Holiday Fun
Darwin on the Beach (1 - 4 pm, Monday 6th - Friday 10th April)
Charles Darwin spent mnay years travelling on ships, searching for fossils on beaches and studying the animals of the seashore. Come along to the Natural History Centre during the Easter holidays and explore these "Tide Lines" - from rock pool life to sandy beaches.
Identify the weird and wonderful plants and animals washed up from the deep ocean and from far and distant lands. Wander through the museum and discover marine animals, use our microscopes to view feeding barnacles and learn about the effect of rubbish found on our beaches.
A Night at the Museum II (6pm onwards, Saturday 16th May)
Come and celebrate Darwin200 with the Zoology Museum and Natural History Centre. The doors of the Zoology Building are open for one night only!
Discover a dinosaur, create a creepy creature, track down hidden treasure in our marvellous museum and travel through time with our black light show. Explore nocturnal nature in the Cruickshank Botanic Gardens and enjoy readings from Darwin’s Microscope by Kelley Swain.Activities for all ages.
Darwin200: Discovery, Dinosaurs and Dodos
NHC Summer Project 2009 (Monday - Friday: 13th to 31st July)
During July (13th to 31st July, Monday to Friday) we will be at the David Welch Winter Gardens in Aberdeen for our annual outreach project. This year we will be celebrating Charles Darwin's 200th birthday....
"Follow the young Darwin's fascinating forays to foreign lands. Discover dinosaurs, their diet and how they died. Explore how humans can influence extreme events on earth today."
Past Projects at the David Welch Winter Gardens:
Planet Plant: 2008
Our green planet is full of fantastic plants that not only nourish us but keep us healthy too - come and find out more about them! There are so many interesting things to discover on our wonderful Planet Plant and we have a new topic to look at each week:
Food Story: From hunter-gatherers to supermarket savers - what did our ancestors eat, where does our food come from and where is it going?
A Wealth of Health: Are you really what you eat? Can plants keep us healthy? Discover how our food plants grow, why they're so good for us and meet some of the animals that help them out!
Magical Medicines: Learn a little of the ancient wisdom of healing and sniff out the amazing aromas of some healing plants in our apothecary!
The Plant Hunters: 2007
This year celebrated the 300th anniversary of Carl Linnaeus’ birth. Linnaeus was famous for devising a system of naming animals and was also one of the first plant collectors. We went on a voyage of discovery to find out more about Scottish Plant Hunters (including Francis Masson who came from Aberdeen) and the plants they brought back from all over the world.
Extreme Earth: 2006
During this summer we enjoyed the feel of far away places as we discovered some plants from rainforest and desert habitats in the Winter Gardens. We looked at how animals and plants manage to live under such extreme conditions and some of the wonderful products that come from these fascinating places.