Star Party
Date: Saturday, May 18, 2013
Time: 7:30pm
Age: For all ages
Fee: Free—provided through the generous support of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Head inside the dome and journey to the skies in a star
show. After the show, if the sky is clear, staff will take the telescopes outside so guests can look at amazing objects in the sky. Visitors can get up close and personal with the Moon, planets, and star clusters. Feel free to bring and set
up your own telescope.

The Hubble or There and Back Again: An Astronomer's Tale
With special guest: Rajib Ganguly
Date: Thursday, May 23
Time: Begins at 6:00pm with Q&A afterward
Ages: For ages 10 and older
Location: Longway Planetarium
Fee: Free, compliments of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
In an orbit around Earth, there lived a telescope. Not in an orbit too high or too low, nor on the ground in a nasty, dirty, dome: it was the Hubble, and that means science. Much like a hobbit-hole, it too has a perfectly round door like a porthole that opens to a tube-shaped tunnel, and like hobbit, the Hubble is fond of visitors. Not just astronauts that have come to service it and give it new life, but also to astronomers who employ it, peering out into farthest depths of universe and to close-by neighboring planets, and everything in between. For the past 22 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has been a beacon of inspiration to all, a marvelous feat for engineers, and an exquisite tool and friend for astronomers. Join University of Michigan-Flint astronomer, Professor Rajib Ganguly, as he recounts his own love affair with Hubble, how it has shaped his own research, and indeed, his career.

CAMP ALPHA OMEGA FOR GIRLS - Fizz, Bubble, Pop! Chemistry Rocks!BY PARTICIPANT DEMAND! THIS CAMP HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO 5 DAYS!

June 24 – June 28, 9:00am–12:00pm
Girls entering 3rd–6th Grades
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $85
Join Longway Planetarium as we partner with some of Genesee County’s best teachers! Guest teachers from the Alpha Omega Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society will be on hand as we explore elements, mixtures, compounds, states of matter, and physical and chemical changes. Campers will walk to Mott Community College to visit with science faculty and do an activity in the science lab. Limited scholarship funds are available thanks to Alpha Omega. Call for details.

KINDERSCIENCE CAMP - Overhead and Underfoot
June 24 – June 26, 1:00–4:00pm
Kids entering Kindergarten
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $60
These hands-on activities will have you looking up to the sky and will have you digging the dirt! Build and fly a kite, make a cloud, and build a bird’s nest. Make a habitat for worms, start a rock collection, and play in the fossil dig area. Held in the Planetarium’s Family Science Room, this camp will provide opportunities for free exploration and independent play as well as structured hands-on science and math activities. Grown-ups are welcome to stay and play!

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT!
June 27, 1:00–3:00pm
Kids Entering 1-3 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $8
Explore the daytime and nighttime sky with fun hands-on activities. See how H2O travels in a cycle, while making a cloud in a bottle. Explore the properties of air, while building a kite. Use the sun to create a piece of art. See why the moon seems to change shape, see the difference between a planet, moon, and star, and make a glow in the dark star project to take home.

CRAZY COLORS
July 1, 9:00–10:30am
Kids Entering Pre-K-K
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $6
Make a color spinner that blends color. Use your hands to mix up new colors. Practice your math skills while making a colorful fruit kabob for a snack. Use chromatography to make a colorful butterfly.

BUBBLE FESTIVAL
July 1, 1:00–2:30pm
Kids Entering 1-3 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $6
Each bubble station offers a fun way to play with bubbles! Make your own bubble juice, use your hands to make bubbles, try a bubble frame that makes huge bubbles, paint with bubbles to make a card to send to a friend. Make and take your own bubble blowing tools.

THINGS YOUR MOTHER WOULDN’T LET YOU DO AT HOME
July 2, 9:00–11:00am
Kids Entering 1-3 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $8
Build a catapult to launch your peas, build and throw paper airplanes, and use the goo you made to make rude noises.

RAT DISSECTION
July 2, 1:00–3:00pm
Kids Entering 5-8 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $10
Kids will work in groups to dissect a rat. Explore the organs of the digestive and respiratory systems with this dissection and other hands-on activities.

CARTOON SCIENCE
July 3, 9:00–11:00am
Kids Entering 4-6 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $8
These silly hands-on activities will put the fun in physics! Make your own cartoon character and use it to explore gravity, air resistance, and other science concepts.

LEVEL 1 SCIENCE CAMP
July 8 – July 12, 9:00am–12:00pm (Morning Session)
July 15 – July 19, 1:00–4:00pm (Afternoon Session)
Kids entering 1st–3rd Grades
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $85
Meet the Planets – Visit the Planetarium Theater for a star show, work together to paint a Solar System mural and make and take other astronomy themed projects.
Measure up! – Hunt for treasure, while practicing your measuring skills! Use beakers and digital scales to measure ingredients, while making a stone garden. See how you measure up to Mr. Bone, the classroom skeleton.
Rocket Science – Make a variety of rockets you can launch indoors while learning about thrust, gravity, and air resistance. Build and launch your very own air powered rocket and then take it home for display.
Ecosystems – Investigate the needs of living things while building a terrarium to take home. Figure out “Whooo eats who” while dissecting owl pellets, and discover adaptations that help animals catch their prey and avoid becoming lunch.

R2K ROCKETS
July 8, 1:00–4:00pm
Kids Entering 4-6 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $10
Build and launch (and repair and re-launch) your own air pressure powered R2K rocket.

FAIRY PARTY
July 9, 9:00–10:30am
Kids Entering Pre-K-K
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $6
Wear your fairy wings and dress up clothes for the Fairy Party in the garden! Go on a treasure hunt in the garden and make a variety of fairy themed crafts.

LEVEL 2 SCIENCE CAMP
July 22 – July 26, 9:00am–12:00pm
Kids entering 4th–6th Grades
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $85
Science Goes Splat! – Investigate physical science with these hands-on activities that explore gravity and other physical science concepts. Build your own model catapult.
Magnification – From magnifying glasses to microscopes, investigate your micro-world! Make a cell model to take home, while exploring about the structures and functions of organelles and use microscopes to find living things inside a drop of pond water.
Chemistry Class – A Planetarium favorite! These demonstrations and hands-on activities explore matter, and physical and chemical changes.
Garden Discovery – Investigate the difference between good bugs and bad bugs in the garden, dissect a flowering plant, and be a pollinator as you explore the Planetarium garden.
Geology Gems – Explore some of our favorite Earth science activities while exploring volcanoes, earthquakes, rocks, minerals, and fossils.

FUR, FEATHERS, SCALES, AND SKIN
July 22, 1:00–3:00pm
Kids Entering 1-3 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $8
Fur, feathers, scales, and skin; what’s your favorite animal in? Visit with some live animals while investigating how what you’re covered in helps you survive.

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK
July 24, 1:00–2:30pm
Kids Entering Pre-K-K
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $6
Listen to the story and then build a Jack and the Beanstalk terrarium to take home. Open up a bean seed to see what’s inside. Practice your sorting and sifting skills while using tools to separate a mixture of beans. Use beans to make a beautiful work of art.

ENERGY
July 25, 1:00–3:00pm
Kids Entering 4-6 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $10
Explore electricity, magnetism, sound, light, heat, potential, and kinetic energy while seeing that energy is transferred from one form to another. Build a model wind turbine to take home.

SOLIDS, LIQUIDS, AND GASES
July 29, 9:00–11:00am
Kids Entering 1-3 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $8
Freezing and melting, evaporation and condensation; see how you can change matter! Experiment with viscosity as you blow paint around to make a picture, use a super cold liquid to freeze some ice cream to taste.

CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION
July 29, 9:00–11:00am
Kids Entering 5-8 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $8
Science sleuths will examine hair, fingerprints, blood, and tire prints as they sift through the evidence in the case of the murdered mayor.

WIND AND WEATHER
July 29, 1:00–2:30pm
Kids Entering Pre-K-K
@Longway Planetarium
FEE: $6
Make a weather mobile, while investigating about the sun, clouds, rain, and thunderstorms. See the wind move wind socks and air spinners that you build. Use the sun to change something from a solid to a liquid and explore the weather of the seasons.

SCIENCE AND ART
July 29, 1:00–3:00pm
Kids Entering 1-3 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $8
Discover the science in art! Make blotter bugs while exploring color mixing. Use chromatography to separate colors. Use an ice cube and tempera paint to explore melting and watercolor paint to explore evaporation.

GEOLOGY ROCKS
July 31, 1:00–3:30pm
Kids Entering 4-6 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $12
Calling all rock hounds! Explore igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks and the rock cycle. Investigate weathering, erosion and the impact of acid rain. Make a piece of mineral jewelry and take home some rock, mineral, and fossil samples to add to your collection.

WEEDS, SEEDS, AND WORMS
August 1, 1:00–3:00pm
Kids Entering 4-6 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $8
Explore the Planetarium garden while creating a small garden ornament, dissecting a plant, discovering the importance of pollinators, and how to encourage these beneficial animals to visit your garden.

MOSAIC BIRD BATH
August 5–6, 1:00–3:00pm
Kids Entering 4-6 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $12
Create a beautiful piece of garden art! After learning about what colors birds are attracted to, use your imagination to create a colorful birdbath to take home for your garden!

ROCKETS (TWO DAYS)
August 5–6, 9:00–11:00am
Kids Entering 5-8 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $22
Build and fly your own model rockets! On Day 1 we’ll construct “Alpha” and “Viking” rockets. On Day 2 we’ll launch our rockets; first with a smaller test engine, and then if everything checks out, we’ll launch with a more powerful engine. No prior model rocket building experience necessary.

MOSAIC BIRD BATH
August 5–6, 1:00–3:00pm
Kids Entering 4-6 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $12
Create a beautiful piece of garden art! After learning about what colors birds are attracted to, use your imagination to create a colorful birdbath to take home for your garden!

SCIENCE SPA
August 5, 9:00–11:00am
Kids Entering 5-8 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $12
Make your own lip balm, scented hand scrub, body lotion and other treats while investigating changes in matter along with other science concepts. Please note, this activity may make use of almond oil and other ingredients that may cause an allergic reaction.

ALL ABOUT BEARS
August 6, 9:00–10:30am
Kids Entering Pre-K-K
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $6
Make a variety of bear themed projects while practicing your science and math skills! Balance a paper bear on your fingertip. Use bear counters and a balance to weigh objects. Design a model bear habitat that provides food, water, and shelter. Make a 5 senses bear to take home.

ROCK HOUNDS
August 6, 1:00–3:00pm
Kids Entering 1-3 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $8
Choose your own “pet rock” to use to practice your weighing and measuring skills. Choose from a variety of rock, mineral, and fossil samples to begin building your own rock collection. Spend some time in the Planetarium Garden fossil dig pit.

RECYCLE!
August 7, 9:00–11:00am
Kids Entering 1-3 Grade
@ Longway Planetarium
FEE: $8
Using recyclable materials create a variety of projects to take home to decorate your home, your garden, and even you! Discover the importance of recycling and how it impacts the environment.