Exploring Trees Inside and Out Debuts at The Children’s Musuem

What: Exploring Trees Inside and Out
Where: Imagine It, The Children’s Museum of Atlanta
When: June 13 – Sept. 13
Cost: Free with admission to the museum. Museum admission is $12.50 for anyone over 2. Under 2 is free. The Second Tuesday of every month, the museum is free from 1 – 7 pm as part of the Target Free Days.

Last week I took the boys to Imagine It, The Children’s Museum of Atlanta, to see the new exhibit Exploring Trees Inside and Out. The exhibit is sponsored by Doubletree Hotels and the Arbor Day Foundation.

We spent about two hours in the Trees exhibit, and then got wrapped up in the permanent exhibits for another hour. If it weren’t for hunger, I don’t think we would have left. Although CMA is really for the under 8 set, my 9 and 11 year old had a blast too. To see what my 9 and 5 year old thought, visit Sam’s blog.

In the Trees exhibit, the kids are immediately drawn to the tree play structure. They can walk into the trunk of the tree or crawl through the veins of leaves, lie in a hammock and look up at the tree tops or slide down into a pile of leaves.

This is where the kids start, but there are lots of other great things to do. My older two got a kick out of dressing up like woodland creatures. We all donned a costume and pretended to fly through the air by using the blue screen. The kids drew pictures of their favorite trees, smelled the scents of the woods, crawled inside a giant acorn, built a bird house and looked at various tree specimens under a powerful microscope. The museum’s Imaginators did several live shows that taught the children why trees are important.

When you go, make sure to pick up a Parent Guide and Treasure Hunt sheet at the admissions desk. The Parent Guide gives you background on each section in the exhibit, questions to ask (if you can keep your child still long enough) and ideas for things to do at home. It also has a list of books related to trees.

The Treasure Hunt is done at nearby Centennial Olympic Park. Children use the sheet to identify characteristics of the trees in the park. Find all the trees and you can pick up a free Centennial Olympic Pin at the Museum’s gift shop. We’ll have to do the Treasure Hunt another day. We spent so much time at the museum, we needed to get home.