Family Fun Saturdays

Join Nevada State Museum for an online educational event this Saturday. Sonia Carlson and Mina Stafford will talk about the meaning of the traditions associated with Chinese New Year and teach you how to say Happy New Year in Chinese. After that we will make a drum inspired by a Chinese drum in the museums collection.

The Friends of the Nevada State Museum thanks everyone who attended, donated to, and participated in the sold out and overwhelmingly successful performance of their original production of A Night with Notorious Nevadans.

Puppet stories, animal stamp crafts and studying the signs of scat are all on the menu from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 9, as the Nevada State Museum, Carson City, celebrates “Beastly Encounters and Coyote Stories,” an educational and fun program for all ages.

Holiday crafts that celebrate the Nevada pine trees are on the agenda for the December program “Pines are Fine” at the Nevada State Museum, Carson City from 10 a.m. to 3.pm. Saturday, Dec. 12. No reservations are needed and guests of all ages are welcome.

Basque language, food, music and play for the whole family are all part of a very special event at the Nevada State Museum, Carson City from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 10.

The monthly Family Fun Saturdays series gets kids involved in many aspects of the museum, from Nevada history to cultural and nature studies. October’s event features Xabier Irujo, co-director at the Center for Basque Studies at UNR, his five young children and several special guests who will entertain and share culture and heritage.

A brand new science program designed for all ages comes to the Nevada State Museum, Carson City’s Family Fun Saturdays program from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., this Saturday, March 14.

“Desert Adaptations,” introduces visitors to plants and animals that survive in the harsh region, including the kangaroo rat, burrowing owl, desert tortoise, antelope squirrel, creosote bush, cacti and succulents.

Families are invited to explore “Pines are Fine,” a special Nevada State Museum holiday program from 10 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13 in Carson City. Visitors are invited to craft a pine cone wreath, a pine cone angel or decorate a small holiday tree made from a Jeffrey Pine cone and may work as long as they would like on the craft.

Families are invited to a special Nevada State Museum program, “Exploring Topographical Maps,” from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 17 in Carson City. The activity continues the museum’s Family Fun Saturdays series, this time with a focus on helping children discover the beauty and intrigue of maps.

The program complements the museum’s sesquicentennial exhibit, “Finding Fremont: Pathfinder of the West,” on display through spring 2015.

Looking for a fun, educational activity to enrich your Saturday? Discover Family Fun Saturdays at the Nevada State Museum.

Saturday, May 17 features Exploring Topographical Maps and the Fremont exhibit, from 10 am - 3 pm for ages ten and up. Discover how to read a topo map to plan hikes, understand the flow of water, and appreciate the rugged Nevada landscape; construct a hill using contour layers and learn how to read a compass.

Jenni Jeffers will present “Owls in Nevada” from 1-2 pm, Saturday, March 8 at the Nevada State Museum’s Family Fun Saturday program. A biologist for the Nevada Department of Wildlife, Jeffers will bring some of the live owl species native to Nevada and explain their life history.

Tickets are available at 9 a.m. The museum will offer a science activity from 10 a.m. to noon in the Discovery Lab, that includes examples of bird’s nests, feathers and eggs, and an opportunity to dissect an owl pellet.

“Family Fun Saturdays” returns to the Nevada State Museum in Carson City with "Wild and Wonderful Wetlands” Saturday, Jan. 11.

From 10 a.m. to noon, guests will explore how American Indians used plants from the wetlands for food, medicine, and clothing in the museum’s Discovery Lab. The program also examines what kinds of birds and animals use wetlands for their homes.

For hands-on fun, guests will have the opportunity to participate in a 30-minute lab or art project, or both, in groups of eight.

Families are invited to explore “Beastly Encounters” at a special Nevada State Museum program from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8 in Carson City. The activity continues the museum’s Family Fun Saturdays series. Children will explore how learning to observe animal signs, tracks and scat can help identify which animals have been in an area and how clues can tell about animal behavior too.