Families need nature at all times of the year! We’ll go on a StoryWalk to learn how a little bird can bring back the Sun! Then we will go inside and make a paper model of an Eastern chickadee.
Join us for an evening of art, fun, food, and more! This event is free and open to everyone.
Gather with friends and mingle inside our Italian-inspired courtyard while taking in the smooth sounds from DJ C-Zone. Browse the museum shop and chat over a snack or drink for purchase from local vendors. And of course, wander the galleries to take in our world-class art collections—over 50 galleries to explore! Don’t forget to check out the current exhibitions.
Families need nature at all times of the year! We’ll collect sticks, cones, leaves, seeds, and all kinds of natural materials from the forest floor, and then we’ll make our Fairy Houses among the maples!
Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
Learn more about this joyful holiday, a national symbol of Mexico. Enjoy craft activities for the young and young at heart. Personalize a sugar skull (extra fee), learn about the natural history of Mexico, watch live folk dance and mariachi performances, purchase traditional pan de muerto, hot chocolate or specialty cocktails. Contribute your message of love to honor and celebrate the lives of the departed at the museum’s altars.
Activities are free except where noted. RSVP by October 25 at 12:00pm and check in on arrival.
Harvard Museum of Natural History (26 Oxford Street) and Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology (11 Divinity Avenue)
Teen Saturdays is designed for Latino high school students. Workshops delve into four fascinating traditional celebrations from Central America. Participants will embark on a journey to discover diverse festivals that shape societies in El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. During each workshop, teenagers will visit exhibits, use art and language to create original works, and challenge their sense of what a tradition can be through discussion. We will learn about the historical and social contexts behind these festivities, their cultural symbolism, and the values they embody...
Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge
"Shrink" yourself down to "walk" into an ancient Maya vessel using augmented reality! Maya women were often essential for uniting kingdoms. When a marriage was arranged between Maya royal families, kings would exchange gifts like this ceramic three-legged plate for serving chocolate. Use the museum's iPad as a "magic window" to discover fine details on one such plate that cannot be seen on the actual artifact. A gallery facilitator will guide you through the experience and will share more about the Maya.
This is a drop-in activity for International Archaeology Day — no...
Families need nature at all times of the year! Construct a rainbow of fall colors from leaves and seeds we find as we walk from the main gate to the ponds along Meadow Road.
Come by the Arnold Arboretum for our series of Second Sundays community events, celebrating Peters Hill and the neighborhoods surrounding it. Enjoy family activities, play lawn games, talk to a horticulturist or a scientist, sample local apples, take a tour, and more!
The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, 60 Garden St., Cambridge
Become an astronomer for a day! Come visit us on Observatory Hill, and see what the Center for Astrophysics has been up to. Enjoy exploration stations that include hands-on activities, telescope tours, and solar observing. There’s even an opportunity to ask our scientists all of your burning space questions at our “Ask an Astronomer” tables.
Find out the latest discoveries about the sun, exoplanets, and black holes and take your own telescope images using our robotic telescopes, or go on a virtual tour of space using the World Wide Telescope visualization lab- It’s out of this...
Harvard Museum of Natural History (26 Oxford Street) and Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology (11 Divinity Avenue)
Teen Saturdays is designed for Latino high school students. Workshops delve into four fascinating traditional celebrations from Central America. Participants will embark on a journey to discover diverse festivals that shape societies in El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. During each workshop, teenagers will visit exhibits, use art and language to create original works, and challenge their sense of what a tradition can be through discussion. We will learn about the historical and social contexts behind these festivities, their cultural symbolism, and the values they embody...
Join us for an introduction to Houghton Library, Harvard’s primary rare book and manuscript library. The tour includes visits to our exhibition spaces and display rooms dedicated to the English writer Samuel Johnson and his circle, Romantic poet John Keats, American poets Emily Dickinson and Amy Lowell, as well as the library of Harvard collector William King Richardson. A history of the building and an overview of services available to library patrons will also be provided.
Families need nature at all times of the year! We’ll use nets and bug boxes to find insects in the meadow and the woods. Go on a StoryWalk® and look at insects with magnifiers!
Free and open to all, most suitable for children ages four through ten.
Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston
Families need nature at all times of the year! Meet inside the main gate at the Visitor Center. We’ll look at buds and blooms and learn how bees find flowers. Go on a StoryWalk®, get a bee tattoo, and look at flowers under magnifiers. Free and open to all, most suitable for children ages four through ten.
Experience the springtime bloom of our renowned collection of over 400 lilacs. Visit for tours with Arboretum experts, hands-on children’s programming, and more. Picnicking in the Arboretum landscape is permitted on this day only.
Intersection of Meadow Road and Bussey Hill Road, Arnold Aboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston
Lilacs are blooming in the Arboretum throughout the month of May, not only on Lilac Sunday! Join Chris McArdle and other docents on a 45-minute amble up the hill from the ponds to see the lilacs, enjoy their scents, and hear the stories of the many different lilacs in our collection.
Intersection of Meadow Road and Bussey Hill Road, Arnold Aboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston
Lilacs are blooming in the Arboretum throughout the month of May, not only on Lilac Sunday! Join Chris McArdle and other docents on a 45-minute amble up the hill from the ponds to see the lilacs, enjoy their scents, and hear the stories of the many different lilacs in our collection.
Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston
Families need nature at all times of the year! Learn about the beautiful redwing blackbirds that have returned to the North Meadow. Wear a redwing blackbird cape, go on a StoryWalk® about wild birds, get a redwing blackbird tattoo, and learn about bird songs in the Arboretum.
Break out your binoculars and see what kinds of birds the Arboretum has to offer in late winter. Join Curatorial Assistant and birding enthusiast Adam Banks to get some fresh air, look for and listen for local birds, and re-familiarize yourself with the birds here before migration season starts in the spring.