Even with the recent rains, water conservation remains an important issue for all Austinites. How much water could you save if you cut your shower short a few minutes? Or ran a full dishwasher instead of washing dishes by hand? Find out with the City of Austin’s Water Use Calculator! Then make a pledge to cut your water use by 10% and help conserve water in our community.
This week, the Big Game is being installed so the Museum is offering 1/2 price admission for all!
Even though our Feature Gallery is closed for the Big Game installation, there is still a lot to enjoy at ACM. Come in and serve some international cuisine in Global Cities; learn to play Conjunto music with In My Family; put on your inventor caps in Tinkerer’s Workshop or just come in to enjoy one of our animated StoryTimes! Know someone under age 2? Don’t forget about our toddler exclusive Rising Star Ranch.
And while you are here, you can see the transformation from Air Fair to the Big Game. See you soon!
Global Cities Restaurant
Tinkerer’s Workshop
StoryTime
This week is the last week for our Air Fair exhibit. It will be leaving next week so we can install our next exhibit, the Big Game.
As a proper farewell, check out all of the fun things we did with air while Air Fair was here. And if you would rather check it out first hand, then stop by before Saturday, May 22nd to say your good-byes.
When Air Fair first arrived, we showed you the process behind building it.
We also learned about how wind is being used to make energy.
Then we had our junior intern Sidney show us different parts of Air Fair.
Goodbye Air Fair!
For my second gift for Mother’s Day, I made my mom a recycled card with my flowers. Because I’m using recycled materials, I am helping the environment and saving money.
I used recycled wallpaper, wrapping paper and construction paper, glue, and scissors.
Because the wallpaper is thicker than construction paper, I used it as the structure of the card.
Then I took my recycled wrapping paper and glued it to the wallpaper card and cut around it.
Then I took the recycled construction paper and decorated the front. My recycled card is ready to be delivered with my colored flowers!
This weekend is Mother’s Day. For my mom, I’ve decided to make a couple of things I know she would like. Instead of buying these things, I’m actually going to make them.
Today I’ll show you how to make custom-dyed carnations. I thought it would be cool to give my mom something that shows a scientific process and that was pretty. Later this week I will show you the card I made.
Supplies:
12 carnations
3 vases
A bouquet of white carnations, ends cut off at an angle after purchasing
Food coloring
1. Divide your flowers up into thirds.
2. In each vase place a couple cups or so of water. Make each vase of water a different color with the food coloring. I’m making pink, purple, and red. Leave the flowers in the vases for about a day or until you like the colors.
The color moves to the petals as the flower drinks the water. When a flower is growing from the ground, its roots spread out to find the water. When they find the water, the flower can drink it and grow even more. When we bring flowers home from the store they no longer have roots. However, these flowers still need water, which is why we put them in a vase. If you watch your flowers throughout the day they are drinking the dyed water, you can observe how quickly or slowly they drink water.
3. Fix into a bouquet or put them all in a new vase with un-dyed water. Now they’re ready to be a gift.
Today we celebrate Cinco de Mayo, a holiday that honors Mexican culture. Mexican culture includes music and dancing, so to be a part of the festivities, make these maracas!
Supplies:
2 Toilet paper tubes
2 sheets of any kind of paper that can bend easily
1/2 cup rice, beans, or rice cereal
Glue
Tape
Scissors
1. First we want to cover the bottom of each tube with paper so the rice inside won’t fall out. Cut out enough so the sides of the paper can be taped to the sides of the paper tubes.
I had to double up on my paper because it was tissue paper.
2. Attach a piece a paper with tape to one end of each tube. Then put half of the rice in one tube, and the other half in the other.
3. Cover the tops with the rest of the cut out paper. Then figure out how much paper you need to go around the tube and cut it out.
4. Put glue on the tube and attach the paper. You can cut off the extra, just make sure you don’t make a whole in the top or bottom paper pieces. Add more decoration if you’d like. Now your maracas are done and you can find your rhythm! Happy Cinco de Mayo.
All around Austin, communities have gardens where they can grow their own fruits and vegetables for their family and friends. Some community gardens have been around for a long time, while others are just starting.
These gardens were created to help Austin locals who don’t have a backyard to grow their own plants. They are also communities within themselves, allowing the members to help each other and give each other advice about gardening and growing plants.
One of the most developed gardens is the Deep Eddy Community Garden. The garden is over 25 years old and has over 30 plots. The plots range from growing herbs, flowers, vegetables and fruit trees, or making a compost pit.
A compost pit is where you put waste from your house, like banana peels or cardboard, into a pit and nurture it so it can turn into soil. The soil made from this process usually helps plants grow better. Also, when you put your waste in compost pits you are reusing it instead of sending it to a giant landfill, which means you’re helping the Earth!
Click here to find out more information on community gardens around the country, and to search for local gardens that you can tour, volunteer at, or work on your own plot. Also, on May 1 you can tour the community gardens in town.
Today is Earth Day, when we celebrate our planet by being more eco-friendly towards it. Last weekend when I was in San Francisco, I was thinking about Earth Day and noticed that they separate almost all of their trash into recycling or garbage.
I also noticed that they have stations where electric cars can recharge instead of using gasoline.
San Francisco is one of many cities that tries to keep Earth Day going everyday. To show your appreciation of the Earth in your city, check out these tips.
Today I was working and found a stack of newspapers about to be recycled. I decided to see if there was anything I could do with them, and here’s what I found.
Easy Eco-friendly Newspaper Box
1. Take a sheet of newspaper and fold it in half width wise, then fold it in half length wise.
2. Open the lengthwise fold and then fold in the top right and left corners. Then take on corner, spread it out and fold it down. Do this to both sides.
3. The paper should now look like this first photo. Lay it down flat again with an unfolded side on top. Then fold its edges to the middle.
4. Now fold the center part twice. Then repeat step 3 and this step on the other side.
5. Turn the object upside down and open up the middle space. You just made a box! I filled mine with everyone lying around on my desk.
To make a more personal box try using a certain section of the newspaper that you like or painting the box. Let us know how it goes!
April 10 was Keep Austin Beautiful’s Clean Sweep. During clean sweep, volunteers from around the city helped remove all of the litter from the city in places like parks, schools, neighborhoods, and creeks.
You can also keep the city beautiful by doing more green activities in place of those that can harm the environment. Here are some simple tips on how to make the Earth a healthier place.
Always recycle when you can. The easiest 
places are at home and school, so make sure both have places to recycle.
Try to carpool. When you carpool, less cars are being used, meaning less gas is being used and there isn’t as much pollution being let off into the air.
Turn off any light that you aren’t using. This is so easy and can save a lot of energy!
Same with water. When you’re brushing your teeth don’t keep the faucet running.
Take your lunch to school in a lunch box or grocery bag. When you use a lunch box or grocery bag, you don’t have to use a paper bag. Both can be reused several times, cost less, and help the environment since they have a longer life. If your grocery bag is getting worn out, save it and turn it back into a grocery store that recycles their bags.
Use a reusable water bottle. A good reusable water bottle can last for years and prevent you from using disposable plastic water bottles. Disposable bottles are often not recycled, meaning they can sit in a landfill for years. Also, making them requires using a lot of oil which results in pollution.
Eat and buy local products. When products are from places nearby, like vegetables, bread and fruit, it means that they traveled less of a distance. Because of their shorter distance away, these products used less gas to get to their destination, reducing their pollution and making them more sustainable.
Be a part of a community garden. Instead of buying local produce, you can grow your own! When you do this, you aren’t buying food that has traveled a long distance which causes pollution.
These are just a few easy tips you can use everyday. Keep looking for more eco-friendly tips and projects throughout the month!
Over the weekend I noticed all of the wildflowers along the highway. They were all different colors and sizes, but they were all beautiful.
When I saw them I wondered why they were there. I found out that in 1934, the highway department stopped mowing the grass around the highways so the native wildflowers could grow. Now each year they plant over 30,000 seeds of all different kinds of wildflowers.
If you go on a road trip this spring or a long drive, make sure you look out for these flowers.
Or do they?
According to the National Science Foundation, it’s all about the plant’s genetics or DNA. Because of the unique coding in their DNA, the environment around plants can trigger them to bloom. So for some flowers, this trigger can be set off by longer days of sunlight, more rain, and a warmer temperature, which happens during April in many places.
If you see a plant starting to bloom, you can take a picture of it every couple of days to track its progress. Here’s a video that did the same thing.
Happy almost April Fools’ Day! Although no one really knows why we have this day, it’s a day meant to joke around and have some fun. Here are some easy fun pranks to try at home for tomorrow.
Supplies:
Gelatin the color of a drink your friend or family member usually drinks
Food coloring
Clear cups
Straws
1. Make the gelatin according to the recipe. If you need to, color the gelatin using the food coloring to make it look more real.
2. Pour the gelatin into the cups with a straw in each.
3. Put the cups in the refrigerator and let them set.
4. Take them out when they’re ready and when you find a target!
Supplies:
Liquid food coloring
Milk
Dry cereal
1. Before your target sits down for cereal, put some liquid food coloring over the bottom of their bowl. Pour dry cereal on top.
2. When they pour their milk in, they’ll be shocked to see it change colors.
What are you going to do for April Fools’ Day?
It’s time for butterflies!
Every spring Monarch butterflies migrate from the fir forests of central Mexico to Texas to lay eggs. From Texas, the Monarchs keep moving throughout North America during the late spring and summer. After their summer migration they will travel back down south, and we can see them again in September.
Monarchs like it here when it’s warm, humid and there are southerly winds. When a cold front comes through, they keep heading up north. Check out this map.
Monarchs migration patterns.
Have you spotted any Monarchs yet? Let us know!
For more information on the butterflies and their migration, check out Texas’ website on them, or the University of Kansas’ Monarch Watch website.
Today I asked our Tour Intern Annie what her favorite thing to do in spring is. Here’s what she had to say!
What do you like to do this time of year?
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