For eleven days in October, the city’s top museums are joining together to celebrate Museum Week. Take advantage of discounted admissions, special exhibits, giveaways and more at each of the participating museums. Illinois residents will receive up to 25% off admissions at all museums. From culture to constellations, art to animals, this is your chance to experience Chicago’s most beloved institutions in a whole new way!

Click here for complete details.

Registration is open for STEM Saturdays at Northern Illinois University. STEM Saturday classes help students explore interesting topics through hands-on activities and exciting demonstrations. Parents are encouraged to attend students' classes and get in on the fun. This season's offerings include methods of flight, chemistry investigations, computer programming and STEM activities for young divas.

Age dependent on class. Most classes for ages 7 and up. Complete information can be found on STEM outreach web site.

The Midwest Torrance Center for Creativity based out of Northern Illinois University's Center for Gifted has just published their inaugural issue of the Torrance Journal for Applied Creativity. It is free and available online for anyone who is interested:http://www.centerforgifted.org/TorranceJournal_V1.pdf. You also can request a paper version to be mailed to you for $20.   

They are also sponsoring creativity awards for students in creative writing, musical composition, visual arts, and invention for which the deadline is August 20. See here for more details:http://www.centerforgifted.org/torrance.html

From the Lake County Discovery Museum eNewsletter:

FREE MUSEUM ADMISSION ALL MONTH LONG

On September 1, the Museum will close its doors at Lakewood Forest Preserve in Wauconda, pack up its vast collections and start the move to its new location in Libertyville. A grand opening is anticipated for late 2017. As our thank you for 40 great years at Lakewood, we are offering FREE admission during the month of August.

Don't miss your chance to visit the Museum and view our current exhibitions before the end of the month. We will also be offering 70 percent off at the Museum gift store, and free giveaways all month long.

To learn more about the move, or for progress updates, check LCFPD.org/museum. Follow us on Facebook for reveals of never-before-displayed collection items coming out of storage in preparation for the move.

From the Shedd Aquarium web site:

Dive in with Shedd Aquarium and other Chicago-area 6th- through 12th-grade students to explore local ecosystems while earning service-learning hours! Spend a day outdoors monitoring, maintaining and improving habitats so you, your community and our native animals all have green spaces to enjoy. Past Shedd Stewards events have included removing invasive plant species, followed by canoeing in the Skokie Lagoons.

Each Shedd Stewards event functions as a unique program, and within each program we incorporate different activities, focused on both stewardship and recreation. Specific program details will be sent to registered participants closer to each date.

From the Shedd Aquarium web site:

Do you have what it takes to be in the club? We invite you to be a member! Club Shedd is a semester long program for passionate and driven teens with an interest in science and aquarium careers. Each semester, teens work together alongside Shedd professionals, behind the scenes, in Shedd's Teen Learning Lab, and with amazing resources to develop solutions for real aquarium challenges. Club Shedd provides you with skill-building opportunities and workshops to tackle the challenges presented by Shedd partners. In the past year, teens have inspired and developed solutions that have impacted the aquarium in these projects:

• Enriching animal habitats through sculpting and molding/casting
• Modernizing gallery exhibits utilizing digital software and 3D modeling
• Designing ways to engage Shedd guests with our surrounding gardens, local plant species, and even Shedd's bees!

From the Northwestern web site:

The Friday night observation tours at the Dearborn Observatory are open to the public, and there are two hours open for visiting:

Spring/Summer Hours:

• 9:00 - 10:00 pm: Reservation hour only.
  Your group will have a tour of the Observatory, and be able to look through the telescope.

• 10:00 - 11:00 pm: Walk-ins welcome.
  We try to allow everyone at least one opportunity to look through the telescope, but space is limited and there is no guarantee that everyone will be able to look through the telescope if we are very crowded.

There is no fee for the Friday night observation hour, however if you make a reservation for a group of 10 or more we require a refundable deposit which will be returned to you on the night of your visit. If you would like to make a reservation or need information about viewing, please call Gretchen Burnett at 847-467-3798.

Please be advised that the dome does not have heat or air conditioning so please dress appropriately. Friday night tours are held "rain or shine," although of course cloud cover affects viewing. Tours are hosted by Ph.D. students and/or undergraduate students majoring in Physics & Astronomy. Visitors are encouraged to ask questions.

Unfortunately, the Dearborn Observatory is NOT ADA-accessible. Several staircases must be climbed in order to reach the telescope.

Happening in Stores Nationwide

June 10–12

This June, hundreds of authors will appear at Barnes & Noble stores nationwide for B-Fest™, a three-day event celebrating the best books for teens. Join us for the biggest weekend of author events in B&N history, plus trivia, exciting sweepstakes, giveaways (while supplies last), and more. Be the first to sample upcoming teen novels, take part in games, and discover great new reads. Follow along with the fun at #BFestBuzz! or click here for details on their web site.

Now is the time to get ready for the Kane-DuPage Passport to Adventure.

From the website:

                 As easy as 1-2-3!

1) Each summer from May 1 until Labor Day, pick up a (free!) passport booklet at a participating museum or participating local library.

2) Visit as many sites as you wish - museums, nature centers, and historic sites - described in the booklet. Receive a stamp at each participating site. Some sites are free, some charge a modest entry fee.

3) Some sites may offer a prize if you've visited a certain number of sites. Return your stamped booklet to the location from step 1. 


The Passport to Adventure Program is designed for children between the ages of 4 and 12 and is sponsored by the Kane-DuPage Regional Museum Association.

Dozens of museums are included. See the website for a complete listing.

My family has some unique traditions.  For one, we always have scavenger hunts for birthdays.  This started when the kids were three and could recognize numbers.  They followed the trail of numbers to the stash of birthday presents! It has become ever more elaborate! My 18-year-old had a four-hour scavenger hunt with six friends that included dinner at the local Chinese restaurant, a visit to a game store and a bookstore, and dessert at a different restaurant. (Yes, there were clues hidden in the fortune cookies!)

Another tradition in our family is to have the not-Greek relatives (my side of the family) join the Greek relatives (yep, my husband’s side of the family) for Greek Easter, which is rarely on the same day as Easter. We put together a fabulous egg hunt for the little ones, with every child receiving his or her own assigned color making the hunt more “fair.”  Then we play the red egg cracking game. The objective is to be the last person with an uncracked egg. Each person selects a hardboiled egg that has been dyed bright red, and an opponent. Opponents bash their eggs against each other.  The winner moves to the next round. Strangely, one egg always cracks and the other never does. You learn quickly that eggs are strongest at their tip. (What? You didn’t know that eggs have tips?)

There are so many more traditions. We always celebrate Pi Day by having two pie courses for dinner on March 14^th, say shepherd’s pie followed by apple pie. Mother’s Day is actually grandmother’s day, as mom futzes in the garden. But perhaps our quirkiest tradition is backwards leap year.  Instead of receiving gifts for gift giving occasions we give them.  This means we are particularly busy around our own birthdays, between making or buying gifts, wrapping them and preparing birthday cake! (Yes, I am planning a scavenger hunt for mine, though that is not until November!)

Join us on Facebook and share some of your quirkier family traditions!

Newenka DuMont