Join us for a day of free activities for all the family! Our hands-on activities and trails for curious kids bring to life the fascinating stories of science, materials and making behind the artworks and objects in our collection.
What amazing new technologies reveal the secrets hidden beneath the surface? And what did artists from 200 years ago know about colour and clouds? Find out the answers to these questions and more through our series of imaginative and playful activities.
Come and meet the scientists of the University of Cambridge Department of Earth Sciences. Take part in hands-on activities and find out what it's like to research fossils, earthquakes, tackle environmental challenges and more.
Activities include:
Microfossil Wonderland - use powerful microscopes to investigate tiny fossils of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. Find out how these microfossils help us learn about past climates and environments.
Women have been involved in science throughout history, but they are often forgotten in histories of science.
To mark our display celebrating Rosalind Franklin and her work on DNA, come and find out more about other scientific women with links to our collections. Among others, we'll be telling the stories of the astronomer who impressed the King, the computer programmer who learned maths because her mum didn't want her to become a poet and the chemistry lecturer who made cupcakes to explain elements.
Talk by Alison Giles.
Join us for the Cambridge Festival family weekend opening!
The Whipple museum uses its collections to explore, challenge, and share stories from the history of science. Find out more about the history of science with our collection including microscopes, telescopes and globes. This year we are also excited to welcome you to our newly refurbished learning gallery - use the handling boxes to explore topics including Light, Sound, the Human Body and Earth and Space!
Events happenings:
Join us for a special Saturday workshop on 15 March led by artist James Tunnard, where we'll dive into the magic of colour and light.
As you may have heard, we’re creating a new art installation for the Learning Gallery ceiling and the activities in this workshop will inspire and contribute to this exciting piece!
Get creative with these hands-on activities:
Discover animal senses, feel textures handling real museum specimens, and uncover amazing stories of the evolution of animal colours. We will be joined by researchers working on the bright colours of passion vine butterflies, the changing populations of UK moths and more.
Drop-in. No need to book.
This event is part of the Cambridge Festival.
Date:
Saturday, 29 March, 2025 - 10:30 to 16:30
Meet the remarkable scientific community behind the Cavendish Laboratory’s astonishing physics in this talk with Whipple Museum curator Dr Hannah Price.
Immerse yourself in the world of Mary Anning: explore real fossils and use these to make your own clay ammonite to take home. Dress up as Mary Anning and her brother Joseph and hear ‘first-hand’ about her life. Find out about her experience as a working-class, woman scientist in the 1800s, and discover how her fossils arrived in our collection.
Dive deeper into the history of Mary Anning by exploring her letters, drawings and other materials in our archives.
Mary Anning will be staying with us until 4.30pm, along with the dress-up activity.
From Kings to Emperors, Adélies to Chinstraps, and Gentoos to Macaronis, the penguins of the Antarctic are a fascinating bunch! Join us in the Lecture Theatre for family friendly crafts and activities all about these flightless birds, inspired by chalk drawings from Captain Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton. Drop-in, no need to book!
Immerse yourself in the world of Mary Anning: explore real fossils and use these to make your own clay ammonite to take home. Dress up as Mary Anning and her brother Joseph and hear ‘first-hand’ about her life. Find out about her experience as a working-class, woman scientist in the 1800s, and discover how her fossils arrived in our collection.
Dive deeper into the history of Mary Anning by exploring her letters, drawings and other materials in our archives.
