Activities

CROPS, the Collective Research Organization of Plant Scientists (sponsored by UNL PSI) will be holding a plant donation drive! The students are bringing a wide variety of plants including house plants, flowering plants, outdoor plants, annuals and so many more! Their goal is to get everyone excited about plants and raise awareness for plant science research here at UNL. They will also have care cards to go along with each plant so you can be the best plant parent possible! In addition to the plants, they'll have a few free giveaways too! Visit their booth to find out more and "Leaf" their booth with a plant!

Backyard Farmer has been dedicated to helping gardeners find solutions to their landscape questions for 70 years. Visit the Backyard Farmer Garden on East Campus and ask the Extension Master Gardener Volunteers your landscape questions. They can help with topics from insects, turf and weeds, rots and spots, vegetables, and critters, landscape design, and general horticulture/landscape topics. Or just wander the beautiful gardens and become inspired!

Stop by the Big Red Resilience and Wellbeing booth to discover the 10 dimensions of well-being with special emphasis on the new dimension of creative well-being.  There will be activities to promote creative well-being on both June 11 and July 9. 

Come explore the Department of Biological Systems Engineering, where scientists will “bring engineering to life.”  They will showcase the many talents of their faculty, staff and students, with hands-on activities ranging from biomedical engineering to agricultural engineering, and with tractor, robotics and drones demonstrations.

Learn about the wide variety of foods grown and sold in Nebraska, and how locally grown food benefits us all! Taste samples of a seasonal menu item whose main ingredients are widely available at farmers' markets or straight from the garden. Take home recipe cards for the sampled item, and try making it at home.

Learn more about your career options in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Whether you are 5 or 50, you will discover something new through our hands-on activity that links science to the world around us!

At Color our Soil, Becky Young, assistant professor of practice, will guide participants through a soils station where it’s all about color and feature a coloring activity with soil crayons and a make-a-mini-profile activity.

The UNL Bruner Club is a grad student club in the entomology department that aims to educate the public on insects. Their booth will have insect-related items and crafts for purchase, educational displays (including some live and framed insects!), games, and the chance to talk with some entomology students about all things bugs!

Did you know UNL has a requirement for new construction projects over a half-acre to treat the first half-inch of stormwater runoff?

This is just one of the many practices that are employed at the UNL campuses to manage stormwater. Come visit our booth to learn more about the different practices and structures the University uses to reduce pollution in our stormwater runoff. They will have a local expert ready to engage with you about any questions you may have and to discuss steps that you can take with you to improve stormwater runoff at the university and at home.

The Food Science and Technology department will have a booth with an interactive activity for kids and parents. Play with food while learning important science concepts!

Discover how forensic scientists make comparisons.  How many people in the world would have a fingerprint pattern like this one? Come and develop your fingerprint to see if it is the same or nearly the same.

Join Hattie from the UNL Campus Recreation and Wellness Center on July 9 for a 45-minute beginner's Pilates class starting at 11:00 a.m. This class focuses on low-impact exercises that aim to strengthen muscles while improving postural alignment and flexibility. No equipment or specific shoes are required however, we recommend bringing a towel or blanket for extra comfort.

The class starts at 11:00 a.m.

Let us know if you are attending by signing up here: https://go.unl.edu/pilatesinpark

Home of the eight-time National Championship Husker women’s bowling team, the newly renovated Husker Bowling Center is opening their doors for a free round of bowling for participates of this event! Stop in the Nebraska East Union to STRIKE up some fun!

The International Quilt Museum has the world's largest publicly held collection.   The diverse and expansive collection has quilts and related textiles that span five centuries of quilt making and document or showcase quilting styles from over 65 countries.   Take a self-guided tour of our six galleries and displays on three floors.   The Museum Store will also be open for one of a kind gifts and souvenirs of your visit.  Enjoy free admission to the world's largest publicly held quilt collection at the International Quilt Museum, 33rd and Holdrege streets. 

Stop by the Lied Center booth on the East Campus Mall for information about their upcoming season, and grab a brochure and some free swag.

Additionally, stop by the Welcome Booth to sign up for the opportunity to win free tickets to Cirque Alfonse, sponsored by the Lied Center. 

Lincoln Public Schools and the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln are joining together to launch LPS-UNL Early College and Career STEM Program at Northeast High School. Visit the FEWS2 booth on August 13 when the Lincoln Northeast High School students participating in the FEWS2 program will bring the produce from their brand new garden. 

Enjoy some fresh produce from the Lincoln Northeast High School student-led Garden Club! Free-will donations are requested to support the Garden Club's efforts.

This booth will provide information in a fun and interactive manner about work being completed by the Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, including invasive species, bats, recreational fishing, and management of natural resources.

Stop by the educational booth and visit with a Master Gardener. Learn about pollinators and composting. Youth activities include making paper flowers and butterflies.

Visit Smokey the Bear and the Nebraska Forest Service at their prevention trailer for educational materials and free give-aways. 

Come visit the Nebraska Public Media display and enter to win a Backyard Farmer gift package.
The first 100 visitors will receive a Backyard Farmer rain gauge!

The Nebraska Statewide Arboretum will sell local, native plants as well as provide educational information about native plants, pollinators, and gardening with the environment in mind.  Look for their booth on both July 9 and August 13. 

Children’s / Families’ all acoustic sing along (ages 0-5, but all ages welcome); this is a sit-on-the-grass (and/or blankets/carpet provided) and kids shake shakers and bells and beat on drums and dance and be silly and laugh.  By the music we make together, we show our love & appreciation for young children. We share our mooing, singing, dancing, playing joking, clucking, ABCing, Itsy Bitsy Spidering, popcorning, noses and more….

While Jim King plays (banjo, uke, guitar, nose flute, kazoo, etc) parents, grandparents with kids sit and sing along, clap, dance, play instruments (fruit shakers, rain sticks, Thomas the Train, tambourines, and more)  for 5-10-15 minutes, and then (probably) move on; it is designed as a come and go musical activity, join-in-and-have-fun-sing-along-for-young-children. Rest, let the little ones play. No beginning, no ending. 

At the Pesticide Education station, Jennifer Weisbrod, assistant extension educator, will give out Mr. Yuk stickers and participating youth will get to match pesticide term definitions and identify the pest in a pesticide game.  

The Plant Pathology booth will be displaying plants infected with  various plant pathogens, cultures of various bacteria/fungi, and microscopic tools in order to view the world that is invisible to the naked eye.

At Plant Your Vegetables/Fruit booth, agronomy and horticulture students will split open fresh peppers and tomatoes for participating youth to observe and learn about seeds, characteristics of a plant and plant succession. Participants will plant seeds in a cup of soil to take home to grow in their own garden. They will also be given growing and harvesting tips for their plant.

Brought to you by the PGA Golf Management program at the university, PuttSkee is putting and SkeeBall in one! This fun game combines a golf putting green with arcade skeeball. You’ll always score a hole-in-one when you putt a golf ball into the cool new PuttSkee.  You will find them at Discovery Days in June.

Located in the Human Science Building, The Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery educates and increases awareness of the rich traditions of art, craft, design, and material culture expressed through the exhibition of all forms of textiles and apparel.  Stop by the gallery on either June 11 or August 13. 

Have you ever wondered how our consumption decisions impact our environment?  Do you enjoy using science to drive innovation for consumer products and production processes?  Join Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design at the booth and inside the Human Science Building (Room 220) for a family-fun activity using textiles!

The Taste lab at the Nutrition and Health Sciences Department will host interactive activities for all ages demonstrating how our senses of taste and smell work!

The UNL Learning Lab will host interactive activities like balloon making and face painting, give away swag-bag, and share fun information on their current research studies!

Stop by the Water Science Laboratory booth to get an inside look into the research and water testing that happens on East Campus at the Water Sciences Lab.  The display will include the journey of a water sample and learn about what may be hiding in our water.