MUSEUM @ HOME
The museum may be closed to slow the spread of COVID-19, but our mission continues. Check out these MOI favorites that you can enjoy at home, and come back often, as we'll be adding new things constantly during the closure.
(also, find more fun content when you visit us on Facebook, Instagram, and our new YouTube channel)
VIRTUAL TOURS
Step into the 1890s with 360-degree tours of the shops, rooms, and offices in our historic Eagle Rock, USA exhibit. What treasures can you find there? (additional info and activity coming soon)
Click on each of the shop names and download the Eagle Rock guided tour for more info about each one.
DOWNTOWN IDAHO FALLS SCAVENGER HUNT
Take a drive around downtown Idaho Falls (stay in your car!) and see if you can match historic photos to their current locations. You'll just have to redeem your prize after we reopen.
FUN & GAMES
Trivia quizzes:
Personality quizzes:
For kids:
- Download our "Hungry Birds" game for iPad
- or play the similar Peppered Moth Game online (view instructions and lesson)
- Bia-Dekape Dress-Up (print and cut out)
- Coloring pages (click a thumbnail below to enlarge and print)
MUSEUM AFTER DARK
Home versions of some of our favorite Slightly Irreverent Tours (minus the artifacts, games, human connection, and food and drink). Basically, just the history presentations.
ARCHIVE YOUR EXPERIENCES
What has the coronavirus experience been like for you? Respond to a few prompts about this dramatic episode in our lives. Then, use this to help journal about your experience, or to connect with family and friends. If you like, we'll archive your answers as part of the museum's new collective history project, "The Time We Stayed Home."
TEACHING LESSONS & IDEAS
Check out our Educator Resources page for a wealth of ideas for home and classroom learning about Idaho, dinosaurs, science, and more.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
NASA At Home Resources
Let NASA bring the universe into your home! This website includes a repository of E-books, activities for families, virtual tours & VR, podcasts and videos.
Story Time From Space
Watch astronauts on the Space Station read children’s books and perform science demonstrations! Story Time From Space offers a delightful combination of science, literacy, and entertainment through its library of free, family-friendly videos. Together with NASA and the ISS U.S. National Laboratory, Story Time From Space arms parents, formal and informal educators with the necessary materials and knowledge to teach fun, accurate STEM lessons.
2 brand new classes have been uploaded to help train and get those creative juices flowing with the Makey Makey invention kit!
If you are new to Makey Makey and want to get familiarized with the invention kit, head on over to the "Intro to Makey Makey Class."
If you've used Makey Makey for awhile, but want to learn about output, remapping, and the back of the board, check out the "Advanced Makey Makey Class."
"Makerspace or STEM projects for kids don’t have to be complicated or expensive. In fact, some of the best projects use recycled or re-purposed items like cardboard or soda bottles which means nothing to buy. Click HERE for some of our favorite projects that are great for Makerspaces."
-Makerspaces.com
"The Idaho STEM Action Center, in response to the current environment of students, parents, and teachers working and studying from home will be launching STEM@Home – a one stop-shop for STEM-tastic activities, experiments, and other STEM-related resources! These FREE resources will help ensure our STEM enthusiasts stay engaged during school closures, and that educators have the online learning tools they need to explore STEM horizons in new ways.
A STEM@Home tile has been added to our Resource Portal to make it easy to find activities, experiments, informative articles, curriculum, and YouTube videos by age or grade and subject area... And if you have great ideas you want to share, we encourage you to visit our Resource Portal at https://resources.stem.idaho.gov/ to submit resources for possible inclusion in STEM@Home!" -Idaho STEM Action Center
Click Here to explore what resources INL has to offer through various flipbooks, available in English and Spanish, along with some links to useful resources for educators, students and families.
"Ok, so you’re not a professional teacher. Your home isn’t a science museum or a day care or a classroom. But with your children at home rather than at school as your community responds to COVID-19, they are your students and it’s up to you to keep them busy and learning.
This might seem like a daunting challenge, but fortunately, you are not alone. Help is available.
The U.S. Department of Energy and many other great science, engineering, technology, and mathematics (STEM) learning organizations have you covered. With interactive digital content and instructions for simple activities you can do at home, parents and children have plenty of hours of STEM content to explore!"
-Department of Energy
Click HERE for the DOE's STEM @ Home Resource Page
Educational Innovations is designed to serve teachers with helpful blogs, free lessons, and motivational digital newsletters with their best ideas for ways to bring science to life as well as an online catalog of science related products and materials. Check out some of their free, digital resources:
A great place to start is their newsletter library, which contains in-depth coverage of 21 different science topics (including Germs, Forces & Motion, and much more).
We also recommend skimming through their blog, filled with free science teaching ideas, downloadable worksheets and more. These are written by fellow teachers who are "in the trenches" of the classroom today.
There are also dozens of free online science lessons to explore or this is also the perfect time to watch their sampling of science demo videos.
The Museum Computer Network (MCN) has compiled a list so that everyone can have access to endless open content, educational resources for e-learning, and virtual retreats to art, culture, and history around the globe.
Click HERE for the full list.
"As coronavirus (Covid-19) continues to spread and disrupt the daily lives of people across the globe, forcing many to self-quarantine, we are compiling the best online offerings from artists, museums and galleries. Whether you are staying at home or your local museums and galleries have closed, here are some of the best digital initiatives to satisfy your creative cravings." -Aimee Dawson, The Art Newspaper
Click HERE for the full article and list of Online Museum and Art Tours.
Great booklet that helps explain the Coronavirus and its impact to kids, at their level.
Click HERE for the PDF download.