Happy 4th of July from the ACM

2 07 2010

Independence day is just around the corner! We hope you enjoy this holiday and see some spectacular fireworks! The fourth of July in Austin is a very festive time in the city. There is always a major fireworks event downtown, which is open to the public. Additionally, there are always fireworks and events in the Lake Travis area.

The “official” and largest 4th of July event in Austin will be held at Auditorium Shores at The Long Center. More than 100,000 Austinites will gather to see the Austin Symphony perform patriotic music, including the 1812 Overture, with the shooting of cannons by the Texas National Guard Salute Battery. Fireworks will be shot over Lady Bird Lake from 9:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. The orchestra will begin playing at 8:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Happy 4th of July!


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Categories : 5 years & up, Cool stuff at ACM

Installing the Big Game

25 05 2010

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


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Spring fun!

26 03 2010

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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Fun with Air!

5 02 2010

Today I came to the Museum as a junior intern and learned about air at Air Fair.  I saw that air could move many different objects and is everywhere around us even if we don’t realize it.

Here I am sending messages through air mail, which happens because moving air creates a pushing force and sends the balls through the tubes.

These are the messages I sent, and me receiving them.

Later I tried on headphones that showed me how different ears can hear different things. Bigger ears, like those that elephants have, can hear more. This happens because the sound waves that travel through air and bounce off of shapes of our ear. Bigger ears have more to bounce off of so they can hear more.

Then before I left I tried the pnuematic launch.  In my video you can see how the bowling ball pushes the air from its big tube into a smaller connected tube that holds a tennis ball. When I let go of the rope that holds the bowling ball, the bowling ball drops and forces air from the big tube into the little one, and the speed of the air changes. Watch and see how different air speeds launch the ball!

Remember that air is all around you, even if you can’t see it. I took some more pictures so you could see more experiments with air and what I did today. Just click here to see them. Have a good day!


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Air Fair arrives!

2 02 2010

Over the weekend our new exhibit Air Fair opened.  Installing an exhibit is like building anything else, it takes time and precision. Last week we took some pictures of the process so you could know what happens behind the scenes when we are changing exhibits.  Check it out!

Have you ever photographed a process? You could take pictures every few days of a flower plant until it blooms, or the sunrise or sunset, or even something you’re making yourself. If you want to see more of the process, go here.


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Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Cool stuff at ACM

Our Favorites

29 01 2010

Today we asked our Gallery Educator, Elizabeth, what her favorite part of the museum was. Watch and see what she says!

What is your favorite part or activity in the museum?


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Rainy Day Fun

15 01 2010
Just because it’s raining outside doesn’t mean you can’t have fun.  A rainy day is perfect for making crafts, reading or playing games.

Today at the Museum everyone made the most of the rain by playing in Tinker’s Workshop, exploring, or going to Storytime.

Everyone listened and watched as Paul read "The Mixed-Up Chameleon" by Eric Carle.

Later, someone else made a card with paper cutouts in the workshop.

What do you do on rainy day?


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Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Cool stuff at ACM, Craft, Read

Let’s build gingerbread houses!

1 12 2009

No hard hats necessary for this type of construction! The Museum is hosting weekly Gingerbread House Workshops starting this Friday, December 4th.

How would you design your house? A one story house or a two story house? Would it have a chimney? How would you decorate it? Would there be a zoo of animal crackers in the backyard? What about a gumdrop garden?

Mmm, the best part of making gingerbread houses is eating them afterward. Yum!

To see more information and the schedule of workshop sessions, click here! You can also check out photos from last year at the Museum’s Flickr stream.


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Categories : Cool stuff at ACM

Engineering Saturday: Marble Drag Racers

16 11 2009

The UT engineering students came to the Museum again, this time to race paper cars using marbles!

rocket car racer!

After building a car out of paper and attaching toy wheels, the UT students had the young engineers test the drag racers out. Each kid rolled a marble down a ramp and watched how far the racer travelled when the marble shot off the ramp and into a pocket built into the racer. The momentum from the marble pushed the drag racers forward! 

building her drag racer

The students provided a task sheet with the engineering design process to get you thinking like an engineer as you design your marble drag racer. They also included some helpful hints to think about as you test your drag racer.

working on his drag racer

Does your racer move farther if you roll more than one marble? Do you think it would be easier for the racer to roll on tile floor or carpet floor? What about a racer with wheels and a racer with no wheels?

Race your cars with a friend and see whose drag racer goes the farthest!

11-14-09 041


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Engineering Saturday: Operation Game

12 11 2009

While Natural Sciences was going on, engineering students from UT also came to make toys with electric circuits, similar to the Operatation game!

playing Operation

hard at work!

After coloring pictures of Spongebob Squarepants, Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and others, young engineers connected wires to  batteries and resistors to create an electric circuit. By touching their tweezers—covered in aluminum foil—to other aluminum foil spots on their game boards, a buzzer would go off and the characters’ noses would light up!

Why aluminum foil? Aluminum foil is a very conductive material. Conductivity is the measure of a material’s ability to conduct electricity. Since aluminum foil is considered a highly conductive material, an electric current can easily pass through it.

Interested in making your own Operation game?

The students provided the instructions for the circuit board, which you can download here.

Things you’ll need:

-Coloring book page or your own illustration

-Cardboard big enough for the illustration

-Aluminum foil

-Tweezers

-9 volt battery holder

-360 ohm resistor (Radio shack)

-Standard LED,  for the light-up nose (Radio Shack)

-Piezo Buzzer (AmericanPiezo.com, #KPI – 2210-L)


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UT Natural Sciences visit the Museum

9 11 2009

Some students from the UT College of Natural Sciences came on Saturday to show kids cool experiments about friction, buoyancy and electricity!

Playing with electricity

A young scientist tests how to make a lightbulb light up.

Fun with density

Another young scientist figures out the density of an object.

Will it float or sink?

This sister-brother team try to guess what object will sink and what will float at the buoyancy test table.

Missed out? UT Natural Sciences will return this Saturday, November 14th, for another day of science experiments. Hope to see you there!


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Engineering Saturday: Balloon Powered Cars

2 11 2009

Engineering students from UT came on Saturday to show us how to make balloon powered cars!

balloon powered car

Air from the balloons shot out backwards, which pushed the cars forward. The cars with the bigger balloons tended to travel a greater distance because there was more air to propel the car farther.

ballon powered car in the making

The students were nice enough to provide the instructions so you can make one at home! Click here to download the instructions as a Word document.


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Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Build, Cool stuff at ACM, Learn

All About Egypt!

30 10 2009

Hi, I’m Jenny and I’m the guided tour intern here at ACM.  It’s a big world out there! Did you know there are 195 countries in the world? Our exhibit En Mi Familia shows Carmen Lomas Garza’s Mexican American heritage. This exhibit has inspired me to write about a super cool country that my family came from: Egypt!

Egypt is known for its Great Pyramids. They’re really huge and I got to go inside one when I was 5 years old! A lot of people travel from all over the world to see the pyramids. That’s what makes tourism one of Egypt’s biggest industries.

Pyramids - Photo by Bruno Girin

Here are some other cool facts:

  • Egypt has a variety of different animals such as cheetahs, hyenas, camels, and cobras.
  • The Nile River that runs through Egypt is the longest river in the world
  • The language spoken in Egypt is Arabic.
  • Ancient Egyptians invented paper using papyrus.
  • Hieroglyphics was a writing system used by the ancient Egyptians

Here is my name in Hieroglyphics. Jenny—

 jenny

Here’s a website where you can translate your name: Translate!

To find out more about Egypt and a lot of other awesome countries, check out National Geographic Kids


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Categories : Cool stuff at ACM, Cool stuff on the web, Learn

Engineering Saturday: Popsicle Stick Catapults

26 10 2009

A group of UT students from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Pi Tau Sigma visited the Museum to show kids how to make their own catapults out of popsicle sticks, rubber bands, and a bottle cap!

Photo Courtesy of ASME

Photo Courtesy of ASME

Want to build your own catapult and experiment with tension? Click here to download the instructions in a PDF file.

When you press the arm of the catapult down with your finger and hold it in place, you’re stretching the rubber bands. The stretching creates a force called tension. Then, when you let go, all that tension is released—causing the arm of the catapult to fly forward!

Another example of tension is when you play tug-of-war. When the two teams are pulling on the rope in opposite directions, the stretching causes a lot of tension in the rope. That’s why if one team lets go, the tension released has enough force to make the other team stumble!

How far does a ping pong ball fly if you press the catapult arm all the way down? How far does it fly if you press the arm down only a little bit?


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Engineering Saturday: Wind-powered Cars!

5 10 2009

Kids combined the sails of a boat to wheels to make wind-powered cars! With the help of UT engineering students, they experimented with different shapes and sizes of sails to see what made their car go the straightest, or the fastest, or the farthest.

decorating the car

A dad helps his daughter give her car some style by decorating with stickers.

cars racing

On your mark, get set, go! Young engineers race their cars in front of the fans.

future engineer

Another young engineer points to some mechanical gears as he tells Steven, a Gallery Educator, he wants to grow up and build lots of stuff.

mother daughter team

A mother and daughter team up to build their car!

Are you interested in making a wind-powered car too? The UT engineering students gave us the instructions on how to make one. Click here to download them! They also included some handy things to consider when building your car.

Did you know if you design a car with a low center of gravity, the car is less likely to tip over? For a low center of gravity, make sure you’re car isn’t too tall and that the heaviest parts of the car are close to the ground.

Test run some different sails to see what will make your car go the fastest and farthest!

Check out the Museum’s Flickr as well for more photos from Engineering Saturday. Also check out the Engineering Saturday page on the Museum web site to see upcoming events.


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Categories : 5 years & up, Cool stuff at ACM, Experiment, Learn

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