Calendar of Events

Design, cut and sew a Valentine’s Day plush toy in The Shop. Using a variety of materials and your crafting skills, create a unique Valentine’s inspired plush keepsake to keep or give as a gift. 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.

Design, cut and sew a Valentine’s Day plush toy in The Shop. Using a variety of materials and your crafting skills, create a unique Valentine’s inspired plush keepsake to keep or give as a gift. 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.

Visit The Discovery on the second Wednesday of every month for Tech!Night, a new program designed to put emerging technology in the hands of museum visitors. Tech!Nights will feature a variety of high-tech tools and techniques, gadgets and games – command a robot, print in 3-D, and even code a new game – happening monthly in Spark!Lab Smithsonian. The World of Drones At this Tech!Night, take to the skies when you learn how drones work, what tasks they can perform,…

Put your architecture and interior design skills to the test in The Shop when you use cardboard and other materials to create and decorate a miniature house. And, the dwelling 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 are encouraged to help young tinkerers use the tools and materials safely in this space.

Put your architecture and interior design skills to the test in The Shop when you use cardboard and other materials to create and decorate a miniature house. And, the dwelling 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 are encouraged to help young tinkerers use the tools and materials safely in this space.

Put your architecture and interior design skills to the test in The Shop when you use cardboard and other materials to create and decorate a miniature house. And, the dwelling 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 are encouraged to help young tinkerers use the tools and materials safely in this space.

In The Shop, hands-on gets serious. During Open Build, take your pick from a variety of materials and use real tools to design and build nearly anything you can imagine. Best of all, what you create is yours to keep! 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.

Visit The Shop to create a playground for light and shadow. Using your ingenuity and a variety of materials, create the stage and characters for a shadow box theater where silhouettes play the starring role. 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.

Visit The Shop to create a playground for light and shadow. Using your ingenuity and a variety of materials, create the stage and characters for a shadow box theater where silhouettes play the starring role. 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.

Visit The Shop to create a playground for light and shadow. Using your ingenuity and a variety of materials, create the stage and characters for a shadow box theater where silhouettes play the starring role. 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.

Take The Discovery’s paint turntable for a spin in The Shop and create your very own piece of centrifugal artwork. 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.

In The Shop, hands-on gets serious. During Open Build, take your pick from a variety of materials and use real tools to design and build nearly anything you can imagine. Best of all, what you create is yours to keep! 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.

Create an industrial impression of your likeness in The Shop. Using a variety of nuts, bolts, and other assorted hardware, you can create an artistic impression of your image using your tinkering skills. 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.

Create an industrial impression of your likeness in The Shop. Using a variety of nuts, bolts, and other assorted hardware, you can create an artistic impression of your image using your tinkering skills. 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.

It’s that time of year when the pesky leprechaun starts lurking around. Increase your odds of trapping him or her, with a do-it-yourself leprechaun trap you create in The Shop. Using available tools and materials, you can design and build a foolproof trap to ensnare the tricky leprechaun and grab his pot of gold! 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…

It’s that time of year when the pesky leprechaun starts lurking around. Increase your odds of trapping him or her, with a do-it-yourself leprechaun trap you create in The Shop. Using available tools and materials, you can design and build a foolproof trap to ensnare the tricky leprechaun and grab his pot of gold! 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…

It’s that time of year when the pesky leprechaun starts lurking around. Increase your odds of trapping him or her, with a do-it-yourself leprechaun trap you create in The Shop. Using available tools and materials, you can design and build a foolproof trap to ensnare the tricky leprechaun and grab his pot of gold! 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…

Visit The Shop to create a Guatemalan-inspired worry doll. If your worries are keeping you awake a night, you can tell your worries to your worry dolls and let them do your worrying for you. 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.

Visit The Shop to create a Guatemalan-inspired worry doll. If your worries are keeping you awake a night, you can tell your worries to your worry dolls and let them do your worrying for you. 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.

In The Shop, hands-on gets serious. During Open Build, take your pick from a variety of materials and use real tools to design and build nearly anything you can imagine. Best of all, what you create is yours to keep! 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.

Stop by this hands-on activity to learn about how some rockets carry science tools—not scientists—into space, and how a special kind of rocket called “sounding rockets” can be used for quick, low-flying scientific missions into space. You can build and launch your own air rockets to help imagine the challenges and triumphs of engineering spacecraft and launching them into a specific region of the space above our planet. Activity available 11:30am – 1:30pm

Can you imagine driving an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) on the moon? In The Shop, you can design and build your own version of a Mars rover powered by a rubber band. Test, evaluate, and redesign your rover to determine what will work best on the rugged terrain of the Red Planet! 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…

Stop by this hands-on activity to see how scientists can use tools to study the invisible magnetic fields of Earth, the Sun, and other objects in the universe. You’ll learn how the Sun’s magnetic field extends far out into space and sends bursts of magnetic energy across the solar system, while Earth’s strong magnetic field helps protect life on our planet from dangerous solar and cosmic radiation. Activity available 12:30 – 2:30pm