Traveling Exhibits

The Family Museum works with some of the most respected institutions around the world to bring exhibits to our campus, including the Smithsonian Institution, Science World British Columbia, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Traveling exhibits are chosen for their unique, educational, interactive and fun content.  Exhibit dates are subject to change.  Please call (563) 344-4106 to confirm exhibit prior to visiting the Museum.

February 2 - May 25, 2008

 Explore the science of how things move by land, sea and air at The Family Museum’s new traveling exhibition, From Here to There, opening on Saturday, February 2, 2008.

Lift, launch and levitate as you experiment with hands-on exhibits that make learning about gravity, friction, and the laws of motion fun. Ride a hovercraft to experience how air pressure works, launch a rocket to explore propulsion, and float your sailboat to experiment with the effect of wind, rudder and sail positions.

Visitors can turn up the heat to launch a colorful hot air balloon, operate an authentic canal lock system to move a boat from one water level to the next, and experiment with pneumatics, pulleys, hydraulics and levers to see what kind of mechanical advantage works best.

From Here to There consists of twelve fun, interactive exhibits. Each exhibit is designed to spark conversation and encourage interaction among families, friends and other museum visitors. The 1,500 square foot exhibition is color-coded and divided into three main categories: transportation by land, sea and air.

At the Earthmovers exhibit, visitors can discover how simple machines can help move things across land. This ball-pit is fun for all ages, but is designed with the museum’s youngest visitors in mind.

Air Tubes allow visitors to send colored balls in a rushing channel of air from one station to another. Visitors can watch the balls as they dart across walls, over the exhibition entrance, and appear at the other station in record time. In addition to exhibits like Waterways and Set Sail that explore transportation by water, visitors will have the opportunity to interact with exhibits that explain the principals of how things move.

Visitors can Feel the Friction as they try to move different weights across dirt, tracks and through water and Start Your Engines! to explore how internal combustion engines work to power anything from cars and airplanes to lawnmowers and snow blowers. This exhibition will be on display through May 25, 2008.

The Rochester Museum & Science Center of Rochester, NY and the Sciencenter of Ithaca, NY developed From Here to There as part of the Traveling Exhibits At Museums of Science (TEAMS) collaborative. Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, From Here to There is sponsored locally by the Scott County Regional Authority.