Since this was an "official" school trip, I wanted to make sure the kids paid extra attention to the exhibits (and I was really annoyed the last time we went to a museum and they did nothing but rush through). So, I did some Google-ing and found some resources they could use as we walked around the museum. I pulled some questions from a scavenger hunt site (just those about dinosaurs) and also printed out the educational materials available on the AMNH website. They had great materials for the Hall of Human Origins exhibit, and the Dinosaurs Among Us special exhibit.
They brought along their storage clipboards to use during the trip. Vicki managed to leave hers behind twice but both times remembered fairly quickly and was able to run back and grab it.
Squidy added drawings to his answers.
The questions definitely served their purpose. The kids were much more deliberate about looking at the exhibits and reading the informational signs.
Trilobites are Vicki's favorites. Ever since I rehung our Charlie's Playhouse timeline, she's been fascinated with them. She did a poster for the 4-H Fair over the summer and will be doing a presentation at an upcoming meeting.
Did you know you can actually find stuffed trilobites (and hallucigenia and pteryglotus and dunkleosteus) on Amazon? Christmas Presents!
The kids weren't really thrilled with the Hall of Human Origins. Vicki found the skeletons and most of the dioramas "creepy". She was still able to answer some of the questions on her worksheet but unfortunately for her, we had to walk through the hall twice since we had to retrace our steps after visiting the meteorite and gems/mineral halls.
We had afternoon tickets for the Dinosaurs Among Us exhibit. It would have been better if we had done this earlier in the day because by that time they were getting tired and were ready to head home.
I'm planning to head back again when we start studying habitats, and possibly take a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to visit their Greek, Roman and Egyptian exhibits as we go through Ancient History.
Awesome! We went on a very short visit to New York City this summer, but did not get to that museum.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Dawn
Thank you for coming by! We really should go more often considering how quickly we can get there. But sometimes the idea of the crowded train and/or traffic, plus keeping track of two kids in the Big City, is a little overwhelming.
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