Join one of our museum educators as she reads Uncovering Earth’s Secrets: Science and Adventure on the JOIDES Resolution, by Kevin Kurtz, with illustrations by Alice Feagan!

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our very first Facebook Live event, in celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope’s 30th birthday! Faithe and Sarah had a blast presenting on live video feed about the history and significance of the Hubble Space Telescope. (Hubble launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990.)

In this post, we share additional Hubble resources, to keep the learning coming all weekend. In particular, there are plenty of opportunities to dive deeper into the Cosmic Reef—which we are able to visit via the special Hubble image “Tapestry of Blazing Starbirth” that was publicly revealed for the first time on April 24, 2020.

Join one of our educators as she reads Iceberg of Antarctica by Marlo Garnsworthy. This is a story in two parts: the first part, about the lifespan of an iceberg, may be enough for some viewers—or stay for the “fine print” finale, with details on the JOIDES scientific coring expedition!

Use modeling clay to create a simple model of the Earth’s layered structure!

A terrarium is an enclosed environment created for plants, which needs very little outside intervention once it is set up. In celebration of Earth Day, let’s create a basic terrarium from an upcycled 2-liter plastic bottle. When it is complete, our plant will receive sunlight through the transparent walls of the bottle, and it will obtain water from its own water cycle!

Since 1970, communities and activists have celebrated Earth Day on April 22. On this day, people all over the world show their support for environmental protection, advocating and working to make our planet a cleaner and healthier place for all of us. This year, for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the theme is climate change.

The Earth Day Network offers many opportunities the join and follow the global movement for environmentalism. For something closer to home, the Discovery Center will be posting crafts, resources, activities throughout the day, with the aim of learning about—and appreciating the beauty in—our very own home planet. We hope you’ll celebrate with us!

Learn how different colors interact with heat in this simple solar-powered activity!

This activity is geared toward elementary-level learners, but can easily scale up or down depending on existing science knowledge. Younger children may appreciate performing the experiment with less emphasis on the background and concluding information, while older students may choose to supplement this lesson with in-depth research on wavelengths and energy.

Make your own bouncy ball with this easy at-home recipe

A fun all-ages activity, with adult supervision required for younger learners (mess potential!)

Join one of our museum educators as she reads the children’s book There Once Was a Sky Full of Stars by Bob Crelin, with illustrations by Amie Ziner!

Join one of our educators for an at-home science demonstration about invisibility!

Make your own celestial “dirty snowball” with common household materials!

a simple all-ages activity

Can you make Space Goo strong enough to protect an egg? Find out with this simple at-home activity! Hands-on fun for all ages, with adult supervision (mess potential!)

Join one of our educators for a series of at-home science demonstrations on atmospheric pressure!

Join one our our museum educators as she reads the children’s book The Moon Over Star by Dianna Hutts Aston, with illustrations by Jerry Pinkney!

Join one our our museum educators as she reads the children’s book “Going Around the Sun: Some Planetary Fun” by Marianne Berkes!

Assemble and test your own space shuttle glider with this at-home project from NASA!

Learn how clouds form—and see it in action!—with this at-home science lesson and video demonstration.

Be a community scientist by logging today’s cloud cover. Learn how here!