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Science and History Museum Links (USA)
Listed Alphabetically by State
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The Exploratorium
San Francisco
http://www.exploratorium.edu
Metreon: www.metreon.com
Children's Holiday Movie Screening & Storytime: Saturdays 11/30 - 12/28
Where the Wild Things Are -- Interactive children's exhibition
based on the Maurice Sendak children's book. Ongoing.
Pier 39: www.pier39.com
Riptide Arcade -- Video game and prize arcade. Also featuring Flower Power
Body Art providing temporary airbrushed tattoos. Carousel Turbo-ride --
Large-screen simulation ride featuring films with seats that move: Secrets
of the Lost Temple, Dino Island, Superstition with Elvira, and the James
Bond 007 ride License to Thrill.
Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf: More than 260 handcrafted wax
figures in 50 settings, including the Chamber of Horrors, Hall of Presidents
and Hollywood.
Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose
http://www.cdm.org/
This museum boasts the world's only permanent giant Monopoly board, ample
picnic space, an annual Backyard National Children's Film Festival, a
webzine http://www.getchy.com, parent/child
workshops for several younger age groups, seasonal garden-related workshops,
math-related workshops, writing-related workshops, music-related workshops,
and cooking-related workshops between the hours of 10 am and 4 pm daily,
excluding Mondays (I'm exhausted just thinking about the number of kids
that must come through there each day). It also offers volunteer opportunities
for high school and college students. The museum was chosen as one of
Child Magazine's and MSN City Search's top ten national children's museums.
Denver Museum of Nature & Science
www.dmns.org
National Museum of the American Indian
Washington, DC
www.si.edu/nmai
Bug Bytes, Bug Noise Museum
Containing a catalog of recorded insect noises, this Web site is presented
by Richard Mankin of the Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary
Entomology, a division of the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural
Research Service. Organized by species and subject, this unusual library
contains approximately 40 audio clips of such subtle insect noises as
the wing vibrations of a butterfly and the sound of a termite feeding.
Some background noise is unavoidable with recordings such as these, but
the Web site includes a sample file for training the ear to distinguish
insect noises from extraneous sounds.
Gainesville, FL - Online
http://cmave.usda.ufl.edu/~rmankin/soundlibrary.html
Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, FL
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu
This museum boast tons of exhibits, along with some rather exclusive collections,
including the international shark attack files and one of the world's
largest and most complete butterfly collections. The museum website has
images of many of the items in the collections, with vibrant photographs
of alligators, rare plants, fish, and birds. In addition to the images,
the website also has virtual tours of the oldest
city in the USA - St. Augustine, Horse
Fossils, a Mayan
Exhibit, Boats
Shipwrecked off of Florida's coast, and more!
Museum of Science and Industry
Chicago
www.msichicago.org/
The Museum of Broadcast Communications
http://www.museum.tv
Located in Chicago. Its website hosts free streaming video documentaries
for educational use, and contains a history on presidential debate. The
museum has several permanent exhibits (not all specifically for children):
AT&T Broadband Center, play a newsanchor and take home your news
segment on videotape, explore the history of cable television; AC Neilsen
Jr. Research Center discover or re-live memorable TV/radio moments
through archives with hundreds of thousands of programs, commercials,
radio segments, and newscasts. Through their schools, students can access
the archives at a discount for research purposes. Radio Hall of Fame
Gallery Angel Harvey Radio Center: Every second Sunday of each month,
visitors can be audience to a classic radio re-creation Puppets, Pies,
and Prizes. Kids TV Chicago-Style: memorabilia from shows like
Bozo's Circus, Super Circus, and Romper Room.
The DuSable Museum of African American History
http://www.dusablemuseum.org/
Located in Chicago. Teamed with the Coca-Cola company to start the Children's
Penny Cinema, which shows kid-oriented films Saturday mornings in the
summer for a mere penny (adults not admitted unless accompanied by a child
(see more about the program here: http://www.dusablemuseum.org/pennytheatre/
). The museum seems to work a great deal with local schools. The website
has a virtual plethora of information about educational exhibits that
teachers can work into their lesson plans, is capable of teleconferencing
and providing distance learning materials, and has a couple dozen good
educational resource links. The website is a bit difficult to navigate
and the design's not really flashy, but there's lots of worthwhile information
to be found if you're patient.
Please Touch Museum
http://www.pleasetouchmuseum.org/
Located in Philadelphia, PA, and designed for children seven years and
younger. The museum hosts community programs, outreach programs, historic
collections, rentable mini-exhibits (called Traveling Trunks), and teacher
training workshops. The website's cute, fairly easy to navigate and creative,
with one section for kids (which is unfinished) and one for adults, but
slightly lacking in detailed information.
Current exhibits:
Sendack, Science Park, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Move It!, Story
Garden, Barnyard Babies, The Supermarket, and Me on TV!
The Children's Museum of Houston: http://www.cmhouston.org/
Contains, in collaboration with the Houston Public Library, the Parent
Resource Library: a library of material concerning children's issues from
potty training to racial issues to coping with learning disabilities.
The Parent Resource Library is designed to be kid-friendly, too; all of
the adult research material is contained on upper shelves, with the lower
shelves reserved for children's books and toys.
Permanent exhibits:
PG&E Coorporation EcoStation; an outdoor, hands-on exhibit concerning
envirornmental issues and Houston's ecosystems. Kids can make crafts (birdfeeders,
nature journals, etc.), observe insects and plants, see puppet shows,
etc.
Think Tank; optical illusions, puzzles, word/number games Yalalag,
A Mountain Village in Mexico; a replica of an actual villiage in Mexico;
kids can learn about the food, transportation, family structure, and language.
Periodic fiestas with live mariachi, crafts, and celebrations.
How Does It Work?; application of the scientific method through
studies in light, the workings of cars, portable telephones, and basic
physics.
Bubble Lab; Pretty self-explanatory: kids + bubbles = fun mess
that's easily cleaned up. Kids can make giant bubbles, tiny bubbles, paint
with bubble soap, and learn about the physics of bubbles.
Tot*Spot ; toys, activities, and play area for younger kids (birth;
3 years of age)
KID-TV; learn about television news production Farm to Market;
food production and practice grocery shopping Cyber Clubhouse; computer
activities Expressions; paint, clay, and computer art John P. McGovern
Kids's Hall art exhibits from children across the world, and Junktion,
a series of craft activities joined together to form a train. Red Caboose;
trains Victorian Playhouse Babbling Bayou; water exploration Brown Foundation
Inc.
Auditorium; host to performers from around the world every weekend
The museum generally has three or four traveling exhibits, too.
The website is easy to get around, but not particularly easy on the eyes.
It hosts a detailed calendar of events, information about employment and
volunteer opportunities, a riddle of the week, and pictures from recent
museum events
| Other Programs across the USA |
http://www.aep-arts.org/ -- Arts
Education Partnership
http://www.childrensmuseums.org/
-- Association of Children's Museums Articles
http://www.child.com/living_in_style/travel/top10_museums.jsp?page=1
-- Child Magazine's 10 Best Children's Museums
http://local.msn.com/special/fall/childrensmuseums.asp
-- MSN.com's 10 Best Children's Museums
Alphabetical Listings
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