Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Along with my hopes of teaching the boys about the immediate world around them and the impact they have on it, I love it when we have to opportunity to go to places where they can learn about where they can from and that the world is a much bigger place than simply Longmont, CO.

Without going far I was able to introduce the boys to a fun day at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Of course on the way down we had to stop at the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop on 120th to discover the science of doughnut making. Connor thought it was fascinating, but refused to eat a doughnut and proclaimed that he does not like doughnuts and I should never buy him one again. Griffin on the other hand offered to eat Connor's doughnut for him.

Once we arrived at the museum Connor was in heaven. I think "A Night at the Museum" is one of his favorite movies so when we walked in and saw the skeleton of a giant dinosaur he thought it was the coolest place he has ever been (even though he has already been there 3 other times, he just doesn't remember).

We spent all of our time before the Imax movie in the Space Exhibit. It seemed to be primarily focused on the planet Mars. There were a lot of awesome interactive games and displays that the kids could try, including a sensory table for "feeling" the surface of Mars, a computer for guiding a remote control aircraft so the kids could take pictures of the surface of Mars, an infared camera that projected their image on a monitor, adn even a star making station. At one point Galileo came out and put on a show about experimenting and the importance of developing a theory and testing it out in reality. I think it was a little over the kids heads, but they enjoyed his humor.

After the Space Exhibit we moved on to the Imax theater to see "Ring of Fire." Yes the title did conjour up several different images for me, not the first being about volcanoes, but that it what the movie was about. The movie was created from research and footage taken over a 7 year period and focused on the volcanoes of the Pacific Rim. It was amazing to see and was an amazing reminder to me about how ustable our world is and how there is a whole different world living under the earth's crust. Pretty Cool!

After the Imax we lunched and head to the Nature Unleashed exhibit . "From earthquakes and volcanoes to hurricanes and tornadoes, nature's forces have shaped our dynamic planet. Throughout history, these catastrophic phenomena have affected people around the world. Now, uncover the causes of these natural disasters and find out how people cope and adapt in the aftermath." It was amazing to see items that were ruined as a result of Hurricane Katrina and the engineering dynamics of the buildings in San Francisco.

Our last stop was in the Prehistoric Exhibit that Connor was antsy to get to all day! They were amazed by the skeletons and all of the different eras and types of animals that lived long ago!

What a day it was at the museum, and we barely even saw 1/3 of it! It looks like we will be heading back to the museum again soon. Especially seeing as though the Expedition Health Exhibit starts in only 3 days! What a great day with the boys.......