Discovery Center Future Exhibits

Focus: Learning the different jobs on the farm. Children will be able to pretend play the jobs of a farmer. They will be able to brush and feed the horse and pig, exercise the horses, milk the cow, collect eggs from the chicken coop and sort by colors, observe the lifecycle of real chicks, plant vegetables, harvest corn and apples, stock and manage the apple cart (sales).

Skill: Plant life cycles, chicken life cycle, completing tasks, marketing and sales of product, and color sort.

Focus: Backdrop will be a mural of the capital building. There will be a city planning department, Mayors office with a voting station, Police Station, Fire Station with a burning building, post office and a bank. We would like to also have a climb on fire truck.

Skills: Engineering, rolls of a citizen, law and order, sorting and weighing, financial literacy, voting, rolls of government, recycling, and fire safety.

Focus: There will be a pizza restaurant, ice cream parlor and coffee shop where children will be able to create and serve guests through pretend play.

Skill: Sequence, financial literacy, weights and measure, providing service.

Focus: Children will be able to experience being able to make grown up decisions and pretend play different rolls in the grocery store. There will be a bakery with a display case and pastry creation station, shopping carts and baskets to collect their food items. Vegetable color sorting counter, registers for check out, shelf marking so that they can merchandise product. There will also be a floral department where they will be able to fill orders, develop math skills and make floral arrangements.

Skills: Financial literacy, sequencing, weights and measures, sorting by food groups, sorting by colors, and matching.

Focus: We will have a half constructed home. Students will be able to see the interworking of a home as well as put their construction skills into practice. They will have tools to build, foam building blocks and lumber to construct their own life sized creation, blueprints, safety equipment, circuit connection for lighting, and plumbing building wall. The other half will be the constructed portion with a kitchen and laundry area for pretend play at home. There will be a school house where children will be able to manipulate letters and numbers on a magnet board, calculate math problems, sound out letters to make words on the letter wall, organize the calendar, tell time, as well as various bins of manipulatives to practice different skills. There will also be a gas station and car wash. The smaller children will be able to move around the community with ride on cars and trucks.

Skills: Measurement, safety, electricity, engineering, family roll play, language arts, math, engineering, time, calendar and financial literacy.

Focus: Learning about animal habitats and having the opportunity for a close look at different animals, including insect observation in our entomology lab. Children will be able to observe a live ant farm with our formicarium. They will track animal prints, locate different animals hidden in their environment, climb on a bridge and logs, hide in a tree and observe a life size pretend waterfall. They will experience sights, smells, sounds and feel the different textures in this area.

Skills: Parts of a bug, animal life cycles, animal habitats and camouflage, and critical thinking through discovery.

Focus; This will be where our littles get to explore and grow. There will be a multitude of multi-sensory activities that toddlers will be able to play and grow a strong self with confidence and curiosity. There will be multiple areas for gross motor development and community play. The environment is only for little ones just learning to walk or younger so that they will have a safe place to explore.

Skill: cross motor skills, sensory awareness and development, cooperative play, exploration and curiosity.

This area is truly going to be where some magic happens. Children will be able to explore different art and science techniques and skills. Most of the activities in these rooms will be with some explicit instruction with just enough free creating time to really tap into their imagination and talents. There will also be a host of guests invited to share classes and information as well. Every month will also be a themed activities that goes along with the holiday, or season that corresponds with it.

Focus: Butterfly life cycle and how important we are to our environment. This will probably not be open our first year, but it will be a future exhibit. This will allow students to really connect and experience nature in a real way. Watching the excitement of a child, or even an adult, when they have a majestic creature like a beautiful butterfly lands on them is priceless. This exhibit will allow people to see life cycles in real time.

Skill: biology, environmental conservation and awareness, life cycles, appreciation for nature.

Focus: This is where all of our doctors, nurses, and veterinarians get to play. They will be able to care for newborns in our nursery, take x-rays of the animals, give medical exams to our permanent patient using all the fun doctor tools, as well as observe and explore the many models of what it is like inside the human and pet body. They will be able to conduct exams, give diagnosis, and treat the many ailments that enter the hospital.

Skill: biology, anatomy, patient care, measuring and recording