There is a little gift shop at the entrance of the museum, and everything was 50% off. There were a lot of toys and kits and rocks. I picked up a sheet of several rock samples to put in our nature display. I also picked up some "Smithsonian Handbooks" on insects. Since we started out nature display I figured that we needed some field guides to help identify and learn more about all the creepy crawlies that Sparkle catches.
Once inside the museum, it was depressing seeing how many of the displays are either being dismantled or are already gone. It is oddly disconcerting to see partially disassembled dinosaur skeletons lying on the floor.
The geode (and rocks and minerals) display had never been completed, yet was already starting to be crated up. Sparkle surprised me when she was looking at a large piece of quartz. She commented how it was pointy like the other rocks. I hadn't gotten around to telling her about crystaline structure yet and she was coming up with this stuff based on her own observations. That's the type of learning that I'm striving for in my homeschool, yet I'm amazed when I hear it.
The bug display was still there, with its Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. Yuck. I took out our magnifying glasses that I'd been lugging around and handed them to Sparkle and Glitter. Instantly all the other little girls wanted to look through the magnifying glasses too. I got out my newly acquired book, looked them up, and read to Sparkle about it.
The museum visited with the customary playtime in the dig pit. The girls happily dug around in the fake dirt covering and uncovering bones and filling and dumping buckets.
We splurged and had lunch at the food court with the group. Then as everyone split up, we went to the Children's Museum, which is also closing, and played there for a few minutes. The girls got their faces painted. Then it was home for naptime.
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