Did you know there are dinosaurs living in your backyard? A visit to the L&A County Museum this summer will help you find the answer.
Calling all nature lovers, historians, scientists and explorers, do we have some big exciting news for you!

Museums are a place of learning and discovery. When visiting Museums, having an element of hands on learning brings that learning to life for kids of all ages. I am excited to announce that we have a new project on the go creating a Museum Kids discovery zone filled with activities for our visitors to enjoy during all of our regular opening hours. Now you can bring your kids at any time for a hands-on engaging visit, outside of our regular program schedule. 

While visiting the L&A County Museum this summer, guests will be able to enjoy the traveling exhibit “Our Feathered Friends” from the Canadian Museum of Nature. While you enjoy this exhibit, kids will be able to participate in countless activities, puzzles and games, read books and observe first hand L&A County Oology (the study of eggs) in the discovery zone.  
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Would you like even more good news? In addition to these regular everyday activities, throughout the summer there will be rotating focus activities to engage kids in specific aspects within the life of Birds. From June 28th - July 13th visitors will be able to eat like a bird, learning all about different bird beaks and their uses. Using different tools, they will be able to figure out what foods work best for each “beak type”.

July 15th -August 3rd, visitors will become scientists and have the task of dissecting owl puke (or for adults, we can refer to them as owl pellets). This engaging activity will teach visitors all about food chains and the digestive process of owls. Visitors can even try to recreate the bones from the pellets and figure out what the owl had eaten.

August 5th - August 17th visitors will learn about how we can protect and help our backyard feathered friends and the environment by making upcycled bird houses out of common household materials. Do you have a single or damaged boot? How about a teacup or a teapot? Or, a collection of toilet paper roles or egg cartons? Bird feeders can be made out of all sorts of items, and you will be helping to keep things out of the garbage while doing so.

For the last two weeks, from August 19th – August 31st, visitors will get to focus on our Natural History and find out how birds are actually dinosaurs! Looking at skeletons, visitors will learn how evolution changed the big mighty dinosaurs that roamed our land millions of years ago into the birds that grace our earth today. I do not know about you but I do not think I would be as excited to point out a mighty archaeopteryx and its eggs to my kids as I am about the blue jay who has borrowed a spot on my back porch to create a nest.  
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There will be something for everyone to enjoy, learn and discover while visiting the L&A County Museum this summer. I look forward to seeing you here to share my passion and inspiration for history through these activities and discovery space. The Museum Kids discover zone will be a permanent new space in the Museum that will change throughout the year to enhance the learning and experience of our exhibits and history. Next time you see a bird you can tell the person you are with to “watch out, you see a dinosaur”! Happy learning everyone, and remember there is history behind everything we have in life today so keep asking questions and visiting Museums to find clues to discover the answer.  

Please visit www.CountyMuseum.ca or follow us on Facebook @CountyMuseum for more details on upcoming programs and events happening at your Museum.