Visit the Family Museum
Comments (...)BETTENDORF, Iowa — The Family Museum is located on the Learning Campus next to the Bettendorf Public Library and Information Center. Sitting just off 18th Street and Spruce Hills Drive in Bettendorf, the museum prides itself on offering an array of unique and educational experiences for children and families alike. Since opening in the new facility in 1997, the museum has served more than 1.2 million people.
The Family Museum includes 44,000 square feet of programming space including a 9,600 square feet interactive exhibit hall, three multi-purpose rooms for dance instruction and performances, two preschool classrooms, two art studios, one science studio, a party room, a great hall, Corner Store, welcome theater for groups, and an outdoor science discovery park named the “Kingdom for Kids” playground. The outdoor Kingdom for Kids Playground has things to climb, slide down, swing across, go up and down and slither around. The playground is the centerpiece of the courtyard which also features a natural amphitheater, gazebo picnic area, outdoor program area and floral plantings. A new waterplay facility called “Grandpa’s Fountain” lets kids have wet fun with faucets, buckets, troughs, bowls, funnels and floating toys. The courtyard is open whenever weather permits.
Exhibits and programs are designed for a primary audience of children ages 8 years of age and younger and their adult caregivers.
There are several permanent gallery exhibits. In Amazing Acres, children learn about weather and agriculture. They can touch a 10-foot tornado, create a cloud, and learn about precipitation from local meteorologists. Shop in the convenience store and pump bio-fuel at the station. Climb a tree house, crawl through the giant tree trunk, or plant vegetables in the garden. “Drive” a John Deere combine cab through the cornfields at harvest time.
In Busy Bodies: Healthy Choices, children can travel through the inside of an enormous 14-foot high human heart, serve up a tasty meal at the MyPyramid station, and conquer the 20-foot long rock climbing wall. Kids are never too young to learn about eating right and exercising to build a strong body and a healthy heart.
In PlayHouse, children 4 and under pretend and play house in the bilingual exhibit complete with Alphabet Kitchen, Lullaby Bedroom, My Body Bathroom, Clean Clothes Corner, Play Porch, Number Yard, and even a doggie door for the family pet.
In Rhythm Alley, this gallery rocks with sound, music and a psychedelic shawdowbox called Split Images. The Wacky Mirrors interactive exhibit takes your image and breaks it up in ways that will amaze you. Make your own kind of music on a Clavinova or with a bicycle wheel in a whimsical area called Happenstanza. Music Makers features five kinds of music and stories about key people who make the music happen. Dancing lights, a pinball music machine, the pentaphone and musical gizmos are all part of this up-beat world of musical adventures.
The museum also has traveling exhibits. Turtle Travels, which will be at the museum until May 20, allows visitors of all ages to walk onto a life-sized board game and explore firsthand through interactive games, images, participatory text, artifacts and video what it’s like to be a turtle moving through local habitats. The lively setting will have visitors advancing from one station to the next as they crawl under a live turtle enclosure, try on a turtle shell, help turtles to safety and follow a sea turtle as it swims.
They’ll discover fascinating facts about what it’s like to be a turtle — how their bodies adapt themselves to many different habitats, why turtles need shells, the kinds of hazards they encounter in the wild, why turtles have been important to many different cultures and more.
This special exhibit is sure to intrigue visitors of all ages and provide an unusual perspective on some really cool reptiles. Trek along our turtle terrain and you’ll find out that slow and steady not only wins the race but takes turtles on some amazing journeys too!
The exhibit includes a variety of fun components for families, including a A Swiss Army turtle that illustrates how turtle’s body parts are adapted to fit their environment; interactive games that use the science of radio telemetry to track turtles through their terrain; live turtles, including baby diamondback terrapin turtles that are being “head-started” for release into the wild; cutout “turtle traveler” and “turtle tracker” stand-ups where visitors can pose for photographs; and a restful spot for lounging on a turtle and discovering the many turtles that star in children’s tales.
There are also Saturday events scheduled through February.
Feb. 11 - Pinkalicious
10:30 am: Over the Ledge - Pinkalicious. It’s not easy being pink! Check it out as items from this classic book splat right before your eyes! You might just catch a case of Pinkititus!
1-3 p.m.: Super Saturday Event - Think Pink. Put on some pink and come make a Valentine for your sweetheart, learn how to cut paper chain hearts, and munch on conversational hearts. Love is in the air!
Feb. 18 -
One Person’s Trash
10:30 am: Over the Ledge - Mrs. McNosh Hangs up Her Wash. Silly Mrs. McNosh. See what wacky things get thrown over and hung up from our clothes line!
1-3 p.m.: Super Saturday Event: Usable Reusables! What can you build from recycled materials? One person’s trash is another person’s treasure!
Admission to the Family Museum is:
• $7 for everyone ages 2 - 59
• $4 for adults ages 59+ and children age 1 up to 2
• $4 for active military personnel, their spouse and children residing in the household
• Free for visitors under age 1.
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