Earth Fest At Young At Art Children's Museum

My husband found out about the Earth Fest going on at Young at Art Children's Museum west of where we live in Davie, FL. It was sponsored by the Broward County Waste and Recycling Services and its partner cities.  It was free which was great for us this weekend. It usually costs $8 a person for admission. We had never been here before and we were looking for something that would be in a park . It ended up being in a shopping center and ended up being a pretty big place.

Once we signed in we walked around to the various tables. There was so much to see! There was a recycled terrarium, recycled midway games, a demonstration on paper making, newspaper hats and wands, information on clean and green natural cleaning products and clay wheel throwing. These were just the on going activities. They also had a meet and greet with cartoon artist Rob Cabrera, story time by Ah-Tha-Thi-Ki Museum, face painting, worm compost demonstration, Japanese Calligraphy and more! There were so much going on and it was all very interesting. My son was having too much fun playing on the slide and climbing the ship and various other things to do there. We didn't get to see everything but we did have a good time. My husband and I found the worm composte information very well done and interesting. My son did not want to do the pottery wheel but I wanted to! If you brought dryer lint with you then they would show you how to make paper out of it.  There were sections that you could sit down and make things with the materials they provide you, a recycled art center, a black room where you could write your name and it would glow in the dark, a room where paint and paint brushes were provided with painting smocks of course so the budding artist could paint a picture on a piece of paper.

What we did get to see we really enjoyed. We hope to be able to buy a membership there for my son later this year. Here are some pictures from our visit.

This is the brochure from when we first walked in with all the activities going on today.

The first thing my son got was the coloring book and crayons. Both made of recycled materials.

We went to see the table about worm bins and worm composte and got a bag of worm poop!

 http://coolbugstuff.com/articles.php for the website listed on the above piece of paper in the photo. The article on worm composte and other interesting articles are there.

This is the recycling "truck" the kids can play on.

My son "driving" the truck.

This was an interactive display behind the truck. The kids put plastic bottles in the holes for recycling and they went up a conveyor belt.

This is the other side showing what the plastic bottles can be made into when they are recycled.

This was a display on the other side of this wall. It was called Back Beat Alley. Here you could make noises with all the displays.

This was the top of Back Beat Alley's display.

This was the slide we couldn't get my son away from half of the time. He loved it here!

This was an interactive display across from the slide. You push a button to the corresponding number on the display to find the items that are able to be recycled or not. There are lights on top labeled yes and no that light up when the number button is pushed.

This was a display card at one of the activity tables.

The following two pictures are of the Japanese room on display. On one side of the room there was an alcove where they were going to have a Japanese Calligraphy class later that day.  (Sorry the first one is blurry. I was dodging kids while taking this!)

These pictures are from the Global Village. There were different displays up from various countries. There was the ship, an adobe house, a Haitian display and a display of a village in Kenya. There were also activities and crafts to make all from recycled materials in little booths. There was also a section on the way out where the kids could dig for bones or tiles through the sand like an archeologist. Across from that there was a miniature display of the West Wall where you could write a message and put it between the stones in the wall. Those notes would be faxed to Jerusalem.

The ship in the Global Village. Another one my son just loved to play around in.

The display of a village in Kenya in the Global Village

This is a shot of inside one of the huts in the village in Kenya.

This is the Rhythms of Life with Chisseko. It was a presentation of the words and music and life of Kenya.

 This is one of the craft booths in the global village where you could make something to take home with you.

The next two are pictures of my husband and son after they climbed to the top of the adobe house.

This was another one of the interactive displays in the museum. This one was about Hazardous Waste.

This is the entrance to the Cyberchase play area. There were games and things to do here. My husband had a blast here. I was busy running around with my son at the time so I didn't get to see too much here.

We all had a good time and plan on going back again. I think some of it was a little too old for my son right now but I think if he went back a few times he would really begin to enjoy more than just the slide and the ship. Oh and he wants to bring the slide home! I have already told him that we can't that it is part of the museum but he just doesn't seem to care.

I hope you all enjoyed reading and seeing our trip to the museum. Have a great day!