Tired of dragging your kids to the community pool every day? Wouldn’t you rather be doing something a lot more fun with your summer? How about fun and educational? There are affordable ways to do just that. In Livingston Louisiana, there’s a place called the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory, which people refer to as LIGO (the former being far too much of a mouthful) where people go to check out what kind of science goes on in an observatory. There are free field trips available to their science outreach center and facility with exhibits, activities and projects. Every month, on the third Saturday, they host an event which is science based and open to the public. Activities are created by outreach personnel which cater to all age levels of children, you included, and utilize affordable and easily obtainable materials…. just in case the kids have so much fun during these activities that they want to do it again after they get home. The materials can in fact be obtained at most discount stores. By visiting their website, you can find information on what group sizes they allow, access protocols, and requirements for registration.
Another free but exceptional science program can be enjoyed at the London Science Museum. The museum allows complimentary access and is fun and educational for the entire family. If star gazing is more your scientific interest head for Washington DC’s National Air and Space Museum or the University of Tucson Arizona’s Flandrau Observatory. From 7:00 PM until 10:00 PM, weekly on Wednesdays through Saturdays, the observatory offers free to the public, guided telescope viewing. Now you can finally see what it is that the scientists are constantly gazing at through those big telescopes you see in the movies.
Of course paying a one-time price for unlimited access to certain places of scientific interest is another way to enjoy and learn that the same time. Memberships paid annually include places such as theme parks and science museums; Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute for example, where an annual fee of $99.00 grants a family of four membership only unlimited access. This also includes the same access to other science museums totaling 250. Perhaps your family of five would enjoy any number of trips to Boston’s Museum of Science whose annual fee equals the price of one admission cost plus $10.00. Once again, that allows you unlimited visits.
All science however is not found in observatories and museums. The National Parks Service offers passes called ‘America the Beautiful Passes’ which, for an annual fee of $80.00, allow you and anyone else riding in your vehicle access to recreation sites which are federally owned numbering over 2000. Anyplace that falls under the Bureau of Land Management’s jurisdiction, such as the national forests, wildlife refuges and national parks are included for that fee. Why not pack up the kids and do something that everyone is bound to enjoy; and you’ll be slipping in a little education without the kids even knowing it. Places like the Shenandoah National Park’s junior ranger enrichment program (this program will be of particular interest to anyone considering a career as a naturalist – lessons on falcons, peregrines, lichens, plants and more are discussed by park rangers); Yellowstone National Park’s geysers; California’s Channel Islands and the Marine Acadia National Park’s tidal pools are just a handful of places where nature, science and fun all go hand in hand. Who knows, the adults in your group may even learn something they didn’t know.
So you see, summer doesn’t have to mean the same boring old activities that everyone else is doing day after day; year after year; or dropping a bundle on a massive vacation. Something fun, affordable and exciting is waiting just around the corner; you need but to look around you. Between Mother Nature, the creation of the galaxy and buildings dedicated to nothing but housing the wonders of science and discovery, boredom will never be an issue. Even those that don’t find particular interest in science can appreciate many of the things discussed in this article. There’s nothing like the face of a child, a look of pure awe and wonderment, when they realize just how a big the galaxy is around us and just how small we as humans are on this puny little planet.