Off to the Art Museum

Day trip to Huntsville Museum of Art

Inside the HMA there is a section just for kids: The Stender Family Interactive Education Gallery. It has an art lab and A Walk Through Time are on always available to guests.

The art lab provides hands-on activities, which instruct on the basic elements of art – color, line, shape and texture. Art related books, a kaleidoscope, and interactive art activities are also available.

Before we leave, we always go through A Walk Through Time. It takes a journey through the major events in art. It is an art timeline with replicas of famous works of art.

You start in a cave with amber light to see Paleolithic art on the cave walls with the campfires crackling. From there, you move into ancient cultures like Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece. Each section of the gallery is filled with replicas of famous sculptures, statues, architecture, two-dimensional art. Then you move into the Italian Renaissance, French Impressionism, to Modern Art and Abstract Expressionism. It is always a highlight and signifies the end of our visit to the museum!

Eureka! The Science of Archimedes

History through Experience

Archimedes was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor and astronomer c.287BC - c.212BC.  He is considered to be one of the greatest mathematicians of all time and is credited with designing many innovative machines and weapons. Galileo referred to him as "superhuman." He has been called the Einstein of his time (or some have called Einstein the Archimedes of his time).  Both a crater and a mountain range on the moon have been named in his honor.

Callie having her Eureka! moment!

A favorite Archimedes anecdote tells the story of how he discovered a method for determining the volume of an irregular shape while bathing. He jumped out of the water running naked through the streets shouting "Eureka!" meaning "I have found it! "

Great TedTalk about Buoyancy and Archimedes  www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v86Yk14rf8

 

The Stomachion is an ancient tangram-type puzzle. Believed by some to have been created by Archimedes, it consists of 14 pieces cut from a square. The pieces can be rearranged to form other interesting shapes. Callie got to learn about symmetry and the importance of how shapes can be placed together (creating new shapes or placement to form a specific shape).

Besides the exhibit... we spent some time enjoying other wonderful activities offered at the Space Center... like rock climbing. She's off the ground folk!

Today was a wonderful day where we combined education with fun!

Lunch date

Some days, when you are sick of being inside doing schoolwork, you head to Panera. Who says you have to school at home...

Plus, she got to eat a cookie while she did math... homeschooling win!