Calendar of Events

Educators are invited to a free day at The Discovery on Saturday, September 14, 2019. Explore the entire museum including new exhibitions Mindbender Mansion and Sun, Earth, Universe. Open to everyone in the education field, you’ll discover innovative, engaging, standards-aligned ways to bring STEAM subjects into your classroom and learn more about the museum’s 2019/20 school field trip program. The first 100 attendees will receive a generous goodie bag—our thanks for your partnership in education!

Ever wonder how a kaleidoscope works? Understand the science by creating your own in The Shop! Combine a variety of materials with angled reflective surfaces to build this traditional toy which gets its name from Greek words meaning “beautiful form to see.” 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 exploration station to create a wearable celebration of your favorite educator. Wear the button you create, or give it to the favorite educator in your life, to say thanks for helping foster a love of lifelong learning, just like The Discovery!

Use the force, blast into hyperspace, phone home and get beamed up during an evening of intergalactic exploration inspired by a galaxy far, far away. Get ready to get hands-on with the science that makes the fiction fantastic. Sci-fi soundtrack provided by StaxOfWax of the Thermites. Labs, lectures and programming for this Social Science will include: Saber Jousting Use the force of science to knock your opponent off their perch in this classic sci-fi duel. Felt Heroes and Heroines Get…

Eat, drink and explore an array of mind-bendingly magical and mysterious food and drink from the best local businesses around at Yelpstronomy 5.0, benefitting The Discovery! Your suggested donation helps support the museum’s mission to inspire by being the place to experience science. Engage, learn and interact with our community’s top experts in our interactive labs, wander the museum and sample food and drink that will force you to rethink what you already know, and party the night away with…

Combine physics with classic tic tac toe when you create a catapult and a game board in The Shop. Using available tools and materials, you’ll create a simple catapult you can use to launch X’s and O’s into your game board. Get three in a row and you’re the winner! 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…

Combine a classic clothespin with a battery, wires, LED lights, and various other crafting materials to create a spooky light-up mummy. Happy Halloween! 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.

Combine a classic clothespin with a battery, wires, LED lights, and various other crafting materials to create a spooky light-up mummy. Happy Halloween! 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.

Combine a classic clothespin with a battery, wires, LED lights, and various other crafting materials to create a spooky light-up mummy. Happy Halloween! 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.

Combine a classic clothespin with a battery, wires, LED lights, and various other crafting materials to create a spooky light-up mummy. Happy Halloween! 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.

Celebrate advancements in space exploration with a shrinky dink you create in The Shop. Using thermoplastic, you can design your own object to shrink into a keychain, earrings, pendent, or whatever you can imagine. 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.

Join our friends from the Astronomical Society of Nevada to view the moon and other planets up close. They’ll be in the museum’s parking lot with a variety of telescopes pointed at the heavens. Stop by to learn about the Society and find out why they are so passionate about looking out into space. Note: The viewing will take place outside The Discovery. Museum admission is not required to participate. About Astronomical Society of Nevada The mission of the Astronomical Society of…

Celebrate advancements in space exploration with a shrinky dink you create in The Shop. Using thermoplastic, you can design your own object to shrink into a keychain, earrings, pendent, or whatever you can imagine. 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 this Exploration Station, participants will learn about how scientists and engineers use robotic rovers and other vehicles to explore distant worlds, and experience some of the challenges and teamwork required to navigate a rover across the surface of a planet millions of miles away. Players acting as “Mission Control” and a “Rover” must work together to navigate a large obstacle course. Participants can also design their own rover to overcome the particular challenges of exploring a distant planet.

Did you know the Curiosity Mars rover takes 3-D photos by using its cameras like left and right eyeballs, snapping photos from two slightly different perspectives. When NASA tints the two images, one red and one blue, and combines them, we can see 3-D views of Mars. In this activity you’ll make your own pair of 3-D glasses you can use to look at stellar scenes from Earth to Mars and beyond.

Visit The Shop to create a creepy, crawly motorized monster just in time for Halloween. Using available materials, batteries and miniature motors, you can create a scary, wiggling robot. 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 use a variety of materials to create your very own Halloween themed straw rocket. 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 are encouraged to help young tinkerers use the tools and materials safely in this space.