked by a child. Is that real?

Often they are referring to a taxidermy specimen of a bird or mammal.

My answer is that ‘yes it is real……but it is dead’.

Perhaps it is a developmental consideration. When does a person first learn that something can be real without being alive? Are the concepts of real and alive interchangeable to most children?

At any rate, here are some real animals from the museum….but not all of them are alive.

all photos source: Lorie Pierce

Flamingo in process

For the Awesome Animals program, kids will have a chance to play dress-up.

There will be bat hats and butterfly cuffs to make. As well, they can try on a flamingo scarf.

Here it is almost completed. Still have to finish and sew on both legs and fashion some eyes. See the Morehouse Farm website for the knitting pattern…it’s a critter knit. http://www.morehousefarm.com

Flamingo Scarf almost complete photo source: Lorie Pierce

 

 

And now it begins

After a couple of weeks in the development stage, the next mini-museum program is fleshed out. With the whole animal kingdom to choose from, I have settled on bees, birds, butterflies, bats and lemurs.  A lot of the decision has to do with the research the museum has ongoing throughout the world. The themes will be migration, pollination, adaptation, communication and museum research.

So far I have identified the following activity areas:
1.  Bees table – honeycomb, Hexbug bees – simulate return to hive – 3 types of bees

2.  Night Animals table – featuring bats, owls, lemurs – touchables & museum research

3.  Animal grow chart – participants measure their height against different animal sizes   –

4.  Bat hat construction table – what bats eat – how they interact with their environment

5.  Birds table – red knots & horseshoe crabs research – bookmarks – ‘Owls on a clothespin’ decoration craft

6.  Butterfly cuff craft table – make wearable arm cuffs of a butterfly or beetle

7. Identify animal tracks station

8. Toddler’s area – books, puppets, jigsaw, dress up

9. Video station with clips of animals and research.

Next step is the prep meeting to prepare materials for the craft tables.