Grossology, Park Love and more: 5 family-friendly activities for the weekend
Isaiah Hoke, 2, of Germantown, helps clear dirt from the steps to Fernhill Park on Love Your Park Day. (Tracie Van Auken/for NewsWorks, file)
This weekend, we have a diverse bunch of favorites. So choose one and head out!
Celebrate the truly gross and the truly literate combination of the Academy’s newest exhibit, Animal Grossology. Based on the best-selling book series, kids can explore utter grossness with everything from poop (yes, poop) to creepy-crawly art to slime, and beyond. You will be grossed out, but you won’t leave disappointed. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Academy of Natural Sciences.
It’s Love your Park Week in the City of Brotherly Love, and there are so many parks to love! From the PlayFest at Manayunk’s Venice Island to Clothesline Art at Penn Treaty Park to the Community Day at Malcolm X Park and lots of planned park clean-ups, it’s a day to celebrate and give back to your favorite parks.
Sunday: Sensory-Friendly Franklin Institute
For children with sensory issues, visiting a busy and interactive museum can be overwhelming. Working to meet the needs of diverse groups of children, the Franklin Institute is offering a sensory-friendly morning. There will be trained volunteers who are knowledgeable about autism and sensory issues who will work to offer children a more compatible experience. Sensory-friendly hours are from 8 to 9:30 a.m., but families are welcome to stay all day at a special discounted rate.
Families can head over to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday for a Cityscape group sculpture. Kids and adults will work together using recycled materials and found objects to create large scale, 3-D cityscapes that reflects the diversity of neighborhoods around Philadelphia.
Sunday: Grist Mill Demonstration
The grist mill is located across from the Morris Arboretum’s main entrance on Northwestern Avenue offers visitors an interactive experience of a working 19th century mill. Visit the historic creek-side flour mill to watch one-ton millstones grind corn and wheat kernels. See 160-year-old machinery transport and sift the grind to produce meal and flour used to bake muffins on site. Kids and adults will also enjoy grinding their own flour on the pedal-powered mill. 12 to 4 p.m.
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