PHILADELPHIA, November 25, 2013

Holidays provide quality time with the family, and Philadelphia’s natural history museum is the place to visit this season for quality hands-on science for the young and old. For four days in December, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University will feature interactive shows and fun activities based on the nature themes visitors enjoy the most. That means dinosaurs, live animals and weird creatures in jars! From Friday, Dec. 27, through Monday, Dec. 30, the Academy presents All-Star Week free with admission.

Visitors will be treated to special live animal encounters and new stage shows, displays of specimens from the Academy’s world-class collection of 18 million animals and plants, the opportunity to talk with the Academy’s experts, inspired craft-making, and more. The museum will be open a little later than usual: from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. all four days. Also showing is Dinosaurs Unearthed, an unusual exhibit of roaring, moving life-size dinosaurs, on view through March 30. There is an additional $5 fee for this exhibit.

Here’s what’s happening each day. For more details, visit ansp.org.

Dino Day

Friday, December 27

Explore the amazing world of dinosaurs and meet their closest living relatives, birds. Touch real fossils and use your dinosaur detective skills to solve prehistoric puzzles. Meet the Academy’s live animals up close as naturalists roam the museum offering fascinating facts about them. Peek into a dinosaur nest, take a picture with Eddie, the T. rex mascot, and make a dinosaur bookmark and fossil track-way to take home. Also enjoy these shows:

11 a.m. Dinosaur Detectives
Test your knowledge of dinosaurs during this interactive stage show and meet a live animal that has some things in common with the extinct stars of the show.

1 p.m. Field Tested
Get set for an adventure as you help prepare would-be scientists from the audience for an expedition in this interactive stage show. Discover some of the surprising items Academy scientists need when they do field research.

3 p.m. On the Wing
Meet the Academy’s beautiful birds during this live animal show.

Live Animal Day

Saturday, December 28

Discover firsthand how the Academy’s experts care for the 100 or so live animals that live at the museum. Learn the vital role the birds, reptiles and other animals play in teaching visitors, schools and communities about conservation and the environment. Look for the animals in the halls as they roam with their informative handlers and at special stations in the exhibits. Touch real furs and examine striking skulls of North American animals. Take a picture with Eddie, the T. rex mascot, and make a skunk mask and snake bookmark to take home. Also enjoy these shows:

11 a.m. Animals of the Live Animal Center
Hear the fascinating stories about some of the Academy’s critters in this live animal stage show and learn what you can do to help.

1 p.m. Field Tested
Get set for an adventure as you help prepare would-be scientists from the audience for an expedition in this interactive stage show. Discover some of the surprising items Academy scientists need when they do field research.

3 p.m. Fur, Feathers, and Scales
Learn how animals use their fur, feathers and scales in this live animal show.

Bird and Bug Day

Sunday, December 29

Learn about the endless variety and interesting features of our feathered friends and creepy crawlies. Look for the Academy’s live animals as they roam the museum with their informative handlers and at special stations in the exhibits. Touch specimens, take a picture with Eddie, the T. rex mascot, and make a jumping spider and a brainy bird bookmark to take home. Also enjoy these shows:

11 a.m. On the Wing
Meet the Academy’s beautiful birds during this live animal show.

1 p.m. Field Tested
Get set for an adventure as you help prepare would-be scientists from the audience for an expedition in this interactive stage show. Discover some of the surprising items Academy scientists need when they do field research.

3 p.m. Creepy Crawlies
See some of the spineless wonders of the Academy’s live insect and invertebrate collection in this fascinating stage show.

Weird-Things-in-Jars Day

Monday, December 30

Science is surprising, inspiring and sometimes downright weird. Get a close-up look at some of the Academy’s stranger specimens and learn about how scientists preserve them in jars and other ways for future research. Look for the Academy’s live animals as they roam the museum with their informative handlers and at special stations in the exhibits. Touch specimens, take a picture with Eddie, the T. rex mascot, and make your own weird thing in a jar to take home. Also enjoy these shows:

11 a.m. Weird and Wonderful
They might not be jarred, but the live animals of the Academy are plenty weird! Meet the inhabitants of our Live Animal Center during this live animal show.

1 p.m. Field Tested
Get set for an adventure as you help prepare would-be scientists from the audience for an expedition in this interactive stage show. Discover some of the surprising items Academy scientists need when they do field research.

3 p.m. Where in the World?
Put your observation skills to the test to discover where in the world the Academy’s critters come from in this interactive live animal show.

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