The Nature Museum

Last Tuesday's trip to the Museum of Nature took us to a world full of prehistoric giants, in a building full of rich architecture and history, within it many rooms filled with diverse, tangible learning experiences. Simply put; the children had a blast.

The adventure and wonder began on the bus, where many children pointed out their windows excitedly at apartment buildings and trucks that we passed. We probably could have just taken a bus trip.

We made it to the Museum! At this point the children could not contain their excitement. 

Patiently waiting for our tours to begin!

We split off in groups for the Dinosaur Dig. Our lovely curators were Joan and Judy.

Here, Joan shows us how we can make our own dinosaur skin.

The children were so eager and ecstatic to answer Joan's questions. Joan started to think that the children had already been there before. 

The children had the chance to touch another example of what Dinosaur skin is thought to have felt like. The Museum is full of sensory stations that children can explore for themselves. One of the greatest benefits of field trips is that alternative learning environments often provide children with opportunities to learn with hands on experiences.

The curators who ran the workshop each volunteer at the museum. You would never suspect that they were volunteers judging by their dedication and knowledge and the way that they enthusiastically engaged the children. They were wonderful teachers.

Joan gettin' down like a four legged dinosaur. 

The children each got a satchel to wear containing a clip board, a magnifying glass, and a pencil. They were thrilled to have their own palaeontologist kit.

The children took a moment to sketch some dinosaur eggs.

Seeing the bones pieced together gave the children a perspective of how large these creatures were! 

We took a much needed lunch break. The next pictures begin a wonderful perspective photo shoot by one of the students. I wanted to include them because it shows a perspective of the trip from the eyes of a child. Sometimes us adults overlook the simplest of wonders because they have become so normal for us. You will eventually figure out who the talented photographer is as he managed to sneak in a few selfies.

Sometimes us adults overlook the simplest of wonders because they have become so normal for us. I love this picture of the ceiling. An adult may not even look up, but to a child these high ceilings and long curled pipes might be pretty spectacular. 

Oh, up the nose we go!

After a quick lunch break we broke off into our groups to explore the museum. A senior student walks hand in hand with a sibling that joined us for the day. By the end of the trip she was so comfortable with the other children that you would not have been able to tell that she was not part of our class.

In the deep, dark cave! Justin was a volcano of knowledge on almost every subject covered; so much so that at first I thought he was reading right off the plaques. Turns out, their family watches a lot of documentaries. 

Monkeys swinging from trees! Or submarines..

This was a new exhibit that the museum was testing out. I think we can give it two thumbs up.

So cute and cuddly. 

Ahhhh!

He came up with a question on his own.

A beautiful perspective of how massive some of the exhibits must have felt to the children.

We met up with another group!

Bird watchin'. Just plain awesome.

Thanks again to our wonderful parent volunteers! We would not have been able to pull of such a smooth trip without you. Your dedication and time mean the world to us.

I do want to apologize in advance if your child is not pictured in these photos; I was with a specific set of children for most of the trip. Parent volunteers, if you have photos that you took at the Museum that you would like us to upload please send them to Sharon!