Last Sunday morning my family woke up extra early and piled into the van for a trip to Atlanta. We were so excited to be attending a preview of the brand new permanent children's exhibit at Fernbank Museum of Natural History called NatureQuest!
I've taken Katie to Fernbank numerous times throughout her childhood. She visited at least once or twice a year for most of her elementary school years! Once David was born, we visited a couple times when he was younger, but then we stopped going - money was tighter and we didn't have a membership. Last year, Half Off Depot offered a 1/2 price family membership that was about the cost of a dinner out, and we jumped on it! We've been able to visit every exhibit over the last year, as well as several IMAX movies. It's been a wonderful investment for our family! And I love sharing Fernbank's latest exhibits with y'all! : )
As members, we got an invitation to RSVP for the preview of NatureQuest, and I chose a Sunday morning time slot, thinking that would be less crowded than a Saturday morning or afternoon. We arrived a little early, and were thrilled to be able to take in the Mythical Creatures exhibit before the preview started. Mythical Creatures was fabulous - it had mermaids, a kraken, a unicorn and many other mysterious and beautiful creatures! After we walked through, we headed upstairs to the third floor to check out NatureQuest. By this time, David was practically bouncing off the walls - he couldn't wait to check it out!
As soon as you enter the exhibit space, you notice how huge it is!! Almost 7000 sf of kid-friendly FUN!
I wish I had taken notes, but I was too busy chasing kids with my camera, so check out the pictures and I'll try to share what is going on in each!
 |
| David checks out all kinds of interactive stations as soon as he enters the room! This is a kid in perpetual motion! |
 |
| Climb up the nets inside this tree and you'll be able to cross a swinging bridge and onto a multi-level clubhouse chock full of engaging activies for kids of all ages! |
 |
| This treehouse offers activities guaranteed to bring out the the budding scientist in your family!! |
 |
| Step through this misty waterfall to explore a cave full of fossils, geodes, crystals and more! |
 |
| David LOVED the fossils in this wall!! So much to explore... |
 |
| Explore stalactites with your flashlight, then check out the interactive stations clustered nearby |
 |
| Inside the clubhouse there are tons of stations like this, with items to explore! |
 |
| Faux beaver dam - look at all the items used in building one!! Very educational - how many kids will see a real beaver dam up close like this? |
 |
| Katie in the virtual stream - SO cool, if you stepped "in" it, ripples would form, and if you splashed a hand or foot across the "water", fish would scatter - amazing! One of my favorite places in the exhibit! |
 |
| The ocean exhibit was GORGEOUS! Loved the mobiles, and you can control how fast they spin! : ) |
 |
| More items to explore in the clubouse... |
 |
| Peeking into the ocean area from the clubhouse |
 |
| My little explorer inside the clubhouse |
 |
| Looking for ocean creatures to pop up in these windows while he steers through the deep blue sea... |
 |
| Loved this magnetic scene ~ another interactive fun spot for kiddos! |
 |
This puzzle (built into the side of one of the posts of the dock) was so much fun - all sorts of shells, sea creatures, barnacles and more to pop in and out of their place in the puzzle!
|
 |
| Yet another interactive station that caught my boy's eye! |
Doesn't this place look like a blast for kiddos of any age to explore? (Even parents will have fun here!)
We could have stayed all day, but it was the last preview day and it got crowded FAST! I hope we get to go again before our membership expires at the end of April. (I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that Half Off Depot will do another special so we can sign up for another year!!)
If you are in Atlanta, (or nearby!) this is a must-see exhibit for kids of all ages!! Fernbank Museum of Natural History is located at 767 Clifton Road NE Atlanta, GA 30307 and their phone number is
404.929.6300. Check out their fabulous website at
http://fernbankmuseum.org/.
If you have been, I'd love to hear what you thought about the new NatureQuest exhibit & the Museum!!
That looks like such a fun day!
ReplyDelete:)
Marcy