Backyard and Beyond: Outdoor Yoga
2024-05-16 10:30 - 11:00 (America/New_York) | Discovery Museum, Discovery Museum, 177 Main St, Acton, MA, 01720, United States
Join us to move your body and connect with nature while doing outdoor yoga! Yoga improves physical and mental strength, like self-awareness and focus. Kelly Western, professional yoga instructor, will lead a fun yoga class for children and adults that incorporates balance, strength, stretching, and mindfulness in the context of connecting with nature. Yoga mats available. (Optional: Bring your own yoga mat or beach towel.) Inclement weather may result in changes to the program, or cancellation.

Icy Investigations
2024-05-10 10:00 - 12:00
Brrrr…Things are getting chilly at the Discovery Museum. Experiment with different types of salt as you explore the unique characteristics of this solid state of water. Add in some liquid watercolors and discover just how cool science can be.

Bessie’s Closet
2024-05-05 10:00 - 15:00, 2024-05-04 10:00 - 15:00, 2024-05-03 15:30 - 19:30
Friday, May 3 thru Sunday, May 5
Fri. 3:30 – 7:30pm; Sat. & Sun. 10:00am – 3:00pm
Museum Admission not Required
Bessie’s Closet is a free pop-up clothing store open to everyone in our community. Organized in partnership with the Acton-Boxborough United Way and supported by donations from the community, Bessie’s Closet offers new or gently-used clothing and shoes for both children and adults. Anyone who may benefit is welcome to visit Bessie’s Closet. Museum admission is not required, but also not included. All items are available free of charge, take what you need! Items available in Bessie’s Closet are dependent upon donations received.

Nature Explorers: Trails and Maps (Registration required)
2024-05-05 10:00 - 11:30
May 5, 12, 19, and 26
10:00am – 11:30am
What: Join our outdoor educator for a series of outdoor explorations. In this series we will focus on navigating trails and reading and making maps. In addition we’ll spend time finding and observing the plants and animals that live their lives on the trails. Our learning and exploration will build across all four sessions and focus on developing skills like observation, making inferences, communicating, classifying, and measuring.
Registration required at https://bit.ly/NatureExplorersSpring2024 and includes all four Nature Explorer sessions.
When: Sundays, May 5, 12, 19, and 26; 10:00am – 11:30am. If a session needs to be cancelled, we will reschedule for June 2. Attendees should plan to attend and participate in all four sessions.
For whom: This program is for kids 6-9 years of age and their caregiver(s) to do together. This is not a drop-off program.
Cost: $40/child, includes all four sessions, but does NOT include Museum admission. If you wish to visit the museum, separate reservations are required through our website.
Please note that the conservation land trails are not ADA or stroller accessible, please wear appropriate footwear and clothing.

Doodle Bots
2024-04-28 13:00 - 14:30
Make a unique piece of art with a motorized contraption! In this 90-minute session we’ll create and decorate a simple DIY robotic friend to take home made of spinning and wiggling motors, markers, tape, and a variety of recycled and repurposed materials. Then we’ll set the machines in motion and watch them leave behind trails of unexpected, scribbled patterns. Advance registration is required at https://bit.ly/DoodleApril2024 This program is designed for children and their caregivers to enjoy together.
Where: Discovery Museum PlayLab
Cost: $10 per person (does not include Museum admission)
Who: This program is recommended for children aged 7 and up with an accompanying adult. Due to the nature of the materials we’ll be using, we cannot accommodate children under 5 to be present.

Discovery Museum Speaker Series Event: How Art Can Inspire Civic Engagement in Kids
2024-04-25 19:00 - 20:00
Civic engagement is not just about voting and government—it encompasses all the ways in which individuals take action and get involved in their communities. Inspiring young people to invest in the advancement of society is about empowering children to embrace and recognize the gifts they bring to their communities. Chanel Thervil, Discovery Museum’s Inaugural Artist-in-Residence, will speak about her experience helping children consider what they love about their communities, so they see a place for themselves in making their communities better.
Chanel Thervil is a Haitian American artist and educator who uses varying combinations of abstraction and portraiture to convene communal dialogue around culture, social issues, and existential questions. She’s been making a splash in New England via her educational collaborations, public art, and residencies with institutions that support the uplift of community creativity. She is excited to continue this work through her residency with the Discovery Museum.

Chemists Celebrate Earth Week: Batteries!
2024-04-21 10:00 - 13:00
Discover the science behind “Get a charge out of chemistry – Batteries” as we celebrate Chemists Celebrate Earth Week. Join us and our guest educators from the North Eastern Section of American Chemical Society and have fun exploring chemistry through hands-on activities related to this year’s theme, Batteries!

Creating Communal Gifts with Chanel Thervil
2024-04-19 13:00 - 15:00, 2024-04-19 10:00 - 12:00, 2024-04-18 13:00 - 15:00, 2024-04-18 10:00 - 12:00, 2024-04-17 13:00 - 15:00, 2024-04-17 10:00 - 12:00, 2024-04-16 13:00 - 15:00, 2024-04-16 10:00 - 12:00 and 2 more dates
Monday, April 15 through Friday, April 19, 10:00am – 12:00pm and 1:00pm – 3:00pm
Whether it be a school, library, place of worship, or even a museum, spaces where communities gather make life more vibrant. Join us for a special program series with inaugural Artist in Residence, Chanel Thervil as she invites you to create a gift for a community space you cherish. Chanel will bring these individual creations together in a one-of-a-kind art installation titled Communal Gifts that will remain on display in the museum.
To learn more about artist and educator Chanel Thervil and her work, visit her website www.chanelthervil.com

Renewable Energies: Exploring a Sustainable City
2024-04-13 13:00 - 15:00
Join us as we celebrate the endless possibilities of renewable energy! Explore a variety of energy sources in our model city and consider how energy moves through our communities. We’ll try out some simple experiments to see the wind’s energy in action, hydrogen as a source of energy for cars, and how solar panels help us turn the sun’s energy into electricity.
Meet local energy experts Umair Zia, Director of Distribution Engineering at Eversource Energy and Discovery Museum Board Member, and Xinfang Jin, Assistant Professor at University of Massachusetts Lowell-who helped create this program!

We Move Together, Presented by Little Uprisings and The Gottabees
2024-04-06 10:30 - 11:15
Journey to the bottom of the sea with Little Uprisings and The Gottabees where we will explore the book Swimmy, by Leo Lionni—a classic tale for young children about the power of organizing. Join us for movement, puppetry and fun as we Play for Change! This workshop is designed for 5-7 year olds with their grownups.
This program is included with admission, but registration is required at https://bit.ly/MoveTogetherApril2024 as space is limited. Registrants need separate ticket reservations for their museum visit.
https://www.discoveryacton.org/events-programs/we-move-together-presented-little-uprisings-and-gottabees

Punk Rock Aerobics with Hilken Mancini and Friends
2024-03-24 11:00 - 12:00
Join us to welcome Hilken Mancini and Friends as they present their popular Punk Rock Aerobics program at the Museum. It incorporates exercise routines set to a soundtrack of ‘G-rated’ classic punk rock tunes, performed by youth. The program also includes a Zine/activity booklet, offering lessons on the history and ethos of this music and subculture. It concludes with self-esteem games aimed at fostering body positivity and self-acceptance.

Black Women in Science: Civil Engineering with Jamila H. Lindo
2024-03-16 13:00 - 14:30
Join us for an exciting program series that honors the contributions of Black women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. In this program, we will host a virtual meet and greet with Jamila H. Lindo and learn more about her work as an engineer and author. From 1:00pm to 1:30pm, hear Jamila share her personal journey as a young Black woman in STEM, and ask her questions about why she finds civil engineering cool and exciting. Then, try some hands-on activities inspired by different areas of Jamila’s work, to include building simple structures and bridges, then testing their strength Jamila H. Lindo is a civil engineer who currently lives and works in London. Jamila will be joining us virtually for the speaking portion of this program.

Songs & Secrets of Open Door Theater's Wizard of Oz!
2024-03-09 15:00 - 15:30
Look behind the curtain of Open Door Theater’s (www.opendoortheater.org) newest show, The Wizard of Oz. In this timeless well known classic, where, Dorothy travels to a magical land over the rainbow, makes friends, has adventure and realizes that she has the power to create her own future. Join the cast and crew for a sneak peek of songs, from the iconic musical score from the MGM film, as sung by Open Door Theater in their unique and inclusive way.

Discovery Museum Speaker Series Event: How To Have Brave Conversations that Build Empathetic Kids
2024-03-06 19:00 - 20:00
In her role as Chief Executive Officer and President of The CAYL Institute, Dr. Valora Washington is at the epicenter of current thinking about the biggest issues facing kids and families. She joins us to speak about one that is front of mind: Helping adults have the brave conversations that develop kids’ sense of empathy over judgment, and respect the complexity of the world we live in. Dr. Washington will help us understand why keeping children “in a bubble” is not a reasonable option in today’s world, and how choosing to be a powerful parent (or caregiver, or grandparent, or teacher) is one of the greatest gifts we can give the children in our lives.
Wednesday, March 6, 2024, 7pm – 8pm
Speaker: Valora Washington, Ph.D., CEO & President, The CAYL Institute; former Vice President, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Location: Live, via Zoom webinar

Meet the Artist: Jenn Sherr
2024-03-03 10:00 - 12:00
Meet local artist Jenn Sherr who is known for transforming everything from furniture to shoes using decoupage, the art of decorating objects with paper cutouts. Come use your creativity to decoupage a picture frame with a variety of materials.

Backyard and Beyond: Winter Habitats
2024-02-27 10:00 - 12:00
We wear jackets, mittens, and scarves to keep warm as the weather gets colder but how do animals stay warm in the winter? Engage in some imaginative nature play as you build a burrow, den, or hideaway out of some simple materials. What winter animal will you be?

Celebrate National Engineers Week: Dream City
2024-02-25 10:00 - 14:00, 2024-02-24 10:00 - 14:00, 2024-02-23 10:00 - 14:00
Sunday, February 18 through Sunday, February 25, 10:00am – 2:00pm
Join us as we celebrate National Engineers Week and this year’s theme “Welcome to the Future”! Engage in some everyday engineering as we design a city where we can all thrive together while celebrating our uniqueness and supporting the planet we share. Help us collaboratively illustrate our future Dream City by adding your vison to our mural-sized paper illustration and prototype designs with simple building materials.
