Kid*Vention
Strap on your goggles and slip into your lab coat for Kid*Vention, the Virginia Discovery Museum’s annual celebration of everything science! Located just a short walk from the Museum at the Key Recreation Center, this community event welcomes 1,000 visitors each year, and families are invited to explore a wide variety of scientific fields through hands-on demonstrations, experiments, games, and more. Meet dozens of local exhibitors as children are introduced to biology, chemistry, earth science, engineering, physics, and zoology and inspired to explore the world around them.
Event Details | Featured Exhibitors | Sponsors
Admission
Suggested Donation: $5/Family
Recommended: Ages 2-10 with Adult
(No Registration Required)
Questions? Give us a call at (434) 977-1025 x104 or email programs@vadm.org.
Featured Exhibitors
Local exhibitors are at the heart of Kid*Vention, which is celebrating its 20th year, and the Museum is excited to welcome 46 diverse groups to this year’s festival. Meet our 10 featured exhibitors for 2019 below as we take a sneak peek at some of the things you’ll see at the event!
Apex Clean Energy
Activity: Wind Blade Workshop
Harness the power of the wind! Kid*Ventors will design wind blades and test them on a model turbine using "wind energy" from a fan, then time how long their turbine takes to move a car on a pulley from the starting line to the finish.
Charlottesville – A Green City
Activity: How to Be a Green Kid in a Green City
Go green! Kid*Ventors will differentiate between “water-savers” and “water-wasters” as they learn ways to save resources and reduce waste, then create their own fortune-tellers to share these green tips with family and friends.
Charlottesville Astronomical Society
Activity: Solar Viewing
Shoot for the stars … or at least one in particular! Weather permitting, Kid*Ventors will view sunspots through special solar telescopes as they learn about our solar system’s star the Sun and how to look at it safely.
Charlottesville Gas
Activity: The Stinky Game
Phew! What’s that smell? Kid*Ventors will use their noses to sniff out the source of the natural gas odor as they discover an important energy source used in many people’s houses and learn ways to practice natural gas safety.
Charlottesville Pediatric Dentistry
Activity: Drill & Fill
Become a dentist for the day! Kid*Ventors will fill “cavities” using teeth molds, teeth drills, and playdough fillings as they discover dental tips to keep their pearly whites healthy and happy.
Child Development Labs at UVA
Activity: Face Detectives
Calling all super sleuths! Kid*Ventors will follow short-story clues to help match which emotional expressions belong on a doll’s face as they learn how expressions become easier to interpret through contextual information.
The Confident Creative
Activity: Screen Print T-Shirts
Kid*Ventors will learn all about the colorful, creative process of screen printing through live demonstrations. Blue, green, and purple “Virginia Discovery Museum” shirts in various youth sizes will also be available for on-site screen printing for $10 each, with a portion of the proceeds supporting the Museum’s Sponsored Admission Program.
T-shirt quantities will be limited.
Horses as Healers
Activity: Equine Anatomy
A horse is a horse, of course? Neigh! Kid*Ventors will discover there’s more to these fascinating creatures than meets the eye as they learn fun facts about what makes horses so unique.
Local Energy Alliance Program
Activity: Exploring Energy
Kid*Ventors will use an infrared camera to identify warm and cool items, count meter rotations on a light bulb comparator to determine which bulb uses the least amount of energy, and more.
Tech-Girls
Activity: Cyber Physical Challenges
Smart cities, smart cars, smart health … it’s all possible at the intersection of the cyber and physical worlds! Kid*Ventors will explore the power of physical devices and software coming together as they use hands-on tools like Makey Makey, Leap Motion, and Micro:Bit.
Thank You to Our Sponsors!
