Join us for Tuesday Travelers!

Great news for young explorers: Tuesday Travelers, a favorite of visitors and staff alike, returns to VDM beginning Tuesday, March 29! This fun and educational program is great for ages 4 & up and is free with admission. Each Tuesday at 11:00, we’ll learn about the language, music, art, dance, geography and cuisine of a different country. We’ll also do a fun activity or make a craft. Come every week and fill up your Tuesday Travelers Passport with stamps!

What: Tuesday Travelers drop-in program, free with admission

When: Tuesdays at 11:00

Who: Young explorers and their accompanying adults

Where: The journey begins at VDM!

Kids in the Kitchen

VDM will be hosting a table at the Junior League of Charlottesville'sKids in the Kitchen!

We've got tons of fun planned, so stop by ourtable to create healthy food crafts.

The Junior League of Charlottesville's Kids in the Kitchen event willtake place on March 19, 2011, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the AlbemarleHigh School cafeteria.

Join us for a day of cooking, hands-on activities, fitnessdemonstrations and health education as part of our internationalchildhood obesity and nutrition education initiative.Sponsored by the Association of Junior Leagues International (AJLI),the event will incorporate Pilates for kids, smoothie-making and manymore fun and inspirational activities for kids. Event sponsorsinclude ACAC, UVA Health Systems and Blue Ridge Eco Shop. Allchildren and parents are invited to attend free of charge.

http://www.jlcville.org/?nd=kids_in_the_kitchen)

Festival of the Book

VDM has tons of FotB fun for your family!

The Cat in the Hat
Tuesday, March 15 - Sunday, March 20
Wednesday, March 16 at 3:30 is a special program with Bly Brown

For all ages with adult

WVPT is bringing the fabulous Cat in the Hat to Hooville for a visit during the Virginia Festival of the Book. Starting Tuesday, March 15 and continuing all week long, the Virginia Discovery Museum will feature Cat in the Hat activities and crafts! The highlight of the week is sure to be a fun storytime with Bly Brown, followed by some crafts, on Wednesday, March 16th at 3:30pm. The Cat in the Hat will also visit the Downtown Mall on Saturday, March 19th, at 9:30 am. Children and parents will merrily parade with the Cat in the Hat to the Paramount Theater where, from 10:00 am to 11:00 am, on the giant screen, two episodes of the new PBS series, The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That, will be shown. Come out and be a part of the fun!

Kaleela Thompson Presents

Oh Where, Oh Where is My Swallowtail?

Friday, March 18th

4:00-4:30pm

For all ages with adult

Young author Kaleela Thompson visits VDM to share her new book. Come and enjoy a short presentation on butterflies while you hear Kaleela's story!

Mara Rockliff's The Busiest Street in Town
Saturday, March 19th
1:00-2:00pm

Recommended for ages 5-8, but all ages welcome with adult

Children's author Mara Rockliff comes to VDM to share a new book with us! Her picture book called The Busiest Street in Town is perfect for the Downtown Mall, as it's all about turning a street full of traffic into a place where neighbors meet and children play. She will do an interactive storytime with props, followed by a fun craft activity for the kids.

Owls and snakes and possums…oh, my!
Saturday, March 19th
2:00-3:00pm

For all ages with adult

Get “wild” with WHTJ PBS and the Virginia Discovery Museum as they play host to some of Virginia’s feathered and furry friends as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book, an annual event produced by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. The Wildlife Center of Virginia will be on hand to explain our role in wildlife conservation and environmental protection. The enlightening program includes up-close encounters with live, non-releasable wild animals, who have been given a new lease on life thanks to the dedicated staff and volunteers at the Wildlife Center. The first 200 children receive a free wildlife-themed book.

The Cat in the Hat

Tuesday, March 15 - Sunday, March 20
Wednesday, March 16 at 3:30 is a special program with Bly Brown

WVPT is bringing the fabulous Cat in the Hat to Hooville for a visit during the Virginia Festival of the Book. Starting Tuesday, March 15 and continuing all week long, the Virginia Discovery Museum will feature Cat in the Hat activities and crafts! The highlight of the week is sure to be a fun storytime with Bly Brown, followed by some crafts, on Wednesday, March 16th at 3:30pm. The Cat in the Hat will also visit the Downtown Mall on Saturday, March 19th, at 9:30 am. Children and parents will merrily parade with the Cat in the Hat to the Paramount Theater where, from 10:00 am to 11:00 am, on the giant screen, two episodes of the new PBS series, The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That, will be shown. Come out and be a part of the fun!

COME JOIN IN SOME HEALTHY FAMILY FUN THIS SPRING!

The Kid's Triple Crown is a series of three races just for kids. To qualify for a prestigious Triple Crown medal, runners must cross the finish line for a minimum of one event at each of the three individual Triple Crown races. Sportsmanship rules apply at all of the events. The awards ceremony will be held in June, so get ready!

Run for Autism
Hosted by the Virginia Institute of Autism • Saturday, April 16th • Charlottesville High School Register at http://www.viaschool.org/

Family Fitness Fair
Hosted by the Charlottesville Day School • Sunday, May 1st • Panorama Farms
Register at http://www.charlottesvilledayaschool.org/

Discovery Dash
Hosted by the Virginia Discovery Museum • Saturday, May 28th • Monticello High School
Register at http://www.vadm.org/


For more information please visit www.raggedmountainrunning.com.

New Summer Camps at the Virginia Discovery Museum!

Be sure to register for these camps soon as they fill up fast! Also, be aware of the dates for these camps as we will two weeks without camps in July.

Magic & Memories: Caldecott Medal Winners
-Ages 4-7, June 20th -23rd
Explore the unique adventures and illustrations from Caldecott Medal winners new and old! Come fly with frogs on a magical escape into the night, be transformed from a mouse to a tiger, find out what happened to the girl who loved wild horses, and break out of the zoo with some of your wild friends to visit their favorite sick zookeeper. We’ll celebrate these works of art with games, puzzles, crafts, and more!

South American Adventure
-Ages 4-7, June 27th – June 30th
Learn about the language, cuisine, art, and wildlife of South America! Dance the tango, climb the Andes and sail down the Amazon during this action-packed mini-camp.

Incredible Insects
- Ages 4-7, July 11th – July 14th
Can you dance like a bee or leap like a grasshopper? Find out what makes our tiniest neighbors so special in this camp! We’ll learn how to fly, build, and transform just like the insects we see every day, and we’ll celebrate the weird and fun world right beneath our feet.

Dinosaur Discovery
-Ages 4-7, July 18th – July 21st
Gather your tools and get ready for the big dig! Learn about the T-Rex, Pterodactyl and many more. Find out how fossils give us clues about the world of the dinosaurs.

Ocean Life
-Ages 4-7, August 1st – August 4th
Come explore the ocean and all of its wonderful creatures! Try out awesome activities, crafts, and fun facts as we learn about the ocean and animals like sharks, octopi, and more. Grab your ocean gear and get ready to have fun!

Making Music
-Ages 4-7, August 8th – August 11th
Tune in to this mini-camp to learn about blues, jazz, rock and more. See demonstrations of musical instruments and then make and play some instruments of your own!

Food Fight!
-Ages 4-7, August 15th – August 18th
Grab a pie and get ready to get messy in the kitchen for this summer camp. Make your own recipe box and stock it with all the fun recipes we learn. Discover the science behind your favorite foods and make your own slimy, sticky, greasy and grimy experiments.

*All camps run Monday thru Thursday 9am-12pm
*Camp prices for members are $115/week, and non-members are $140/week

*Cancellation Policy: One week's notice is required for a full refund of all fees minus a $5 Processing Fee. If notification is less than a week before the start of the program, VDM will transfer the fee amount to another Museum purchase of your choice. The VDM reserves the right to cancel programs with insufficient enrollment and will fully refund fees from those programs.

A New Art Exhibit in the Program Room Art Gallery

"Creatures"
By Paul Loukides

An original art
exhibition at the
Virginia Discovery
Museum.
March 1 - April 11, 2011

It’s my belief that too many artists have forgotten the relationship of art to play. If, as many have observed, play is the work that children do, then we should recognize that art is the play that adults do.
This series of prints began with wanting to create six prints of creatures for a new granddaughter. I had no idea what the creatures would look like, but I knew they shouldn’t be simply cute and cuddly (no kittens or bunnies or puppies) and they shouldn’t be too frightening or menacing (no aliens, satanic figures or grotesques); somewhere between those extremes, imaginary creatures waited. As it turned out, there were more than six. Once I had done the first six, the creatures demanded to be expressed in clay; once I started making clay creatures new creatures appeared, the new creatures insisted on their own woodblock prints. Somewhere along the line, one of the creatures became a painting (since gone to a good home) and I accepted the idea that I would be doing creature prints/sculptures/paintings until they were no longer play.
- Paul Loukides