My daughter probably knows more about Greek mythology than I do after attending Family Day at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology on Saturday, May 19.
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| Snake, Lobster, Moose Monster |
After the crowds at the last Family Day, we were sure to arrive early (a couple of minutes before the event began). We had plenty of time to complete the activities in the two hour event.
My daughter started by making a monster on the felt boards. They had an array of body parts from humans and different animals that you could piece together to make a monster. She then made her cyclops headband. You could also choose to make an Argus headband (instead of 100 eyes, they had 5 eyes you could add). We then began coloring a Medusa headdress. There was quite a bit of coloring to do (especially if you colored both sides of the snakes) so we made it a family project. My husband and daughter then headed for the presentation on Greek Mythology while I remained behind to cut out the Medusa headdress. After about 10 minutes I decided to join them and continue the cutting later while she worked on other crafts.
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| My daughter’s monster drawing… 3 heads, 3 eyes each, big hands |
The presentation was geared more towards middle schoolers but both my daughter and one of her classmates were able to follow along and pay attention. I was amazed at how much mythology some of the older children knew (Admittedly I am not very good with mythology). Many of them have read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books. I think my daughter will really like those books in a few years.
After the presentation, my daughter made a medallion necklace and drew her own monster. We then went on the scavenger hunt through the museum to find the answers to a series of questions. I really liked that they included a scavenger hunt that got you into the museum and looking at the different exhibits. They then gave out a temporary tattoo as the prize for the scavenger hunt.
The Kelsey Museum has posted some pictures of the event on their Tumblr account.
The event was far less crowded than the last session. I am guessing that the crowds were smaller because of the nice weather and that it is a busy time of year. There was so much going on this weekend with the Butterfly Festival at the Natural History Museum, The King & I by Young People’s Theater, and The Phantom Tollbooth by Ann Arbor Civic Theatre plus the Picnic Pops concert by middle school bands. We would have liked to have attended all of the events, but with other work that we needed to do, we could only make time to attend one event and chose the Family Day.
We look forward to attending Family Days again in the future.
