Sping Break Escape Offers Daily Activities at the Sam Noble Museum

NORMAN –  The Sam Noble Museum in Norman offers opportunities for exploration and fun on a budget at “Spring Break Escape,” Monday through Friday, March 14 through 18. Each day the museum will offer a host of presentations, programs and activities, all free with paid museum admission. A family of four can visit for under $20.

Activities will include outdoor nature walks, crafts and demonstrations with representatives from the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry; informal chat sessions with museum staff featuring objects from collections or live animals as well as performances by science magician Steve Crawford, musical fun with Sonder Music, Native American dance performances, story times, face painting and more.

On Wednesday and Thursday, March 15 and 16, the museum is pleased to once again welcome the George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center with four showings of “It’s All About Birds,” an exciting presentation involving live, trained birds.  The show features birds that fly down to the stage right over the audience, and sometimes perform with participating audience members in an auditorium-styled, theme park-type experience.  This free-flight bird show is intended to educate, entertain, inspire and awe. “It’s All About Birds” will take place in the museum’s Kerr Auditorium at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16; and at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 17.  Seating is limited.  Museum visitors may pick up a pass for the show at the front desk when they purchase their museum admission.

Other Spring Break Escape highlights will include a live animal presentation hosted by the Oklahoma City Zoo at 2 p.m. and at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16; an outdoor tipi pitch and flint knapping demonstration at 11 a.m. Thursday, March 17; and a performance by Monty Harper, featuring children’s songs about science at 1 p.m. on Friday, March 18. Also scheduled is a dance performance by the Dancing Eagles in the museum’s Great Hall at 2:30 Friday afternoon.

In addition to scheduled activities, visitors to the museum during Spring Break will be treated to a view of the brand new Black Mesa exhibit: a new permanent diorama in the Hall of Natural Wonders which showcases the unique landscapes of the Oklahoma Panhandle, funded by the Whitten-Newman Foundation.  Also on view is "Mediterranean Treasures: Selections from the Classics Collection," featuring 100 objects from ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt and the Middle East chosen from the museum's permanent collection.

A full schedule of activities is below. Museum hours during Spring Break are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors (age 65+), $3 for youth ages 6 to 17, and free for children ages 5 and under.

Most programs are geared for families with children ages 4 and up, unless otherwise noted below. Though all programs are free with museum admission, space is limited in some programs (see full schedule). Passes for these programs may be picked up at the museum information desk the day of the event. All programs will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.  

·                The museum is located on the University of Oklahoma Norman campus at 2401 Chautauqua Avenue. Additional information about the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is available on the museum’s Web site:  www.snomnh.ou.edu or by calling (405) 325-4712.

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Spring Break Escape 2011

Schedule of Activities

a Denotes a program for which space is limited.  For these programs, passes will be available for pick-up at the museum information desk.  Passes will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis.