Past Family Days
Past Family Days
Sketching Family Day (September 2024): Kids and adults had fun drawing and discovering in the museum! They explored the Thinking Made Visible special exhibit, met local artists, saw art from the collections, made field journals, sketched museum objects, created maps, and more.
Travel Family Day (April 2024): Guests explored how and why people and animals travel! They met ornithologists, saw
museum objects, investigated human-powered forms of transportation with ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Outdoor Adventures, decorated paper bag backpacks, created migration mobiles, designed and tested boats,
made mini airplanes, and more.
ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ Stories Family Day (February 2024): Families discovered ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ through storytelling! They met archivists, explored the
Black in ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ special exhibit, created mini museum exhibits and discovered stories behind museum objects on display, investigated how scientists tell stories with fossils, made storybooks, told their
own stories with storyknives, and more.
Rodents Family Day (January 2024): Visitors explored the world of ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ rodents! They met mammalogists, saw museum specimens,
learned about beavers' effects on the landscape, played a rodent guessing game, investigated
rodents in Arctic food webs, made model rodent burrows, created rodent habitat art,
and more.
Arctic Life Family Day (November 2023): Kids and adults investigated how life survives and thrives in the Arctic! They met
museum researchers, saw objects and specimens, explored Arctic adaptations, made model
snow goggles and snowshoes, played a camouflage game, created Arctic landscape art,
and more.
Pollinators Family Day (September 2023): Guests explored the importance of pollinators in ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ. They met entomologists, saw beekeeping equipment, played an interactive pollinator game, created clay insects, made pollinator art, observed specimens under a microscope, and more.
Feathers Family Day (April 2023): Families investigated the fascinating world of feathers. They met ornithologists, explored flight with the , discovered different ways people use feathers, made feather art, sculpted clay dinosaurs with feathers, and more.
DNA Family Day (February 2023): Visitors explored the building blocks of life by meeting museum researchers, investigating how scientists use DNA in their work, creating DNA models, extracting DNA from wheat, playing a DNA guessing game, and more.
Ice Age Family Day (January 2023): Kids and families discovered ancient ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ! They met museum archaeologists and paleontologists, saw artifacts and specimens, watched a flintknapping demonstration, created Ice Age art, made model fossils, and more.
Boreal Forest Family Day (November 2022): Guests explored the environment of Interior ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ! They met botanists and saw specimens, investigated wildfires with the and , learned about cultural connections to the boreal forest, tried an I Spy hunt, created forest art, and more.
Water Family Day (September 2022): Visitors explored the importance of water to life in ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ. They met museum researchers,
tested water quality with the , explored a stream table with the , went on a scavenger hunt, made model watersheds, and more.
Whales Family Day (April 2022): Kids and adults explored whales in culture, science, and art. They met mammalogists, saw objects from the collections, watched the Arctic Currents film, tried a blubber glove experiment, made ocean art, picked up supplies for take-home activities, and more.
Big Things Family Day (February 2022): From mammoths to mountains, families discovered big things at the museum. They met entomologists, played a size sorting game, contributed to an art wall, made suncatchers, picked up supplies to do activities at home, and more.
Tools Family Day (January 2022): Visitors discovered how tools have been made and used throughout history. They met archaeologists, saw tools from the collections, went on an I Spy hunt in the galleries, made art with different tools, picked up supplies to do activities at home, and more.
Animals in Art (November 2021): Guests explored animal-related art in the museum, went on I Spy hunt, drew their own animal artwork, and picked up supplies to do more art activities at home.
Berries (September 2021): Presented in partnership with the , visitors met berry scientists, saw objects from the collections, investigated berry microbes, went on a berry scavenger hunt, and picked up supplies to do more berry activities at home.
Fossils (February 2020): Kids and adults met paleo artist Ray Troll, explored fossils in the Cruisin' the Fossil Coastline special exhibit, decorated Ice Age animal puppets, excavated bones, created paleo art, and more.
Walrus (January 2020): Visitors met walrus researchers, saw specimens from the collections, experimented with blubber gloves, explored the importance of walruses in ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ cultures, made walrus masks, and more.
Stars (November 2019): Guests experimented with hands-on astronomy demonstrations, explored how different cultures view the night sky, made solar viewers, and created glow-in-the-dark artwork.
Animals in Art (September 2019): Visitors explored how animals inspire artists! They saw art from the collections, created animal masks, sketched scientific specimens, and made fish prints.
Soil (April 2019): Visitors met soil scientists and archaeologists, explored the properties of permafrost, looked at soil under microscopes, created artwork with soil paint, and planted seeds.
Ravens (March 2019): This Family Day focused on ravens in culture, art, and science. Guests met a raven researcher, read and wrote raven stories, created raven artwork, and competed in a Raven Olympics game.
Earthquakes (February 2019): Kids and adults explored the science of earthquakes with researchers from the , learned how to prepare emergency kits, and created earthquake-inspired art.
Gold (November 2018): Visitors met geologists, investigated the importance of gold in ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ history, saw objects from the Ethnology & History collection, created gold-themed artwork, and tried panning for faux gold.
Berries (September 2018): Guests met berry experts, learned about the , created berry field guides, decorated berry recipe books, and explored the role of berries in ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ cultures.
Stories (April 2018): Visitors listened to a Yup’ik storyteller, discovered stories of the past with archaeologists, recorded interviews with the ScienceTapes project, made storybooks, and used storyknives to tell their own stories.
Butterflies (March 2018): Kids and adults met butterfly experts, explored the , investigated the life cycle of butterflies, made butterfly art, and tried on butterfly costumes.
Whales (February 2018): At this Family Day, visitors could meet whale researchers and examine specimens, explore Arctic food webs, create scrimshaw art, and learn about the importance of whales in ÃÛÌÒÓ°Ïñ cultures.
Dinos & Fossils (November 2017): Guests saw and touched real fossils, met museum paleontologists, explored Ice Age mammals, dug for fossils, made fossil timelines, and created dinosaur art.
Bears (September 2017): This Family Day featured exploration of bears in art, science, and culture. Visitors saw polar bear art, went on a Bear Story Quest, investigated bear specimens, and learned about bear safety.
Family Days have been a tradition at the museum since 2010!
Museum Family Days are proudly presented by TOTE.