Amazing Backyard Adventures - Australian Museum

Media release: Amazing Backyard Adventures

Discover the incredible world of science lurking just outside your door in this family-friendly exhibition opening 5 December 2009 (until 18 April 2010).

From the beautiful flowers in the garden and creatures lurking in the pond to the vegetable patch, the swing set and the secret world of the nocturnal critters that come out to play while you sleep – there is more to your backyard than you imagine.

In fact, take a closer look and you will be surprised to discover there is an incredible world of science that can be found right outside your door!

Amazing Backyard Adventures is a family-friendly exhibition designed to encourage budding young scientists to ‘see the unseen’ in the natural world around their home.

Featuring 16 interactive displays, the hands-on exhibition is targeted at 5 to 12 year olds and is FREE with general Museum entry.

Use special lenses to take a look at the backyard through the eyes of a dog or jump on board the flying bee for a bees’ eye view of the garden.

Ever fancied yourself a green thumb but don’t want to wait for the results? Grow your own virtual pumpkin patch or release your inner Dr Frankenstein by concocting your own fictitious plant or insect.

Why not step inside the garden shed and see what you can create with the tools and objects left lying around on the work benches.

Or delve into the mechanics of the swing, slide and see-saw before exploring the ‘frog eat insect’ world of the interactive pond.

Exhibition Project Manager, Catherine Cooper, said visitors will experience the backyard like never before as they investigate how things interact, operate and live there.

‘By giving people the opportunity to observe science in something as familiar as the common backyard, we hope visitors will walk away with not only a greater appreciation for the biodiversity that exists there but also the understanding that science really is in everything – and that everyone can be a scientist!’, she said.

A highlight of the exhibition is the opportunity for visitors to take a journey inside a magnified backyard lawn and find out how it feels to be smaller than a blade of grass.

Or for an alternative look at the backyard environment, young scientists can really immerse themselves by playing dress ups and stepping inside one of the cute spider or frog costumes available FREE of charge within the exhibition.

For great summer fun these school holidays, Amazing Backyard Adventures opens at the Australian Museum on 5 December 2009 until 18 April 2010.

Amazing Backyard Adventures was developed by Scitech, Perth.

Michelle Van Doninck , Publicist
Phone: +612 9320 6181
Last Updated: 9 December 2009