The fourth annual World Science
Festival starts today and features many family-friendly events designed to
inspire and educate young science enthusiasts (and their parents!). The world’s top scientists have partnered
with artists, writers and inventors to give kids the chance to find Orion’s
Belt, identify birds that call New York City home and hang out with robotic comedians, among other
things. The hard part is deciding what to do! Just be sure to plan ahead –
while most of the events are free, some ticketed events are already sold
out. —
Friday, June 3
Ditch those glow-in-the-dark ceiling
stickers and show your kids the real deal at a night of free stargazing in Brooklyn
Bridge Park (8:30 pm – 12:00 am). Telescopes will abound, along with professional
astronomers to help you and the kids check out the cosmos. Leave time to
explore asteroids and outer space in the Discovery Dome, a special HD
projection theater. Click here for more information.
Saturday, June 4
Catch
the free ferry to Governors
Island for Science on Site, an all-day celebration of the natural world.
Budding scientists can design a shell for an experimental oyster reef, as well
as try their hand at sungazing, build a kite, make a mini-tornado and join
experts for bird-watching, a bug hunt, and a “botanical safari” – no green thumb
required. Activities run from 10:00 am to
6:00 pm.
It’s
not every day that kids can shoot the breeze with awesome adults who make a
living studying mammoth DNA, building quirky robots, discovering new species
and rapping about evolution. These globetrotters will pause their adventures to
share the ins and outs of their unusual professions at Cool Jobs at 2:00 pm in the NYU Skirball Center. Click here for more information and to buy tickets.
Shed
some light on light itself at the American Museum of Natural History. Illuminating Light kicks
off at 6:00
pm with a vibrant show and invites kids to
trace the path of a photon and talk to a neuroscientist about light’s crucial
role in the brain. Visit the WSF website for details and
tickets.
Sunday, June 5
Today’s your chance to channel your
inner CSI detective, figure out what Oobleck is, create your own fragrance, cheer
on fighting sumo robots and learn how ping pong affects your brain. It’s all at
the 2011 World Science Festival Street Fair, an all-day extravaganza for
families with science on the brain. Washington
Square Park will be packed with 30 free exhibits, experiments, games
and shows to choose from throughout the day, so even the pickiest of young
scientists will have a blast.
Future mathletes will be wowed at the
Mathemagician show at 12:15, when Arthur Benjamin performs his acts of mathematical
sleight of hand. The Saturday show is already sold out, but this one is gratis.
Would you ever think to rhyme “mama”
with “mitochondria”? At 1:45,
Baba Brinkman will rap about
evolution, throwing down Darwinian rhymes with a hip-hop beat.
Join Mary Seidman and Dancers and
composer Brucer Lazarus for The Messier
Starship at 2:30
pm, a concert and dance performance
backlit with images of stars and galaxies from Carter Emmart’s 3-D atlas.
Kids can don a lab coat and retro
goggles to help Doktor Kaboom with
his mad scientist experiments at 4:30 pm.
If they feel like dancing, Jeffrey Vinokur will combine science with
high-energy dance moves at So You Think
You Can Do Science at 5:15 p.m.
Special events will take place in the Eisner & Lubin
Auditorium in the NYU Kimmel Center.
Admission is first-come, first-served. Click here for more information and a map.
