programs

in-house programs

Weekday programs at the museum are sometimes messy, always fun, and cultivate curiosity! The morning sessions focus on skill building for younger pre-K children, while the afternoon sessions offer additional materials and science content or explorations for school-age children.

Tuesdays @ 11: Messy Art 

A unique program for younger children that features open-ended activities that encourage playful sensory explorations. Skills practiced in Messy Art promote fundamental primary language and math skills,  creativity, self-expression, and fine motor skills, and increase self-confidence in self-expression. Materials and supplies are generally safe for children 3 and over.

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Wednesdays @ 11 & 3:30: Seeds of Science

Each week we explore fundamental STEM concepts with tactile, sensory art-making activities. Paint, paper, and colors, combined with special sensory experiences like scented doughs, homemade brushes, and easy crafts for always fun, hands-on activities that support creativity, self-expression, and early science literacy.

Thursdays @ 11 & 3:30: Nature Time

Animals, plants, shells, rocks, weather, stars, water! With your child, explore our wide, wild, and wonder-filled world with live animal encounters and special materials and activities from our natural history collections. Nature time is a special program to instill empathy and respect for all things from nature while supporting early science literacy skills like making observations, contrasting, and comparing.

Fridays @ 11 & 3:30: Smart Art

Is your child always tinkering and inventing? Make smart art with us! Each week your child can practice problem-solving skills and use their creativity and imagination with simple and fun building and crafting activities like turning recyclables into woodland critters, experiencing color mixing with opaque art materials, or playing with natural materials to explore tensile strength.

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Saturdays @ 1 PM - 3 PM: Cultivate Creativity

Saturdays programs feature art-making, crafting, or science explorations. Families can also learn about featured cultural or historical events. Saturday Family Activities offer bigger projects that encourage collaboration or require a gentle hand to help children realize their creative visions.

community outreach

Invite one of our Educational Program Coordinators to your organization or event for an engaging science experience. Our specially designed programs are meant to meet the unique needs of an array of settings for an engaging experience. Our hands‐on activities will enrich your science-minded guests and cultivate curiosity about the world around them.

vacation camps

Maine Discovery Museum camps offer the perfect combination of play and learning. Fun and play and having time and space to be, well, kids, combined with special STEM labs and explorations and creative art and building activities: that’s what Maine Discovery Museum camps are all about!

The Science Teacher Academy (STA) program of the Maine Discovery Museum is being developed to address the gap in professional development opportunities available for elementary school teachers to more effectively and confidently teach science. The STA will partner with teachers, administrators, schools of education, museums, and other informal science organizations to significantly expand the science taught in schools in Maine and better prepare those teachers in science teaching. 

Mark your calendars for next year's festival:
March 22 - 26, 2023!

maine
science
podcast

Each episode is a conversation with Kate Dickerson, Interim Executive Director of MDM and founder and director of the Maine Science Festival, and a Mainer who is working in science, engineering, technology, and innovation, and deep-dive into who they are and what they do. This format allows us to explore more about the science and the person doing it. With the Maine Science Podcast, we continue to celebrate and explore Maine science and people – right now.

Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.