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Arts & Entertainment

Dueling Robots and Dinosaur Eggs, Shirley Temples and Super Science Saturdays Coming Up at Morris Museum

The event calendar is jam-packed with fun events for the whole family.

From snow globes and robots to planets and dinosaurs, there are plenty of family-friendly programs popping up at the .

As part of the museum's open art workshops, families were recently invited to drop in and create their own snow globe scenes. For those tired of thinking about snow, there are oodles of other opportunities to explore over the next few months.

"We've got lots of stuff coming up," said Linda Moore, the museum’s executive director. "On Feb. 26, we're hosting the VEX Robot Competition in which eighteen to twenty high school teams throughout New Jersey compete."

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"Scobes", who won the World Championship in 2007, was made by students at West Morris Mendham High School, and is currently on display in the museum's entry pavilion. Scobes has traveled to the White House to 'meet' the president.

Also on Saturday, Feb. 26, the museum will host "Lift" as part of its Super Science Saturdays, which have quickly gained popularity. From 12-2 p.m., children ages five and older will use a substance to create a fingerprint and learn about the loop, arch and whirl designs used by scientists to distinuguish individual fingerprints.

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Moore said the museum's very creative staff, including the educational department, draws inspiration for programs and events from visiting exhibits as well as the permanent collection.

"We have twelve to fifteen changing exhibitions per year with age-appropriate activities for children across a wide age spectrum," she said.

The next "out of this world" Family Festival that visitors can look forward to will be "Astro Day" on Saturday, March 19. From 11 a.m to 4 p.m., the Astronomical Society will present lectures and a children's craft workshop, as well as many other activities. Night sky observing hours will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. if weather permits.

"We'll have a lot of displays, telescopes and several activities related to the planets," Moore said. "We also have our portable indoor planetarium. We'll have an educator who'll be running four shows and the kids can crawl inside and check it out."

On Satuday, April 30, the museum will travel back in time when it hosts its first "Dino Day."

"We're going to re-install our dinosaur exhibit on the first level," Moore said. "We have the model railroad there and the Native American Exhibit there. Before (when the dinosaur exhibit was located in the basement) it was a bit of a fossil hunt to find the Dino Den. We'll have paleontologists from all over New Jersey here and we'll have a fossil dig for kids."

Moore said the basement space will be converted into an area where school groups can have refreshments or the museum can hold workshops, though the area will still maintain the dinosaur theme.

During "Dino Day" children will be able to crawl inside a Dino Nest and compare the two different shapes of dinosaur eggs: circular for herbivores and oval for carnivores.

"We also have something that kids absolutely love: dinosaur poop," Moore laughed.

Later in the spring, the museum will have an exhibit of hats and purse called "On your head and in your hand."

"We'll be hosting a tea party for young fashionistas where they can sketch their own handbages," Moore said. "We'll also be serving cupcakes and Shirley Temples. There are lots of fun things that children will enjoy and will, hopefully, make them want to come back to the museum again throughout the year."

For more information, call 973-971-3700 or visit http://www.morrismuseum.org/events/family.html 

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