science – Mummy To Twins Plus One

See the 200 Treasures of the Australian Museum

I love museums and history.

History was one of my favourite subjects at school. Was it yours as well?

I liked thinking about what it must have been like in ancient Egypt or in the early days of Australia.

Going to a museum allows you to see treasures from explorers like Captain Cook and Sir Douglas Mawson, plus all sorts of other amazing things. It also allows you for a brief moment to experience what it might have been like for the early settlers of Australia, Explorers, allows you to learn more about animals and different cultures.

The Australian Museum has a new permanent exhibition opening tomorrow (14th of October 2017).

Theban mummy and coffin from the 200 Treasures of the Australian Museum.

The exhibition is called: 200 Treasures of the Australian Museum

Not only does the museum have a fantastic new exhibit, they have also restored the oldest part of the museum. Many people worked many hours to preserve the

The Westpac Long Gallery has been restored with a $9 million dollars of funding. This was in equal partnership with Westpac, the NSW Government and the Australian Museum Foundation. Below you can see the drawings and learn how long it has taken to revamp this historical space at the museum. This part of the museum is one of my favourite spaces as it has all the charm of the old original building.

The 100 treasures of history, science, and culture also include:

The body of a preserved Thylacine pup, dating back to 1886;
The Sydney funnel-web spider responsible for the only recorded human death by this species;
A bird-shaped stone pestle made in Papua New Guinea between 3000 and 8000 years ago;
A 2800-year-old Egyptian mummy in a wooden coffin painted with mythological scenes;
A sledge and ice pick from Sir Douglas Mawson’s expedition to Antarctica, 1911-1914;
A prehistoric Irish Elk skeleton with enormous antlers, discovered in peat bog deposits;
Australia’s first bank note, issued on April 8, 1817; and
A 10-kilogram gold nugget discovered in 1887, the only remaining example of its kind from the early gold-rush years in NSW.

The 100 treasured objects are matched by 100 people who have helped shape the nation through contributions to history, science, nature, sport or culture, such as Cathy Freeman, Sir Donald Bradman, Professor Fred Hollows, Eddie Mabo, Ned Kelly and Kylie Minogue.

A great video from The Australian Museum about conserving our treasures

DID YOU KNOW?

The Australian Museum marks its 190-year this year. Happy Birthday Australian Museum, not sure what card or pressie I get you for being 190. Maybe a nice cup of tea and a lunch might do.

The museum is celebrating by giving free entry to people on their birthday. Spend your birthday at the museum and get in for free. All you need to do is to register for your free voucher (see link above)

Eric the opalised pliosaur from the 200 Treasures of the Australian Museum.

The Australian Museum 1 William Street, Sydney

Free after general admission. Adults $15, kids go free

Exploring a museum with kids is always fun. Everyone learns something, sees something new and it is a great day out.

Another reason to love museums is that they are educational, although the learning is not considered learning when it is a fun family day out. (Just don’t tell the kids this!)

I hope this gives you another fun place to take the kids or just for you if you wish to see this wonderful exhibition.

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Our Pet Worms

What you need

Dirt

Of course worms

A clean table to set up the farm

I got the dirt from our backyard and found a few extra worms also, so that was a bonus. One worm that we got from my aunty was huge and the girls have called him “The King”

Checking out the worm farm. Very happy kids!

I followed the instructions for the worm kit however I left one thing out. The privacy screens. Who knew worms needed privacy? The reason the kit has it is you can take off the plastic edges of the farm to see what the worms are doing. Without the screens the worms get a lot of light that they don’t like. If they had the screens they would be spared the annoyance of having the light shone in their faces. I just now have images of worms not wanting to be next to each other and are upset that I left off the privacy screens. I realised too late and the only way to fix it was to take all the dirt and worms out of the kit and start again.

So sorry worms, no privacy. You will just have to get along with your neighbours.

You might have noticed the yellow and red dirt or sand. It is so that when the worms build their tunnels you can see where they have gone. Easier to see if it is a different colour than just black dirt.

Make sure you wash your hands and any surfaces that you used to help create the worm farm.

Happy kids with their new worm farm.

One thing that was said after I completed the worm farm with the twins, “Thanks mummy we now have worms as pets!”

Gosh if the kids are happy with worms as pets, wait till they get a cat when they are a bit older. We are hoping to have a kitten for the kids when we have our new house. Maybe while we wait we could get the girls fish to look after. This might be a little better than pet worms? What do you think?

The girls are getting more involved in scientific exploration so that is why they got an ant farm and a worm farm. Along with it both kids got a magnifying glass as well, they have used it to investigate the garden and all that is miniature that needs to be explored.