Category Archives: program ideas

Meteorites and a Gneiss (nice) rock

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During our recent Earth Sciences Weekend, I helped staff a touch table with unusual rocks.

The Acasta Gneiss - piece of the oldest rock in the Earth’s crust found in N.W.T., Canada (approx 4.2 billlion years old)

Acasta Gneiss rock

Acasta Gneiss – oldest crustal rock photo source : ROM

Springwater Pallasite - portion of the mantle of an asteroid – equivalent to what our planet looks like 3,000km down

meteorite

Springwater pallasite meteorite photo source : ROM

Chondrite Meteorite - rock formed at the beginning of the Solar System, before planets had formed, approx 4.5 billion years ago – not the actual one we were showing but filled with small spheres (chondules*) like this one has.

* A peculiar rounded granule of some mineral, usually enstatite or chrysolite, found imbedded more or less abundantly in the mass of many meteoric stones, which are hence called chondrites.- Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary

 

chondrite meteorite

chondrite meteorite photo source : D. Ball, ASU

In addition, we had a 2 billion year old sedimentary rock showing fossilized waves – like those shown in this photo.

sedimentary rock

fossilized waves in sedimentary rock photo source : rockcliffbythesea.blogspot.com

And to attract visitors to the table, an amethyst geode….for the bling factor.

 amethyst geode

amethyst geode photo source : bigquartz.com

 

 

 

 

Rangoli

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Our museum recently hosted an event with South Asian community partners. Music, dance, storytelling, calligraphy and rangoli (a form of folk art).

Rangoli are decorative designs made on living room and courtyard floors during Hindu festivals typically consisting of bright colors. They are meant to be sacred welcoming areas for the Hindu deities. The ancient symbols have been passed down through the ages, from each generation to the next, keeping both the art form and the tradition alive. The patterns are typically created with materials including colored rice, dry flour, (colored) sand or even flower petals.  source : wikipedia.com

 

rangoli design

design #1

design #2

design #2

Children used crayon, coloured pencils, markers or paint to colour the designs. Then added glitter and glitter glue. Not my favourite materials to work with in a space immediately adjacent to galleries but the glittery results were spectacular.

Also, since paint and glue take a long time to dry, there needed to be a space to store the artwork so the families could come back for it. It was necessary to search for an extra table and plastic coverings to accommodate the fifty 8 x 10 inch masterpieces left for hours to dry. Each child added his/her name so the owner could find it later.

If you use this idea in programming, I would recommend the addition of information about rangoli art and the materials commonly used in creating these amazing floor designs.

 

 

 

 

The coolest ancient sea creatures (craft) ever

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Had to show you these wonderful puppet designs by the Studio Team (headed by Chris M.) for the Early Life Weekend. I will definitely be adopting these designs for the Cambrian ‘Anomalocaris’, the Ordovician through to Devonian ‘Eurypterid’ and the all-time success story of the ancient seas, the Cambrian to Permian ‘Trilobite’.

Anomalocaris

Anomalocaris front photo source : Lorie Pierce

back of craft

Anomalocaris back with paper bag puppet sleeve photo source : Lorie Pierce

Learn more about this T-Rex of the Cambrian ocean at this website :

http://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/en/fossil-gallery/view-species.php

Eurypterid front

Eurypterid front photo source : Lorie Pierce

back of craft

Eurypterid back photo source : Lorie Pierce

Known as Sea Scorpions, these were actually chelicerates who are now extinct and have no descendants. All its legs for swimming, walking and eating are attached under its head. We have one from New York State in our museum which is over 6 feet tall.

Eurypterids, sometimes known as sea scorpions, were predatory marine arthropods (joint-legged animals without a backbone) that lacked mineralized hard parts. The huge, claw-bearing pterygotids were preserved only under exceptional conditions and mostly in shallow lagoonal settings.This composite specimen of the giant eurypterid Acutiramus was restored from several matching fragments found at a single locality in New York State. Pieces of smaller specimens occur in the Silurian rocks of southern Ontario.
Location: New York
Collection Date: 2001 AD

source : rom.on.ca

front of craft

Trilobite front photo source : Lorie Pierce

back of craft

Trilobite back photo source : Lorie Pierce

Trilobites were amazing. They were one of the most successful animals that ever lived on our planet, lasting 300 million years as a species until dying off with 80 – 90 % of everything else at the end of the Permian Era (250 mya). They also make the most beautiful fossils and are iconic emblems of the ancient oceans.

Learn about the Trilobite Beds on Mt.Stephen in Yoho, B.C. at this website : http://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/en/history/discoveries/01-first.php

Since we have a lot of construction paper and lunch bags tucked away in our craft cabinet, I think this would be the idea craft to add into our Around the Museum event. Thursday is our prep meeting and we will have a lot of pieces to cut out.

 

 

 

 

U – turn (or always have a Plan B)

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Oops!

rocky outcrop from ISS

rock outcrop in Brazil from International Space Station photo source : Cmdr. Chris Hadfield aboard ISS

The next event was scheduled to be on the topic of Rocks, Minerals and Space. However, it would only work if we could borrow one of the 3 types of Edukits of these topics. As it turns out, none are available for the time of the event so this topic will be moved forward into the summer.

What to do now? Well, all that good planning for the Rocks, Minerals and Space event will pay off in the future. For now, it will sit in a box. Instead, I will move to Plan B.

Now that we have done half a dozen topics from Dinosaurs, to Medieval Europe to Awesome Animals, it is time to do an ‘Around the Museum’ event that dips into all these topics at the same time. Activities will be chosen from the areas of Bats & Birds, Ancient Egypt and Dinosaurs with some Medieval Europe in the Toddler’s area.

Although it is good to have a Plan B, it is better for me to check ahead and not assume a resource will be available.

An oldie but a goodie – MIR space station

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It was the first. Orbiting the Earth from 1986 until its re-entry in 2001, MIR was the place where mankind learned how to live in small confined zero-gravity spaces. I chanced upon an MIR model about to be recycled. Hopefully I will figure out how to build it for the Rocks, Mineral and Space event. The box says it does not require gluing so….it should be a snap.

MIR building kit

MIR space station building model photo source : Lorie Pierce

I’ll keep you posted on our progress, Houston.

Volcano revisited

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I have found two styles of volcanoes for the next event.  Here’s the first to colour, fold and glue.

colour paper craft

colour a Pacman shaped flat volcano photo source : Lorie Pierce

completed paper volcano

fold and glue into shield volcano photo source : Lorie Pierce

Add a flume to the top!

The other style is based on a wood slotted model. It would be made out of card stock paper and would not need to be coloured ahead of time. Maybe I’ll have a couple of these for the kids who don’t like to colour.

model of volcano

wood slotted volcano photo source : Lorie Pierce

This volcano is from a Wild Republic set and includes dinosaurs.

 

Canadian Astronauts

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The next event features Rocks, Minerals and Space…with (no doubt) a few fossils thrown in somewhere. What a better opportunity to highlight the achievements of two notable Canadian astronauts. One who just spoke at our museum, Roberta Bondar, and the other Chris Hadfield, who is orbiting Earth in the ISS as I type this blog.

I found this astronaut papercraft on the UHU.com website.

female astronaut craft

here’s the original craft from UHU, the glue stick people photo source UHU.com

And the male version of the same craft.

mae astronaut craft

male version photo source : UHU.com

Now just another step to personalize them for the event. Add in the faces.

two conpleted cubees

astronaut cubees photo source : Lorie Pierce

astronaut names on bottom of cubees

bottom of cubee photo source : Lorie Pierce

Note that if you do this papercraft….the original template needed a bit of revision so that the bottom flap was the correct size to cover the end.

 

 

Confessions of a Pack Rat

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I credit being the child of parents who grew up during the Great Depression for my tendency to save things….although I do know my grandparents were good role models for the same behaviour. Over the last few years I have come across an number of items I scooped and stored away. Now that I am planning the Rock, Mineral and Space event, I’m opening my cupboards to see what I had in storage that might now be used.

papercraft

portion of DAWN spaceprobe papercraft photo source : Lorie Pierce

Here’s what I found.

  1. boxes for holding give-away rocks and fossils
  2. slides of planets and galaxies to look at in the hand viewer
  3. handouts from previous Space Weekend including moon map and star finder
  4. papercraft of DAWN probe to Vesta and Ceres
  5. mineral chips broken off of larger specimens
  6. discarded education sheets on minerals
  7. colouring sheets from previous special event

All these items were headed for the trash when they crossed my path. Now they get to join us on a spring afternoon as we marvel at the world or rocks and outer space.

Mulling over rocks

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The next event in late May is scheduled to feature rocks, minerals and meteorites.             But how?

person and large crystal

museum mineralologist with quartz crystal at Tucson Show Feb 2013 photo source : @geokatgirl

That’s what I am struggling with now. Some initial thoughts on activities :

  1. fossil casting – what is a fossil and how is it formed?
  2. minerals in different cultures – how they are used as pigments, ornamentation, building materials – create a bracelet or beaded bookmark
  3. meteorites – what are they, where do they come from and where are they found?
  4. volcano model – even something as simple as is shown below or there is another papercraft in a PDF file at http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/education/volcano
  5. geodes – perhaps a crystal making demonstration using a kit
  6. Edukit – the museum has Edukits on ‘Rocks’ and ‘Exploring Minerals’ plus a resource box on ‘How to make stone tools’ – all ideal for a touchtable
paper volcano

paper volcano photo source : theredstool.blogspot.ca

Being a rock and fossil hound myself, I know I am looking forward to this event.