Children of all ages can act like scientists at New Jersey State Museum and Planetarium’s annual Super Science Saturday, set this year for May 4.
The free festival features hands-on activities, exhibitions and shows. Planetarium curator Jay Schwartz said activities at Super Science Saturday are designed to engage children and create a lifelong interest in science.
“We want to get children involved and meet real scientists,” Schwartz said.
This family-friendly event includes workshops for preschoolers and booths with activities for students in second grade to high school. This year’s theme is New Jersey Innovation. Booths from each department of the museum and 30 other science, technology, engineering and educational groups will exhibit ways New Jerseyans have changed the world through innovation.
The Cultural booth focuses on lighting. New Jersey was once one of the largest producers of whale oil, which was used to light homes. Now the world uses electric light bulbs, discovered by New Jersey native Thomas Edison.
Over at the Fine Arts booth, children will learn how humans and animal see color differently. The booth includes an exhibition explaining how the eye balls are formed.
And the Natural History and Paleontology department will set up a mock excavation where children can search for artifacts.
The Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton will help participants safely view the sun using a telescope with a hydrogen filter.
Other exhibitors include NASA, ExxonMobil, the NJ Paleontological Society and Jenkinson’s Aquarium.
Along with booths in and outside the museum, free performances are scheduled for the State Auditorium.
The Mad Science show features interactive chemistry experiments and lots of smoke. And the audience at Field Station: Dinosaurs’ presentation may come face-to-face with a baby T-Rex (in the form of a robot).
As part of Super Science Saturday, tickets to Planetarium shows will be $5 all day. Ticket sales begin at 9 a.m.
First-time planetarium visitors may want to check out Sesame Street’s One World, One Sky, during which the theater is only partially darkened.
Later in the day, the Planetarium will premiere To Space and Back. Sticking with the innovation theme, Schwartz said the film explores how satellites and other space inventions are used on Earth, like GPS navigation.
“If it wasn’t for NASA and their inventions, we wouldn’t have them,” Schwartz said.
Until Super Science Saturday, the visually advanced film can only be viewed at the Franklin Institute.
Super Science Saturday is scheduled to go from 10 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. Festival admission and parking in the State House garage are free. The museum is at 205 W. State St. in Trenton.
More information is online at newjerseystatemuseum.org.
,
,
