SDNHM Future Exhibits - Discovery Room: Big Backyard

rendering of the Big Backyard

In the Big Backyard, shrink to the size of a caterpillar and discover how, even at this scale, the world is full of life!

Explore a giant garden.
Put on a butterfly costume and act out a nature story.
Build a bird's nest big enough for you; look inside a quail egg.
Close and open a morning glory flower; then pretend that you are the pollinator.
Climb inside a trap door spider nest; pop out and surprise your prey.
Construct a spider web. As the spider, can you tell the difference between a breeze and dinner?
Crawl through an animal skull; see how it looks on the inside.
Match up mamas and babies, plants and pollinators, and animals and their food.
Sing like a bird with bird call musical instruments.
Play with puppets of bugs, birds, bears, and more.
Play What's that Smell? And What's that Sound? Games help to identify things in nature that aren't always easy to see.
Assemble an imaginary insect with innovative building blocks.
Play Animal Olympics and see how animals and people compare.