Kids Guide to the Museum
Packed with photos, cool facts, and dozens of activities, this spiral-bound, hardcover book is the first kids guide to the American Museum of Natural History. They'll learn as they go, following clues to a Museum-wide scavenger hunt through towering totem poles and the world's largest collection of dinosaur fossils. Find ancient sharks, your weight on the moon, and a board game that spread around the world. Get the inside scoop on how much the blue whale model weighs or how to keep a 34-ton meteorite from crashing through the floor. Puzzles, games, and great science content engage kids of all ages—and make this a souvenir they'll treasure.
SPOILER ALERT: Looking for the answers to the Fill-in-the-Blank activity in the guide? Click here.
Article
Planetary Mysteries
How much do you know about the Earth's little neighborhood within the vast universe? Take a virtual tour of our solar system to explore its many mysteries. Then put your new-found knowledge to the test.
Article
If Rocks Could Talk
Whether 4.5 billion or 900 years old, every rock has a story to tell, giving us clues about the history of the Earth. Explore these stories by looking at igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.
Activity
Layers of Time
How do your fossil-sorting skills stack up? Put them to the test with this kid-friendly online puzzle.
Activity
Drawing Dinos
Ever wonder how scientists can look at a bunch of bones and draw what a dinosaur looked like? Learn their five-step trick. Then, bring a Stegosaurus skeleton to life.
Hands-on Activity
Super Teeth
What would it be like to bite like a saber-toothed cat? Or to gnaw like a beaver? Explore other mammals' teeth with this matching game and coloring book!
Hands-on Activity
Mammal Flip Books
How do how gazelles jump straight up into the air from a standstill? And why do dolphins swim differently than fish? Create six fun flipbooks to explore how mammals move!
Tree of Life - Science Research Course
January 2, 2013 - February 13, 2013
Learn how scientists use both physical and molecular characteristics of plants and animals to classify and name species, as well as determine how different species are related to one another.
Activity
The Legend of Flying Frog
If you can save this species from extinction, happy frogs will fly all over Meeps Island. So pack your imagination and drawing supplies into a kayak, and embark on one remarkable adventure.
Activity
Feed the Birds
You can tell a lot about your ecosystem by the kinds of birds that live in it. Create a simple feeder, and see how many of your feathered neighbors come to dine there.
Hands-on Activity
Web of Life
Play the Web of Life game to discover how all the players in an ecosystem depend on each other to survive. As you play, you'll come up with the connections between different species and their environments.
Activity
Endangered Species Game
Roll snake eyes, and you're on your way to survival. Land on the extinct box, though, and you're gone. Kaput. Finis. In this board game, your very survival is at stake!
Activity
Create a Coral Reef
Did you know that, at their core, coral reefs are the skeletons of thousands of dead coral? Make your own coral reef diorama—with pasta, Play-Doh™, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, and hair curlers.
Activity
Make Your Own Mythic Mask or Puppet
What happens when cyclops, the one-eyed giant from Greek mythology, meets Indonesia's shaggy lion-like Barong? Well, that's all up to you. Don these masks and tell your own mythic tale.
Activity
Sounds of the Silk Road
Because travelers along the Silk Road often spoke different languages, music was a good way from them to communicate. Sample some of the music they shared.
Article
What's the Big Idea About Anthropology?
How do people live in different parts of the world? And how have humans changed over time? Get the big picture on what it means to be human.
Activity
Piecing It All Together
Ornate jewelry, simple baskets, stone tools ... these are just some of the artifacts archaeologists have uncovered among ancient ruins. But one of the most common discoveries is pottery.
Activity
Inca Investigation
It's your turn to do archaeology! As you investigate what daily life was like in the Inca empire, you have the chance to collect Inca chronicles. Do you have what it takes to collect all six?
