EarthFest Guide

Earthfest 2024 activities in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life.
Daniel Kim/© AMNH

Our Power, Our Planet

Join us for a full day of family-friendly activities celebrating planet Earth.
Free for Members or with Museum admission.

All-Day Activities in Milstein Hall of Ocean Life

11 am–4 pm

Identification Stations

Get an up-close look at specimens from the Museum’s scientific collections, while scientists attempt to identify your discoveries–objects or specimens–from the beach, park, garden, or your travels. Past discoveries at the Museum’s Identification Day have included:

A 3,000-year-old hand axe found in a Staten Island backyard
Fossilized dinosaur tracks from a slab of rock in Massachusetts
A 72-million-year-old shark tooth discovered in New Jersey
A Pleistocene-era fossil walrus skull found on a beach in Virginia

Participating scientists include researchers from the Museum’s Divisions of Anthropology, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Invertebrate Zoology (Department of Entomology), Vertebrate Zoology (Departments of Herpetology and Mammalogy), and Paleontology.

Before you come to the Identification Stations at EarthFest, here are a few tips that will help scientists identify your specimens:

Anthropology

Please bring cultural objects only (objects made by or used by humans).
Bring as much information about your cultural object as possible. If it belongs to a friend or family member, try to get the information from them.
If you think your cultural object may be culturally significant or sensitive in nature, please bring in an image instead of the object.

Paleontology

Bring as much information about your specimen as possible, especially its place of origin.

A Special Note about Animal Specimens

With the exception of insects, please do not bring any live or dead specimens. Photos of your snake, bird, or other specimen will suffice for identification.

Identification Games

Craft Stations

Be a Shark Station

Become a Part of Nature with InHerBeauty

Timed Activities in the Gilder Center

11 am-4 pm

Billion Oyster Project

Billion Oyster Project is restoring oyster reefs to New York Harbor in collaboration with New York City communities. Oyster reefs provide habitat for hundreds of species and can protect our city from storm damage—softening the blow of large waves, reducing flooding, and preventing erosion along the shorelines. Join Billion Oyster Project to see one of their oyster tanks!

Venom CoLab Join Killer Snails to demo VenomCoLab- an inquiry-based, collaborative science experience! In this interactive, digital and augmented reality adventure, you can take on roles as scientists and work together to study venom in organisms such as marine snails, snakes, sea anemones, or scorpions. Venom CoLab is funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under award number 4R44GM146490.

11:15 am, 12 pm, 12:45 pm, and 1:30 pm

Radiolab's Terrestrials: The Monsters Among Us

What makes a monster? Is it size, fangs, or just a matter of perspective?

Join Radiolab’s family nature podcast, Terrestrials, at EarthFest for The Monsters Among Us, a deep dive into the critters that creep, crawl, and captivate—from the pigeons that rule New York City sidewalks to deep-sea giants that haunt the ocean depths. Hosted in the Gilder Center’s Kenneth C. Griffin Exploration Atrium, this live, interactive experience invites curious young minds to reimagine the natural world.

Noon-3 pm

Microscopic Marvels: Exploring NYC's Urban Ecosystem

Meet our tiny New York City neighbors! Use a variety of microscopes to get a sparkling introduction to plankton swimming in our ponds and winged critters that glide on the breezes of our urban habitats.

2 pm

Storytime: We Leap Together with Christopher Silas Neal

We Leap Together by Christopher Silas Neal is a beautifully illustrated picture book that celebrates the joy of movement, friendship, and togetherness. Through rhythmic text and dynamic artwork, the book follows a group of diverse children as they jump, spin, and dance in harmony with the world around them. With an uplifting message about unity and connection, We Leap Together encourages readers to embrace spontaneity, teamwork, and the simple pleasures of play.

Christopher Silas Neal is an award-winning author and illustrator of picture books. Neal is a Mexican/European American artist who lives with his wife and two boys in Brooklyn, NY.

Find out More About Terrestrials

Terrestrials is a podcast for people of all ages that explores the strangeness that exists right here on Earth. In each episode, host Lulu Miller will introduce you to a creature or earthly phenomenon that will defy your expectations of how nature is supposed to work.

Listen »

Illustration of a person with a backpack on standing in front of a large egg shaped structure covered in colorful lichen.

Tara Anand

Explore More

Educator Materials What is Biodiversity? Students can learn about biodiversity by making observations in the field and through mapping activities. Educator Materials Selecting a Site for Field Study Students are introduced to the techniques used by scientists in the field: how to select a site for study, and how to map it.

Educator Materials Plant Identification Educator Materials Plant Ecology Educator Materials Arthropod Identification Educator Materials What are the Connections?

EarthFest is generously supported by the Abel Shafer Public Program Fund, a fund created by the Arlene B. Coffey Trust to honor the memory of Abel Shafer.

A portion of this program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.