Calendar of Events

Visit The Shop to create the perfect decoration for spring. Using hammers and nails, you can create a spring-inspired shape to trace with yarn. Best of all, what you make is yours to take home! Please note: The Shop offers access to real tools and materials that can be dangerous if used improperly. Parents are encouraged to help young tinkerers use the tools and materials safely in this space.

3D printing technology is changing the fields of design and manufacturing at a rapid rate. Visit Spark!Lab Smithsonian to witness the layer-by-layer creation of various objects, learn about the materials and technologies involved, and understand the applications and implications of 3D printing across industries like healthcare, engineering, and art.

Visit The Shop to create the perfect decoration for spring. Using hammers and nails, you can create a spring-inspired shape to trace with yarn. Best of all, what you make is yours to take home! Please note: The Shop offers access to real tools and materials that can be dangerous if used improperly. Parents are encouraged to help young tinkerers use the tools and materials safely in this space.

3D printing technology is changing the fields of design and manufacturing at a rapid rate. Visit Spark!Lab Smithsonian to witness the layer-by-layer creation of various objects, learn about the materials and technologies involved, and understand the applications and implications of 3D printing across industries like healthcare, engineering, and art.

Prepare for the summer growing season with a DIY Planter you design and build in The Shop. Using wood, recycled containers, craft materials, and a variety of tools, you can create a planter to grow your favorite flowers or herbs. Best of all, what you make is yours to keep! Please note: The Shop offers access to real tools and materials that can cause injury if used improperly. Parents are encouraged to help young tinkerers use the tools and materials safely in this space.

Celebrate the favorite father in your life with a trophy you build in his honor. In honor of Father’s Day, visit The Shop to use a variety of real tools and materials to construct a trophy to commemorate the importance of the dad in your life. Please note: The Shop offers access to real tools and materials that can be dangerous if used improperly. Parents are encouraged to help young tinkerers use the tools and materials safely in this space.

A country or city’s flag symbolizes its people, culture, and sometimes its geography. Visit Spark!Lab Smithsonian to use a variety of materials to design your own flag that symbolizes your favorite location, real or imaginary. Using a variety of materials including felt, construction paper, and other colored papers and fabric scraps, visitors can design a flag that represents nearly anything they can imagine. Please note: Spark!Lab offers access to tools and materials that can cause injury if used improperly. Parents are…

Celebrate the favorite father in your life with a trophy you build in his honor. In honor of Father’s Day, visit The Shop to use a variety of real tools and materials to construct a trophy to commemorate the importance of the dad in your life. Please note: The Shop offers access to real tools and materials that can be dangerous if used improperly. Parents are encouraged to help young tinkerers use the tools and materials safely in this space.

A country or city’s flag symbolizes its people, culture, and sometimes its geography. Visit Spark!Lab Smithsonian to use a variety of materials to design your own flag that symbolizes your favorite location, real or imaginary. Using a variety of materials including felt, construction paper, and other colored papers and fabric scraps, visitors can design a flag that represents nearly anything they can imagine. Please note: Spark!Lab offers access to tools and materials that can cause injury if used improperly. Parents are…

It’s Gerard, The Discovery’s resident Allosaurus’ second birthday. To celebrate, we’re filling the museum with a ton of dinosaur themed activities like this one! Visit Spark!Lab Smithsonian to invent your own modern-day dinosaur. Using a variety of recycled materials you can create a new imaginary type of dinosaur. Be sure to consider where it will live, what advantages it should have, and any other attributes it might need to survive. Please note: Spark!Lab offers access to tools and materials that can…

It’s Gerard, The Discovery’s resident Allosaurus’ second birthday. To celebrate, we’re filling the museum with a ton of dinosaur themed activities like this one! Visit Spark!Lab Smithsonian to invent your own modern-day dinosaur. Using a variety of recycled materials you can create a new imaginary type of dinosaur. Be sure to consider where it will live, what advantages it should have, and any other attributes it might need to survive. Please note: Spark!Lab offers access to tools and materials that can…

Visit The Shop to use a variety of tools and materials to design and build your own dinosaur exhibit. Learn woodworking skills, safe tool handling, and effective planning when you combine a variety of materials with expert craftsmanship to create a model of a hands-on dinosaur exhibit. Best of all, what you make is yours to keep! Please note: The Shop offers access to real tools and materials that can be dangerous if used improperly. Parents/caregivers are encouraged to help young…

Celebrate Gerard’s 2nd birthday with us here at The Discovery! We’re marking the two-year anniversary of the installation of the museum’s Allosaurus cast with a weekend filled with dinosaur activities for all ages. Invent a Dino Using recycled materials and some templates cut from cardboard our visitors will be asked to create a new imaginary type of dinosaur, considering where it would live and what advantages it would have based on whatever they added. ex. “what advantages does having a…

It’s Gerard, The Discovery’s resident Allosaurus’ second birthday. To celebrate, we’re filling the museum with a ton of dinosaur themed activities like this one! Visit Spark!Lab Smithsonian to invent your own modern-day dinosaur. Using a variety of recycled materials you can create a new imaginary type of dinosaur. Be sure to consider where it will live, what advantages it should have, and any other attributes it might need to survive. Please note: Spark!Lab offers access to tools and materials that can…

Visit The Shop to use a variety of tools and materials to design and build your own dinosaur exhibit. Learn woodworking skills, safe tool handling, and effective planning when you combine a variety of materials with expert craftsmanship to create a model of a hands-on dinosaur exhibit. Best of all, what you make is yours to keep! Please note: The Shop offers access to real tools and materials that can be dangerous if used improperly. Parents/caregivers are encouraged to help young…

Hands-on gets serious in The Shop! In this material-specific session of Open Build, you’ll use real tools to build nearly anything you can imagine out of cardboard. Best of all, what you create is yours to keep! Please note: The Shop offers access to real tools and materials that can cause injury if used improperly. Parents are encouraged to help young tinkerers use the tools and materials safely in this space.

Hands-on gets serious in The Shop! In this material-specific session of Open Build, you’ll use real tools to build nearly anything you can imagine out of cardboard. Best of all, what you create is yours to keep! Please note: The Shop offers access to real tools and materials that can cause injury if used improperly. Parents are encouraged to help young tinkerers use the tools and materials safely in this space.

Put your do-it-yourself skills to work in The Shop when you use real tools and materials to create a fun game to play with family and friends. Please note: The Shop offers access to real tools and materials that can be dangerous if used improperly. Parents are encouraged to help young tinkerers use the tools and materials safely in this space.

Dogs are easy to train. Bugs are not. Except for this cute little fella. He always does what you tell him. But can you program him to navigate an obstacle course or perform a specific action? Visit Spark!Lab Smithsonian to find out if you have what it takes to code a bug!

Dogs are easy to train. Bugs are not. Except for this cute little fella. He always does what you tell him. But can you program him to navigate an obstacle course or perform a specific action? Visit Spark!Lab Smithsonian to find out if you have what it takes to code a bug!

Dogs are easy to train. Bugs are not. Except for this cute little fella. He always does what you tell him. But can you program him to navigate an obstacle course or perform a specific action? Visit Spark!Lab Smithsonian to find out if you have what it takes to code a bug!

The 4th of July holiday is typically once of the most damaging to Lake Tahoe, with huge amounts of litter and other debris left behind. In that hands-on activity, visitors can invent a device that will help keep Lake Tahoe’s beaches and shores clean using a variety of materials. What will you invent to help preserve one of America’s most beautiful lakes and the jewel of the Sierra? Please note: Spark!Lab offers access to tools and materials that can cause injury…