Fort Worth Science and History Museum

I can't believe I haven't done a post about the museum yet (other than the one about the new Ancient Egypt exhibit)!  Aaron's parents gave us a family membership, and we are definitely putting it to good use.  We go at least once a month, sometimes more.  They have incredible hands-on learning activities, fascinating displays (both the permanent ones and the temporary ones), and a wonderful staff.  They always have open-ended exploration and/or construction activities and materials available, and I love watching their fascination as they explore.  The boys (and Aaron and I!) have a great time doing and learning every time we go.  Here are some pictures from a couple of different visits.

Brennan exploring with plastic straws (a bit sturdier than drinking straws) and connectors.  I loved seeing his curvy creativity next to the more "expected" box structure behind him (which was totally huge and totally cool!).

Connor's favorite activity by FAR is building marble runs.  He will probably cry if we ever go and they've put it away for a while.  He made this one on his own with a little help from one of the docents.

Brennan and I made this one together (with a few finishing touches from Connor) on another visit.

More pictures from the Ancient Egypt exhibit (since I had the card in the camera this time!).

Learning about how archaeologists study seals to learn about a site

A pottery shard matching game

Seeing how animal bones (from meals) can help archaeologists learn about the people who left behind artifacts at a site

Building the pyramid with Daddy

Arts and crafts, Egypt-style!  I took advantage of the opportunity and counted these as our hands-on activity for SOTW chapter 13. *grin*

Making a paper pyramid

Daddy helping color the bricks

Making a clay scarab

Brennan painting his scarab (Daddy helped him shape and carve it)

Making a cartouche.  He even remembered a couple of the hieroglyphs for his name (from when we made a cartouche a couple of weeks ago) and drew them on his own without the stencil.