Nebraska Science Festival This Week-end (April 26-27)

Nebraska Science Festival 2014

When I first heard about the Nebraska Science Festival, I felt a bit behind.  How did I miss this huge event going on?  But now that I know that this gigantic science fair of sorts is only in its second year, I realized I am not quite as out of it as I thought.  I must say for this being a relatively new event, they have quite the line-up.  What is possibly the best part?  Free or discounted admission to many places!  NOTE: Tickets are still required.  To print out your complimentary tickets and to see the schedule, please visit their site!

Now to highlight a few of the events that are especially for families … (information taken directly from their website!)

The Expo will be held April 24-26 from 8:30 am to 2 pm at The Durham Museum and The Strategic Air & Space Museum. The Expo on April 26 at The Durham Museum will be held from 9 am to 1pm. It’s expected to attract up to 2,000 plus visitors, so be prepared for a busy day!

City Sprouts Community Garden will have special events happening this morning.  This Omaha place is all about involving the community in planting.  They will feature an Arbor Day theme today with educational stations.

(Unfortunately the “Science of Ice Cream is full at E-Creamery.  Doesn’t that sound like a delicious opportunity?)

Fontenelle Forest

April 26 – 27 | 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Stop by the Fontenelle Forest Nature Center on April 26-27 and receive free admission to the forest from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Thanks to a partnership with NET Television, Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie will make a special appearance both afternoons to meet and take photos with children.

I haven’t been to Fontenelle Forest  since I was a child and was trying to figure out how we could make it up there today.  Alas with two baseball practices, a party and a gathering, our visit will have to wait for another day.  Normally it would cost our family $34 to attend, so the free admission is a BIG deal.  Go out and enjoy the free event!

(The “Science of Bacon” at the French Bulldog is also sold out.  I think I am getting hungry …)

The Heartland Organization of Rocketry (T.H.O.R.) had to cancel their plans for the next two days due to the possibility of impending bad weather.

Laurtizen Gardens: I mentioned their TREEmendous Arbor Day Celebration, but I forgot to mention that a kid is admitted free with each paying adult – a definite bargain.  Plus, again the first 100 households leave with a free tree seedling!  (If you have never been to the Gardens, they are absolutely beautiful!)

Lincoln Children’s Museum

April 26 | 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Join us for Science Saturday at Lincoln Children’s Museum. We’re teaming up with University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineering and science students to conduct experiments and engineering feats. (NOTE: I heard a rumor that they also have free children’s admission for the first early arrivers today!)

 

Lincoln Children’s Zoo

April 26 – 27 | 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.  

Special stations are happening throughout the zoo!

Omaha Children’s Museum

April 27 | 1 – 5 p.m. (TOMORROW)

Enjoy quirky science with the Mad Scientist Show or the April Fool’s Science Show, immerse yourself in a 360-degree science program in the Discovery Dome Planetarium, or enjoy our newest permanent exhibit, “Maker Space.”  Always a  fun musuem to visit!

University of Nebraska State Museum

April 24 – 27 | UNL’s Morrill Hall and Mueller Planetarium

Today just happens to be “Astronomy Day” with all kinds of activities planned.  Yes, there is still admission.  But how many days do you get to meet an astronaut?

I hope you are able to check out some of these fun events!  They are hoping to make this even more of a statewide event.  So, if this week does not work for you, be watching for it next year!  I know that I am already hoping we can attend the school day portion next year!

P.S. I have no idea why the last half is all in italics.  Sorry about that!  Computers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things Going On at the Omaha Children’s Museum

Did you guess where we were yesterday?  Maybe some of you have even been to this place but not recognized their latest exhibit.

The afternoon that we experienced the Omaha Children’s Museum: “Things That Go” fun exhibit was a cold and blustery one.  Much like today!  Having a big open room full of opportunities  for my kids to explore and RUN around was wonderful!  I hope that our adventure will help you picture the possibilities for your family!

Part of the exhibit had to do vehicles that move.  The kids could explore a shortened city bus – new experience for my kids!  They could also load items onto a big truck using a pretend conveyer belt.

They could create models of various paper rockets and attempt to fly them. (I was very thankful for the helpful Omaha Children’s Museum staff person who assisted my kids in this endeavor. I feel like it takes a physicist to even build a paper rocket – paper crafts are not exactly my specialty!)  My kids loved doing this!

They could explore an on-site ambulance and even see what it would feel like to drive it.  And they had a tool sorting area as well.

My boys definitely loved making their own metal model cars and attempting to race them all the way down the track.  They were thrilled when they managed to get to the bottom without the car crashing or derailing off of the metal rails.

They could climb through different metal levels of a maze.  They also had fun walking on giant planks.  I could never get them to stand still long enough to get a good picture of that experience!

Racing around a track on giant trikes?  Most definitely!  I even could not resist trying that out!  Too bad I did not capture that on film …

Since this is a special exhibit, you do have to pay a bit extra to visit this part of the museum.  If you have kids that are a bit stir crazy from being stuck inside, this display might be your answer.   Personally, I would definitely recommend going to Omaha Children’s Museum exhibit “Things that Go!”

Travel Tips Tuesday: Reciprocal Museum Memberships

Reciprocal:corresponding; matching; complementary; equivalent: (reciprocal privileges)

Don’t you love dictionary.com‘s definition?  I love even more how the meaning can play out.  Buy one, get one free always seems like a great deal.  And when you are a mom (or dad) who wants to do fun activities with your children, finding bargains can help create more possibilities!

There are several places across Nebraska where you belong to one place, you can get in free or at a discount to another place.  I am mentioning the ones that I know about.  If I am missing any reciprocal places, please comment below OR e-mail me at odysseythroughnebraska@gmail.com.

Zoos:

Most zoos have a policy with other zoos where you can get in free or at a discount to other zoos.  The Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha used to be free with any Nebraska zoo membership.  But rumor has it that too many people were getting “Royal Zoo” memberships for a fraction of cost than using them to get into Omaha.  So, now you only get in at half price with other zoo memberships into Nebraska’s largest zoo.  Who really can blame them?  Funding the care of all of those animals is expensive, so they need people in the area to buy memberships from them.  Here are the zoo animal/options in Nebraska with reciprocal options.

Folsom’s Children’s Zoo in Lincoln

Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium

Enjoying the Omaha Zoo several years ago … 🙂

Lee G Simmons Conservation Park & Wildlife Safari on Facebook

(Located between Lincoln & Omaha – only open during warm seasons!)

Riverside Discovery Center & Zoo in Scottsbluff

Nebraska State Historical Memberships

Kids actually get in free to all locations, so I bought an individual membership since I knew that I would be the main one going to visit historic locations.  This also helped me to get their historical publications.  And “free” admission to the following places:

Nebraska History Museum in Lincoln

Chimney Rock near Bayard

While you can see Chimney Rock for free from the parking lot, the museum is worth the price of admission.  My children loved trying to see if they could have handled being pioneers.  I loved seeing all of the artifacts and reading the historical accounts!

Fort Robinson Museum near Crawford*

Willa Cather’s Home in Red Cloud *

Thomas P. Kennard House in Lincoln*

John G. Neihardt House in Bancroft *

Neligh Mill *

Senator George Norris House in McCook *

*All of these places have seasonal and sometimes limited hours!

Association of Science and Technology Centers: This is my favorite way to have a reciprocal membership.  Not only can you get into several great places across the state once you have a ASTC membership, but you can also go to many places for free across the United States!

Here are the participating places across Nebraska:

Omaha Children’s Museum

Edgerton Explorit Center in Aurora

University of Nebraska State Museum of Natural History (Morrill Hall)

We have enjoyed using our Morrill Hall membership to explore there (so much more than dinosaurs!)  Plus we have been to the Omaha Children’s Museum AND to Edgerton with the reciprocal part for free!  The membership has definitely been worth it!

Strategic Air & Space Museum is on the list but does not offer reciprocal free admission.

And last but not least, this is another group ….

North American Reciprocal Museums in Nebraska

Note: Some of these places already have “free” admission.  This membership may be worth it if you travel across the United States to enjoy various museums!

David City Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art 402-367-4488 Kearney Museum of Nebraska Art 308-865-8559 Lincoln International Quilt Study Center & Museum 402-472-6549 Lincoln Sheldon Museum of Art 402-472-2461 Norfolk Norfolk Arts Center 402-371-7199 Omaha Joslyn Art Museum 402-342-3300

Make Believe Midnight: Ringing in the New Year with Children

Tomorrow night is the night when almost everyone stays up and greets a new day/month/year.  Possibly parties featuring champagne and dancing and lots of people come to mind.  To be honest, that was not really our scene BEFORE we had kids, so now that we have children, we are usually looking for ways to include them on this holiday.  After all, our years with them at home are limited.

Of course so far our kids have not stayed up until that late of an hour.  For one thing, they would be rather unpleasant the next day.  We have made a point of ringing in 9:00, and one year my husband change the clocks to look like midnight had arrived (they were not fooled or anything 🙂 )   This year we have yet to finalize our plans. There are several great events across the state that are geared for celebrating the new year with children.  Many of them feature make-believe midnight activities.  While we have not personally experienced the event, my understanding is that the Lincoln Children’s Museum even drops a ball at 8:00 (their pretend midnight hour).

Photo from cmocn.org

Noon Year’s Eve at the Omaha Henry Dorley Zoo

First Night of Play at the Omaha Children’s Museum

Make Believe Midnight at the Lincoln Children’s Museum

Countdown to the “Noon Year” Event at the Children’s Museum of Central Nebraska in Hastings

While Kearney, Norfolk and North Platte all have children’s museums or children’s discovery zones, none of them have any specific New Year’s Eve activities this year.  If you know of any additional optional New Year’s Eve activity for families in your area, please post it in the comments below or on the Odyssey Through Nebraska Facebook page.  However you celebrate, I hope you enjoy ringing in the new year!

Would this not be a fun way to ring in the new year?  (School bell from Steele City in Nebraska.)  Image from Wikipedia

Window Gawking: “Miracle on Farnam Street” in Omaha

For lunch when we were in Omaha last week, we headed to Mid-town Crossing.  One definite reason that we went there was to see “Miracle on Farnam Street.”  Twenty-one windows up and down the street have been decorated by twenty-one different Omaha charities.  You get to look at all of them and pick your favorite.  Whichever window gets the most votes will win a $3000 donation courtesy of the Baer Foundation.

That afternoon happened to be bitterly cold – I am not sure that temperatures even made into the teens.  My kids were freezing just walking from the parking garages.  So, we looked at a few near the restaurant.

I ordered our lunch, then my Mom stayed with the kids while I went around looking at the rest of the windows.  My kids would have LOVED seeing them on a warmer day, but I was worried about them being too cold.  So, we had to limit our group perusing.  If you do go and have your options of days, I would pick a warmer one.  (This Wednesday is supposed to be unseasonably warm in Eastern Nebraska!)

Taking pictures through glass definitely limits the photographs.  But maybe that is okay.  Now you will just have to go see them for yourself.  I hope they make this an annual tradition.  I loved seeing what all of the groups came up with to visualize the great work that they do across Omaha and Nebraska!

P.S. Tomorrow I will write about where we ate lunch – our food was delicious!  Since I do not want to influence your vote, I am leaving a comment as to which one was my favorite rather than including my opinion in the text.  You can read it if you want to do so! 🙂

Omaha Children’s Museum: A Place to Play & Learn

Guessing my place from yesterday was a bit easy if you have ventured through the doors of the Omaha Children’s Museum.  And if you have little kids and have never been there, this place is a must!  To be honest, we have not been for several years, and my kids still ask when we can go back.  They were not thrilled when we pulled into the parking lot, so I could take this picture since we didn’t get to go inside.  (The place was closed already – what can you do? 🙂  )

Name/Location	Omaha Children’s Museum 500 S.20th near downtown Omaha
Open hours/Contacts		Winter: 10-4 T-F; Sat 9-5, Sun. 1-5; Monday closed   Facebook

Cost	Adults & kids are $9; Seniors are $8; many memberships types (including educational)
What to Know		Rotating special exhibits;
Group Tours		Younger kids 2 hour play $7 and themed events for older ones
Museum Manners		This is paradise for hands-on learners! Common courtesy is the only guide – not being too rough on materials and remembering to share!
Recommended Ages		Birth and up – opportunities for fun for all ages

Since we have not been to the museum in awhile, all of my pictures are from awhile ago.  They made me feel a bit sentimental – my baby in the pictures is about to turn five!  Time does pass quickly.  So here are some pictures (that were initially on yesterday’s blog) that were favorite events of my kids.

The ball area – definitely the favorite section for my kids every time we have visited.  They would spend hours dropping all of the balls into the little slots and watch them move.  Quite the active (and maybe a bit noisy) room!

They have a room just for little ones.  A room that my kids have outgrown (sniffle, sigh – yet thankful to be done with diapers!)  Anyway, you cannot even wear shoes in the toddler area – they do their best to keep everything really clean.  And fun.  And interactive.

The kids always love the water area!  I do if it is summer – not so much in the winter (hate bringing wet kids out into the cold!)

Dressing up is so much more fun when you can climb on a fire truck!

This photo was taken directly from the website.  I am pretty sure we will be making it back there before this exhibit closes.  This looks like a fun one!

What do your kids enjoy about the Omaha Children’s Museum?

P.S. We will be camping out in Omaha for a few weeks.  (Unfortunately not literally, but at least in the blog world! 🙂 )  Thought this city was fitting for the month of October!  So stay tuned for some great family activity ideas and places to eat.  Plus Kim from OhMy! Omaha is going to be giving us her take on Omaha family fun!