MUSEUM FUN!

Grades K-2

SECTION 1

(Start outside the museum on the west side with the display of spices and herbs.)

Ask the children what these spices and herbs were used for in the Old World? (Add taste and zest to food and for medicine) Pick a spice or herb (example CINNAMON) and have the children locate it. Talk about the texture and form that the spices and herbs come in. (They look a lot different than what the bottles of spices and herbs look like from the store)

GO INSIDE THE MUSEUM TO THE FAR RIGHT SIDE TO THE ROCKS AND MINERALS DISPLAY

Have the children move in front of the black screen, facing the display of rocks and minerals. Push the button and the rocks and minerals will glow. Have a few children share their favorite rock or mineral in the display. Try to pronounce the rocks and minerals names as best as possible, some are real tricky. Explain to the children that those rocks and minerals that glow are fluorescent and the ones that don’t are not fluorescent.

MOVE TO THE LEFT TO THE COUGAR AND HAWK DISPLAY 

Have the children look at the display of the cougar and hawk. Ask the children what kinds of animals are in the display (cougar and hawk). Ask the children what kind of adventure they think the animals are on. Where are they going? What are they doing? Why are they on this adventure? (Some ideas might be they are looking for food, the cougar is trying to eat the hawk, the hawk is gathering food for her babies, etc. Let the children explore and be creative at this display.)

 

MOVE TO THE LEFT TO THE ALLOSAURUS DISPLAY 

Ask the children if they know what kind of dinosaur this is? Tell them it’s an Allosaurus. Ask the children if the Allosaurus was a plant-eater or a meat-eater? (Meat-eater) Ask the children how they can tell? (Sharp teeth for meat-eater vs. Dull, smooth teeth for plant-eater) Have the children look at the tail and ask what it would be used for? (Against enemies) Ask the children if the Allosaurus would have made a good pet? Why or why not?

 

SECTION 2

MOVE TO THE DISPLAY WITH THE AFRICAN MASKS 

Ask the students if they know what kind of masks are in the exhibit. What were they used for? Where are they from? What are they made out of? They are made from a very special wood: ebony. This wood is used to make musical instruments like the violin. It is a very special wood because there is only one forest left in the whole world that contains the trees that we get ebony wood from. It is in Tanzania, Africa.

 MOVE TO THE TREE RING

Discuss with the children what the tree rings represent. Ask the children if they know what the rings represent? If the children don’t know, inform them that they represent one year of growth for the tree. Have the children see if they can figure out how old the tree is by counting the rings. Ask the children how many they counted? (Answer is about 298 years old). See if the children can find years where rain was abundant (a greater distance from ring to ring) and years where there was little rain (the rings are close together)

MOVE LEFT TO THE MARSH LIVING IN THE GREAT BASIN DISPLAY 

Tell the students that they are looking at some special artifacts made by the Anasazi Indians. Ask if anyone knows about the Anasazi Indians. Do they know where they lived? They lived in Southern Utah, in the four corners area. Ask the students what they think the artifacts were used for.

They put corn on the slab and ground it into flour with the rock. They used flour to make tortillas which they used for bread. They didn’t have bread like we do today. What do you think they used the pots for? They used them to cook with and carry water. They didn’t have pots and pans like we do either.

TURN AROUND TO THE OTHER MARSH LIVING DISPLAY

Ask if anyone knows what the black rocks are. (Arrowheads) They were used as a knife, applied in many different situations. They also attached them to the end of a piece of wood to use as an arrow or spear.

MOVE LEFT TO THE PETROGLYPHS DISPLAY 

Ask the students what is on the wall. Tell them about Petroglyphs. They would use these to tell stories and to communicate about things that they have done.

TURN AROUND FOR THE SABER-TOOTH TIGER DISPLAY 

Ask if anyone knows what the animal is. A saber-tooth tiger! What family does it belong to? Has anyone seen one in real life? Of course not! They haven’t been on the earth for many years. We only know they existed because we found their fossilized bones. Ask if anyone would like one for a pet. Why or why not? Why not, the Flintstones had one!

MOVE TO THE RIGHT FOR THE COW SKELETON DISPLAY 

Have the students look at the bone structure. Have them observe the size of the bones. How is this different than a human skeleton? Ask if they see anything that they did not realize before seeing the skeleton. (You may want to make a comment as well. Example: I thought it was interesting to see that the tail is made of bone.)

MOVE ALONG TO OBSERVE THE DIFFERENT SKELETAL DISPLAYS 

Next the students can just walk along the glass exhibits. What do they observe? The instructor can aide in pointing various aspects out to the students and answer any questions.

 

TULE BOAT DISPLAY

Ask students what they think the boat is made of.  (Made of Bull Rush)  Ask students how they think that the boat was moved in shallow and deep waters.  (Shallow-poles to push them along, and in deep-double sided paddles)

SECTION 3

THE OUTER SECTION OF THE MUSEUM 

If time permits, have the students explore the outer museum. Have them observe the different displays. Ask the students what their favorite observation was.

 

Thanks for visiting!