We began the trip by picking up our clipboards and educational materials given to us by our docent. Then we were given a quick tour of the Treasure exhibit before being allowed to spend the next hour exploring for ourselves. Kaelan's favorite part was getting to pan for gemstones in a trough of sand and water. Actually, I think that is pretty much the only part that Kaelan participated in--once he got started he didn't want to look at anything else! Tristan loved the time spent getting to know new friends and "shooting" cannonballs at a computer-image pirate ship. Addie spent most of her time running after her brothers, but did enjoy designing her own pirate flag and making rubbings of pirate coins.
After we were finished exploring our docent led us into an interactive classroom where the children got to learn more about how precious things (like those in a museum or even at home) should be cared for. We learned the differences between a base, a neutral and an acid with a fun experiment. Then the kiddos pulled on rubber gloves in order to handle the "artifact" in the middle of their table. Each child was given a worksheet to record the date, description of item, temerature, humidity, important details about the artifact and much more. After we were done studying and classifying the object some of the children gave a brief presentation on their artifact to the rest of us.
Once we were finished with the classroom we were free to roam around the rest of the Missouri History Museum (Tuesdays are FREE for all exhibits!) Because we wanted to get home to see Dustin before he left for work (and it was lunch time) we kept the rest of our visit brief--but we can't wait to go back and visit again soon!!!
The "Treasure: Rags to Riches" exhibit will be at the Missouri History Museum until January 3, 2010. If you visit on a Tuesday your admission is FREE. All other days there is a $5/adult, $3/senior and student admission fee but children 12 and under are FREE any day of the week.
It was fun. Thanks for the invite.
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