Family-friendly Discovery Days explore themed natural history topics through hands-on activities, engaging community partners, exhibit exploration, and more – all included with your general admission!

Discovery Days: Fossil Fest
November 26 and November 28, 2025
11:00am – 3:00pm each day

Join other prehistory fans and explore life long ago through fossils, models, casts, and conversations that will leave you wanting to go back in time!

From colossal landmasses to ancient creatures—some still around today—dig and uncover the secrets of the fossil record and piece together the stories from millions of years ago.

Get up close to the past and channel your inner paleontologist with activities like:

  • Pangea Puzzle: Piece together a giant supercontinent and see how today’s continents once fit together as a single landmass.
  • Cockroach Conservation: Meet live cockroaches that are facing extinction, discover their million-year survival story, and learn how scientists are working to protect them.
  • Food-Web Engineer: Build a Permian-style food web and see how it would hold up during the world’s largest extinction event.
  • Fossil Forensics: Use a single fossil to reconstruct an entire creature—just like real paleontologists do!
  • Creature Creations: Invent a creature tough enough to survive the extreme conditions and climate at the end of the Permian Period.
  • Getting to Know Dimetrodon: Can you spot the surprising mammal-like traits of this top land predator?
  • Fossil or Cast, and Does it Matter?: Are you sure that you can tell the real fossil from the cast?
  • And more! 

Discovery Days: Hooray for Science!
December 26, 27, 29, and 30
11:00am – 3:00pm
December 28
12:00pm – 3:00pm

Join us this holiday season to explore Science with activities, projects and more, including:

  • Snowflake Science: Discover the science behind the shape and craft your own snowflake to take home.
  • Snow Walking: Experiment with how animals and humans move across deep snow.
  • Star Stories: Hear a Native American tale about the stars, then create your own constellation-inspired story.
  • Lights & Shadows: Play with light and darkness and make your own shadow puppet.
  • Winter Wildlife Helpers: Build an edible feeder to support local critters through the winter.
  • T. rex and You: Measure yourself against a life-sized T. rex.
  • Table Rockets: Launch tabletop rockets and see chemistry in action.
  • And more!

Discovery Days: Science of Food
January 10, 2026
11:00am – 3:00pm

There’s probably something about food we all enjoy – the taste, the colors, the textures, the smells, or even the preparation. But what is the science behind what we consume, how we experience it, and decide what we do or do not like? Taste, make, experiment, and ponder your way through the science and history of food.

Consume the Science of Food with activities like:

  • That’s a Snack?: Savor a tasty, protein-packed snack that was popular with primitive people across the world – if you dare!
  • Early Shelf Life: Learn how Great Lakes Native people preserved their food and try your hand at corn pounding.
  • Taste Challenge: Do you think we experience food solely through our mouths? Take our Taste Challenge and find out!
  • Goggles On: Experiment to create entertaining reactions between common pantry foods.
  • Dare to Look: Peer through a microscope to see the real reason why we wash our rice – there’s more to it than you think!
  • It’s Alive!: Microorganisms that make our food? See them in action!
  • No Spitting! Saliva plays many roles but you may not know this one – try it and see!
  • And more!

Discovery Days: Women & Girls in Science Event
February 7, 2026
11:00am – 3:00pm

Who runs the world? Girls and women in science! From the mother of radiation, Marie Curie, to making their marks in space like Mae Jemison, women have been catalyzing scientific research into the new age for decades! Join us for a day of experiencing these incredible minds and contributions!

Join in the celebration of women and girls in science with activities including:

  • Space Shuttle Project, inspired by Mae Jemison: Explore engineering concepts as you design your own space shuttle.
  • Handprint X-Ray, inspired by Marie Curie: Make a translucent handprint with an X-ray effect.  
  • Ready? Launch!, inspired by Amelia Earheart: Why – and how -- does a launcher give your paper airplane extra speed?    
  • Binary You, inspired by Margaret Hamilton: Code your name using simple computer coding.
  • Swirling Vortex, inspired by Mary Jackson: Navigate the wind tunnel – will your cargo survive? 
  • Strawberry DNA, inspired by Rosalind Franklin: Discover the double helix and extract DNA.  
  • Lunar Lander, inspired by Katherine Johnson: How would you design a lander to land safely on the Moon?  
  • And more!

Discovery Days: Birds of Prey
April 11, 2026
11:00am – 3:00pm

Step into the wild and wonderful world of raptors! Get up close to live raptors, chat with their handlers, and dive into hands-on activities about flight, feathers, adaptations and more.

Activities will include:

  • Beak Secrets: Discover the purpose of beak design as you race against time.
  • Lunchtime Leftovers: Dig in to find out what YOUR owl was eating!
  • Eyes to the Skies: Scan for birds on the Cranbrook grounds.
  • Bird Boogie: Can you dance like a bird?
  • Dino to Now: Explore the journey from dinos to modern raptors.
  • Name that Bird: Play a game to identify common metro-area raptors.
  • Who’s Your Mamma?: Can you match the baby raptor to its parents?
  • Soaring Eagles: Make a paper glider to explore how raptors soar on the wind.
  • Masking Up: Make Your Own Great Horned Owl Mask.
  • And more!

Discovery Days: Community Science
May 2, 2026
11:00am – 3:00pm

Curious about community science but unsure how to jump in? Spend the day exploring hands-on ways to contribute to real research happening right in your neighborhood. Chat with CIS staff and local partners, try out easy tools, and discover projects you can join from home.

Possible activities and topics may include:

  • Tools of the Trade: Get comfortable with popular community science apps and simple field methods.
  • Biodiversity Boost: Practice identifying birds, insects, plants, and other living things.
  • Night Sky Wonders: Explore projects that focus on stars, darkness, and the nighttime environment.
  • Water Watchers: Learn how everyday observations can support water quality studies.
  • Species on the Move: Find out how to spot and report invasive species.
  • …and plenty more!

Discovery Days: Rock On!
June 13, 2026
11:00am – 3:00pm

Rocks are wonderful! Whether you are interested in minerals, fossils, space rocks or Earth processes, there is a hands-on activity here for you.

Activities to include:

  • Mineral Gallery Scavenger Hunt: Find them all and win a prize!
  • Breaking Up: Investigate geodes with our geologist and then crack open your own (geode purchase required).
  • Walking Tour: Take a guided tour of the CIS Boulder Trail.
  • Earth on the Move: Join an auditorium program about volcanoes and earthquakes.
  • Earthquake Proof: Build a home that can withstand an earthquake.
  • Identification Station: Test the tools geologists use for mineral identification.
  • Space Rock Challenge: Can you separate the meteorites from the imposters?
  • Minerals in our Homes: Match the unexpected ways that minerals are used in housing construction.
  • Fossil Process: Explore how fossils are made with a hands-on activity.