Fernbank Natural History Museum

While we were in Atlanta we took the opportunity to go to the Fernbank Natural History Museum.  This is the largest Natural History Museum south of the Smithsonian so we knew it would be fun. 
Right away when we walked in the door we saw a huge dinasour.  Caleb was so enthralled by it.

This became Caleb's favorite dinasour because of the tail.  He just likes that it could smash things with its tail.  What can I say?  He is all boy!  Ironically, Caleb is my first child to really enjoy playing with dinosaurs (outside of sea monsters).  That is most of what he has been playing since we got home.

 We ended up spending most of our time in the Nature Quest section of the museum where the children could explore different scientific things hands on and play as well.  This was James' favorite a sunken shrimp boat.  The boys identified the fish swimming by and could pretend they were actually in the boat.

 This was a tunnel underneath one of the structures.  Elizabeth wanted to go many times.  Her big brother was kind enough to take her because Momma wasn't getting into that small space!

 A log that was hollowed out to make a canoe.

 Elizabeth found these little turtles fascinating.  She just had to pet them.

 Caleb learned about plants by doing this puzzle many, many times.  We talked about the structure of a plant as he put it together.  Really neat puzzle!

 They just played hide and go seek in the log. 

 After awhile we went to the Sensing Nature exhibit.  This exhibit had interactive stations that demonstrated how our senses sometimes interpret visual and audio cues which can sometimes lead to false perceptions.  Of course, making huge bubbles is always lots of fun!

 This ball had a tiny electric volt that shot out when you touched it.  Another exhibit had a spring inside with a mirror.  It made you think if you reached out to touch it there was a spring when in reality there wasn't anything there at all.  So funny to watch people try to grab it!  We were also able to watch and learn how a tornado forms.  That was very memorable for everyone.

 We were beginning to be very tired by the end of the day.  We packed some great learning and fun into the past 2 days!