Carnegie Museum of Natural History

One of the Four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh

Summer camps

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We are one with the force; the force is with science!

By Breann Thompson

In a galaxy far, far away…is life really all that different?  Campers at Carnegie Museum of Natural History have the opportunity to answer that very question this summer!

Star Warriors campers

One recent class of padawans was tasked with selecting a new home planet for the Rebel Alliance—and you can’t choose the best location for a rebel base without a deep understanding of biomes and the types of life that thrive in each!  With that in mind, we travelled the galaxy, and the museum, to devise a plan.  Exploration of Walton Hall of Ancient Egypt helped uncover the landscape of Tatooine.  We imagine that Dagobah wildlife would have much in common with the ancient Pennsylvanian Coal Forests on display in Benedum Hall of Geology.  We even tried our hand at building ice houses, inspired by Inuit culture in Polar World, to test our survival skills on the frigid planet of Hoth.

Star Warriors campers

For now, we’ve been tasked with guarding the base’s location, but I have faith our budding Jedi are responsibly wielding the light side of the force.

The quest for knowledge continues—and you can join in!  The 2018 camp season runs through August 24, and there are chances to join in us in nature exploration throughout the year.

Breann Thompson works in the Education department of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

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Campers Learn New Skills in Survival Challenge

By Breann Thompson

It’s July, and summer camps are in full swing here at the museum.

With this summer’s intense storms fresh in our minds, we’ve been thinking about the impacts of extreme weather events.  If we’re out exploring the woods when an unexpected storm hits, how can we stay safe?

Campers recently put their ideas to the test with a shelter-building challenge.  Using only items that had already fallen in the forest and a time-limit of 15 minutes, campers were challenged to construct a lean-to that could provide shelter for at least one camper in the event of an emergency. Given the constraints, we were quite impressed—if quite tired!

But what is shelter without food?!  For that, we took to the creek in search of our favorite potential food source—crayfish!

campers in a stream in the woods

The hunt continues—and you can join in!  The 2018 camp season runs through August 24, and there are chances to join us in nature exploration throughout the year.

Learn more about summer camps at camps.artandnaturalhistory.org.

Breann Thompson works in the Education department of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

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Summer of science and discovery

Children looking through a microscope

children making a science experiment

children looking at frogs in a pond

children writing experiment results in a workbook

It has been a great summer of science and discovery at Carnegie Museum of Natural History Summer Camps.

In camps from Weird Science to Apocalypse Wow!, campers have used real scientific tools, done cool experiments, and learned about the natural world!

Check back next year for more great programs!

children looking at a specimen

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Summer Camps are underway

campers working with clay

campers studying a specimen

campers "flying" with paper wings

campers rolling out dough with rolling pins

Summer Camps are underway this summer at Carnegie Museum of Natural History! Campers ages 4–13 spent the past few weeks exploring the historic halls of the museum at camps about biology, ancient civilizations, prehistoric beasts, and more!

There are still a few camps open! Visit our summer camps site for more information.

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Exploring Intergalactic Natural History

Researcher Tim Pearce sitting on the floor talking to a group of campers

What can the science of natural history teach us about the Star Wars universe? In a new week-long summer day camp at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, kids ages 6 and 7 had a chance to find out first hand. By comparing Mesozoic ferns to plants in the forest of Endor and conducting condensation experiments to prepare for survival in the desert of Tatooine, campers activated their imaginations and honed their observation skills.

Museum scientists also joined in on the fun. Dr. Tim Pearce, assistant curator and head of the Section of Mollusks, helped campers investigate a critical question—is Jabba the Hut a slug? After learning about slug features with Dr. Pearce, one camper gave a scientific rationale for the answer— “No. Jabba does not have eye stalks, but slugs do!”

Due to popular demand, a second session of Star Warriors has been added July 31–August 4. Register online by July 27 to join in on the fun.

On Hoth Day, Star Warriors experimented with water and ice, making ice cream with solid carbon dioxide (dry ice) and building model igloos. “The ice cream was bubbling like crazy,” campers observed.

campers making ice cream
campers making excited faces at their bubbling ice cream

Campers wrapped up the week by making their own costumes and solving a Star Wars quest in the museum galleries. Visit camps.artandnaturalhistory.org to sign up for the next session!

three campers dressed up in costumes that they made