Where does a chipmunk sleep? What does an eagle feed its young? How do mother bats find their babies in a cave? In Animal Secrets, families will learn the answers to these questions and more as they explore the hidden habitats and secret lives of forest animals. Using imaginative role-play and hands-on activities, children will discover nature from an animal’s point of view in naturalistic environments, including a stream, meadow, woodland, cave, and naturalists’ tent. See the world from an eagle’s nest. Gather food for the winter with a chipmunk family. Protect baby raccoons from a hungry fox. Create butterfly wing patterns using multicolored mosaic tiles. Assemble a three-dimensional, larger-than-life ant. Match animal tracks to the animal that made them using paw-like puzzle pieces. Animal Secrets is specially designed for children ages 3-8; preschool to 3rd grade school groups; and has English and Spanish text panels.
- The Stream: A highly interactive stream table and its surrounding environment immerse visitors in the dry streambed area. Build homes for toy animals using rocks, sand, twigs and shells. Dramatize interactions between animals and take care of their ecological needs, such as finding food and nurturing young ones.
- The Woods: Explore a woodland clearing complete with realistic trees and bushes, colorful murals and natural sounds. Crawl through a tree’s roots, play in a chipmunk’s den, investigate a raccoon’s log, and curl up in an eagle’s nest.
- The Meadow: Enter a grassy meadow where visitors are encouraged to roam and explore. Follow four winding sets of animal tracks through thick grasses and plants to discover which animal made them. Listen for specific animal sounds and try to locate the animals that made them. Create your own butterfly wing pattern using multicolored mosaic tiles.
- The Cave: Experience the cool breezes, underground smells and secret passageways of a dark woodland cave. Assemble a life-size, three-dimensional bear skeleton puzzle. Use tethered flashlights and specially designed night vision goggles to search outcroppings and niches for cave dwellers and cave visitors.
- The Naturalists Tent: Role-play working as a naturalist in a canvas tent outfitted with real field equipment and environmental elements. Examine, compare and contrast the characteristics of five different animal skulls. Inspect and sort through a variety of natural artifacts in order to curate and display an impressive museum collection.