Thursday, June 29, 2017

BYU Museum Camp

This past week the Bean Museum participated in the inaugural BYU Museum Camp with the intent of educating teenagers on the importance of museums and the critical role they play in education. Campers had the exciting opportunity to see life behind the scenes of the museum by touring exclusive research facilities and collections, talking to museum curators and researchers, and participating in a live animal show.
Museums play a crucial role in research, curation, and education. The Bean Museum strives to educate the public on both the facts and the importance of the life sciences. Our education programs, camps, and exhibits all function to make science fun and excite everyone to learn about and protect our planet. Check out our website for more summer camps, education opportunities, and live animal shows!




Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Wildlife Adventures: Feathered Friends

Another awesome Wildlife Adventure kicked off this week with our annual ‘Feathered Friends’ camp! Beginning on Tuesday, our campers had the once in a lifetime opportunity to see some real birds from a local rescue, ranging from the exotic Macaw to the enormous Eurasian Eagle Owl. Our campers were even lucky enough to get to hold some of the smaller exotic birds! Thursday our campers took their enthusiasm to the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City. We got to see a whole assortment of birds, from Bald Eagles to Andean Condors to exotic Toucans! Some were even lucky enough to feed some of the exotic birds! At the end of the day, everyone was tired, but it was most likely a day they will never egret!

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Friday, June 23, 2017

Wildlife Adventures: Rock On!

Wildlife Adventures this week rocked! Seriously. Our adventurers learned about how rocks are formed, what rocks are made of, the 3 types of rocks, and who studies rocks. On Tuesday we demonstrated how the 3 types of rocks are formed by doing an activity with crayon shavings. Sedimentary rocks are formed by weathering, erosion, and lots of pressure. Our campers made their own sedimentary rocks by getting different colors of crayon shavings and pressing and rubbing them until it became a "sedimentary rock". Igneous and metamorphic rocks are formed by heat and pressure, so with the help of some hot water, we were able to melt the crayon shavings together and let it cool. Once the adventurers understood how to identify the rocks, they went on a rock easter egg hunt to find rocks an try to identify the type of rock it was. Since fossils are found in sedimentary rocks, we also had the adventurers make their own fossils with air dry clay and dinosaur/bug toys.
Thursday was a fun field trip day. We explored the Eyring Science Center on campus. We were able to look at rocks, crystals, and some fossils. Each adventurer got a rock scavenger hunt so that they could find and check off things like "find a rock with something growing on it" throughout the day. After the Science Center we went to the Museum of Paleontology to see all of the fossils and skeletons they have from millions of years ago. Finally, we went outside to go on our own quest to find rocks. We hiked through rock canyon and along the Bonneville shoreline trail. Almost everyone completed their rock scavenger hunt, and three adventurers found the bonus: FOSSILS! It was a very successful field trip.







Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Junior Naturalist Summer Camp

The Bean Museum offers many opportunities to learn in fun ways during the summer through awesome summer camps. Junior Naturalist Summer Camp is one of the favorites because the kids get to spend part of the time at Thanksgiving Point and the other part at the Bean Museum. They learned what it is like to be a real scientist by going on a field trip on Tuesday to collect bugs and plants to start their own collection, just like the curators at the museum. Though butterflies can be tricky to catch, each kid was quick enough to catch two of them! On Wednesday they pinned their bugs and pressed and glued their plants so that they could identify the species. Friday they came to the Bean Museum to share what they learned with patrons at the museum. This process (collecting, preparing, identifying, and sharing) is how scientists experiment and study the natural world. Our campers did a great job with understanding and applying each of these steps. They could make excellent scientists some day!














Monday, June 19, 2017

Wildlife Adventures: Water Wildlfe

The Bean Life Science Museum’s annual Wildlife Adventures kicked off 2 weeks ago Wetland Adventure Camp! Beginning on Tuesday, June 6th, nine lucky adventurers got to spend their afternoon at the Bean learning about all different kinds of wetland critters, ranging from the humble backswimmer to the majestic moose. In addition to this, our wetland adventurers also got to take part in various crafts and activities such as; building their own wetlands out of clay, creating their own wetland animals, and making a frog craft that is sure to bring entertainment for days to come!


The following Thursday is when the real fun began for our adventurers, as we took them out to see the incredible Cascade Springs! After a bumpy ride in the van, the kids were excited to see all the awesome wetlands that Cascade Springs had to offer and spent a majority of their time drawing what they saw and examining the different things they found floating around in the water. Our adventurers were also given a BINGO sheet with lots of different wetland animals in its squares. Once an adventurer spotted an animal, he could cross it off his bingo sheet. Lots of our adventures got bingos! and as a result, got a double high five from our very own adventure, Maren Hatch.



Finally, as the day came to a close, our adventurers made one last stop at Bridal Veil falls, where they played in the water and discovered just how cold snow melt can really be! At the end of the day, our adventurers were tired, but needless to say, they had a ton of fun!     



Andy, museum educator