With a flap of its wings a butterfly can change the world.

Come to Edventure children museum downtown Columbia to see the incredible life journey of one of the most beloved creature on Earth! The butterfly exhibit is open daily May through October from 9:30AM to 4:30PM (Sundays from 12:30PM). Admission is free for members and and $3 for non-members (on top of the normal museum admission of $6.95 for kids and $8.95 for adults).

Monarch and Tiger Swallowtail, the most popular butterflies in the exhibit

Tips and Things to Know Before You Go
• Go on sunny days, that’s when butterflies are most active
• Best time to visit is weekdays early morning or late in the afternoon.
• Shutterbugs come alone (or have extra hands to keep an eye on kids). As you all know you need patience, luck and determination to catch that Nat Geo-like wildlife photo.
• Moms and grannies here’s your golden opportunity to get a photo of the year postcard perfect with the little ones. Nothing is cuter than a butterfly sitting on top of your kid nose!
• Get the free butterfly brochure and have your children do a “scavenger hunt” trying to correctly identify the butterflies in the exhibit. Currently they have: Monarch, Tiger and Black Swallowtail, Queen, Julia, Zebra Longwing, Buckeye, and Cabbage White. New species are added every month.
• Save $2 by not reserving your tickets online, you’ll get a spot anytime of the day assuming your group is less than 10 persons. Keep in mind only 30 people at a time are admitted in the exhibit.

Kids love being surrounded by colorful butterflies

Exhibit Rules
• You can’t touch the butterflies as it damages their wings. If they voluntarily land on you that’s OK.
• Food, drinks and strollers are not allowed inside. There’s a coat area across the exhibit entrance where you can park the stroller.
• Each admission has a stamp time (9:30, 10, 10:30 etc) and you’re allowed 30 minutes per admission. You can go in and out during this half an hour.

Frequently asked questions and butterfly trivia

How and what do butterflies eat?
They use their front feet to taste and the proboscis to suck nectar from the flower. The Longwing species can also eat pollen.

Black Swallowtail beauty using its proboscis to eat nectar

How long do butterflies live once they hatch out?
About 2-3 weeks. The Monarch and the Longwing can live for months.

How can you tell a boy from a girl?
It’s hard as most look the same. For the Monarch the male butterfly has black spots on the lower side of its wings. The Longwing males are thinner than the females and have claspers on the end to grip the female during mating.

What plants are most likely to attract butterflies?
Some of the plants they love to eat from are the butterfly bush, cone flower, lantana, salvia, hydrangea, verbena, black-eyed Susan, sage, hibiscus. As a host plant for laying their eggs butterflies (and especially the Longwing) use the passion vine (locally referred to as “May pops”)

What’s in the purple bowls and what’s their purpose?
Gatorade! The staff at Edventure is very keen on keeping their butterflies in shape! The bowls are drinking stations meant to supplement the natural feeding process. Butterflies can safely land on suck Gatorade though the sponges similar to drinking nectar from the flowers.

What’s in the little back shed?
That’s the “Blue Room” the staff uses to bring and attach new pupa to the window display, and once hatched out from their chrysalis, to release the butterflies into the exhibit.

While visiting Edventure make sure to check out the newest traveling exhibit Let’s Team Up! filled with fun sports games, real locker dress up and interesting facts.

Let the sun shine in at Edventure Children Museum!

Turn on the laughter, spark your imagination and free your spirit at the EdVenture Children Museum, the biggest indoor playground in Columbia, SC!

Driving the fire truck

EdVenture is open 9AM – 5 PM Tuesday to Saturday and 12PM – 5PM on Sunday. You can also visit them during holidays and school breaks. Admission is $6.95 for children 1 year and older and $8.95 for adults. Parking is FREE.

Learning it’s always fun at EdVenture. Take a virtual tour to see for yourself:

Great Outdoors
Rain or shine, hot or cold kids love playing with water. From setting the giant wheel in motion to shooting water cannons to sending boats down the river.

Body Works
When was your last checkup? See how your tummy digests food, check your heart rates and clean your teeth…for real!

Journey through West Africa
Let’s dance with the African band! You got moves, they got grooves…Put on the cool costumes, see yourself on TV and drum on the tambourines.

Friendly Farm
Milk the angry cow, pick up the peaches, count the eggs and plow the land with a real John Deer tractor

Dalmatian Station
Be a firefighter for a day. Put on the gear, climb aboard a real fire truck, slide down the fire pole and go through the Dark Tunnel…scary!

Winter Exhibit Highlight
Get the inside scoop on Snowville the coolest place inside EdVenture!

Let your imagination flourish and your wildest dreams come to life at Edventure’s Chagall for Children art exhibit. Each station presents one of Marc Chagall’s magical paintings alongside a working area where kids can draw, weave, decorate and re-arrange the art the way they feel it. The exhibit let’s you experience a full range of art concepts and media such as self-portrait, layered images, collages, relief, mosaic, lithography and tapestry.

Dressing up The Rooster….

Dressing up The Rooster's tail

Do your self-portrait in red, blue and purple colors!

Family doing their portrait with the touch screen

Discover the world through art using all your senses. Chagall for Children let’s kids touch, smell, listen to, see and feel the artistic creations…

Smelling the Flowers

Things to know before you go:

• The touch screen “do your own (family) portrait” station it’s the exhibit’s winner. We spent most of our time there goofing around taking different shots and experimenting with the colors. While kids have fun playing there you can read the descriptions and enjoy the art on your own terms.

• Make sure to pick up the Gallery Guide. It has 17 do-it-at-home (or in the class rooom) arts and crafts ideas. Lana’s favorited things to do were Reflections from a Spoon, The Story of The Flying Sleigh, and Faces, Colors and Moods.

• You can’t see and do it all in one visit. Luckily the exhibit is open through January 4, 2009 so you can come back and enjoy it to the fullest. I know we will.

• Admission to the museum is $6.95 for children 2-12 and $8.95 for adults. EdVenture is open Tuesday to Saturday 9 AM to 5 PM and Sunday noon to 5 PM. It is located downtown Columbia at 211 Gervais Street besides the SC State Museum. Parking is FREE.

At Edventure Children Museum “Art picks up where nature ends.”

Need more weekend ideas? Take your kids to Jumps-N-More where for only $6 they can jump, bounce, run the obstacle course, climb and knock down dinosaurs!

Wonder where to go with the kids and what’s interesting to see while visiting Columbia? Here is a list of really fun, educational and healthy things to do during the weekend.

UPDATE! I’ve added more lovely places from recent 2009 experiences.

Free family activities
1. “Tame the wild things” at the Public Library, watch kids interpret sculptures and paintings at the Museum of Art (free Saturdays) and cool off at the beautiful waterfalls at Finlay Park. All three are located downtown within 1-2 blocks of each other.

2. The Columbia Canal and Riverfront Park is the city’s secret jewel. At the confluence of 3 Rivers (Congaree, Broad and Saluda) and minutes from downtown, EdVenture and the State Museum, Riverfront Park is an oasis of outdoor relaxation, amazing history and abundant wildlife, the entire family can enjoy for free!

3. Tour the magnificent SC State House not too far away from the Library (bordered by Assembly, Senate and Pendleton streets). You’ll be awed by its fascinating history, outstanding architecture, remarkable sculptures, monuments and Revolutionary War paintings.

4. Visit the Congaree National Park, a world renown natural wonder, rich in history and biodiversity. Half an hour drive from Columbia, the swamp park is the world’s tallest deciduous forest and the country’s largest and few remaining old-growth floodplain forests. It features splendid cathedral like canopies, an amazing wildlife and miles of hiking, canoeing, camping and fishing along the mysterious Congaree river.

5. Edisto Memorial Gardens in Orangeburg – Imagine 150 acres filled with roses, azaleas, camellias and many other floral beauties spaced among Yoshino cherry, giant oaks and century old cypress trees. This is as close to Eden as you can ever get! Children will have a blast splashing in the 6,000 sqft Water Spray Park.

Fun activities under $5

1. Harbison State Forest: Columbia residents are spoiled with a 2000 plus acres “playground”, the largest public green spaces inside the city limits in Eastern United States. 16 miles of roads and trails weave through pine and hardwood forest crossing streams and descending through leafy glades to the Broad River. When the mountain bike trails are named Spider Woman and Firebreak that’s got to be fun!

2. Columbia Marionette Theatre is a magical place where fairy tales come to live. It’s located at the Riverfront Park entrance so after the show you can enjoy a walk along the scenic canal. Admission is only $4 and shows are on Saturdays at 11AM and 3PM. This is a very affordable and unique birthday party solution the grown ups will actually enjoy!

3. Sesquicentennial State Park – unwind and relax in this beautiful park downtown Columbia. You can hike around the scenic lake trail or bike the 4 miles trail through the forest, canoe or paddle with the geese and ducks, and let your kids run wild at the 2 playgrounds, and the basketball and volleyball courts.

4. Lake Wateree State Park – This is a fisherman’s delight big on big blues, crappie, bream, largemouth bass, striped bass and nightime cat-fishing. Other activities to enjoy: tubing, canoeing and kayaking, hiking the scenic Deportes Nature trail or plain old swimming. Of course there is nothing wrong with just laying around catching a nap or baking in the sun.

Activities under $10

1. EdVenture Children Museum – The South largest children museum and one of Carolina’s most attractive family friendly travel destinations. The four-story award winning museum will let kids 12 and younder explore the wonders of science, art, medicine, history and culture in a fun and exciting hands on environment.

2. State Museum – History, Hollywood, wildlife and science all under one roof! Experience the best South Carolina has to offer, like the full size replicas of the H.L Hunley submarine, “Best Friend of Charleston” the first American-built steam locomotive and the Cotton Mill operation machines. UPDATE! Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion exhibit it’s in full swing at the museum. Kids love trying out all the inventions.

Activities under $15

1. Columbia Riverbanks Zoo – You are never bored at the Riverbanks Zoo. There is always some drama unfolding with the animals and people alike. Among the highlights (besides the animals): 3D Safari movies, ponny rides and petting zoo, merry-go-around, climbing the bronze statues and train rides to and from the Botanical Garden.

2. The “Giant” Blue Sky Zip line at the Carolina Adventure World
The Blue Sky Line zip line is 1600 feet long and takes about 45 seconds to ride. It’s fun, smooth and you feel like flying. Not to mention you get the best views of the entire park.

This is definitely something the entire family can enjoy throughout the day.

Enjoy your family weekend in Columbia South Carolina!

Ever wonder how fire really feels like? Guess no more. At Edventure Children Museum in downtown Columbia you can go through the “fire tunnel” and experience few seconds of complete darkness. Very spooky indeed.

That will really teach kids not to play with matches

Happy family fun in South Carolina!

Gravity always wins. It’s mesmerizing…you can do this over and over. Try it for yourself at EdVenture in downtown Columbia, the largest, funniest and most interesting children museum in the South.
Read more about the wonderful EdVenture

Kids, keep having fun in South Carolina!
 

Young kids have fun playing and even hopping on music at the EdVenture Children Museum. Who knows, maybe the next Mozart will come about! 
For more information on EdVenture see my previous post

Happy Carolina Vacation!

Don’t you love you going to the dentist?! Well here you go: EdVenture Children Museum is just the place to experience first hand how it may “sound and feel like”. And you can do it as many times as you can handle it. That noise just creeps me out!

Read more about the wonderful EdVenture exhibits on my previous post:

Happy Carolina Family Fun!

EdVenture is the South largest children museum and one of Carolina’s most attractive family friendly tourist destinations. Located in downtown Columbia besides along the beautiful Congaree River and besides the State Museum, this four-story award winning museum will let kids 12 and younder explore the wonders of science, art, medicine, history and culture in a fun and exciting hands on environment.

There are more than 350 interactive exhibits. Children can check out a real fire truck, buy groceries, be a farmer, doctor or an engineer for a day; play musical instruments, anchor the news on TV, climb and slide down Big Eddie (the planet’s biggest kid!), navigate the ocean, solve mysteries, study how the body works, and experience other cultures.

Tips to know before you go

1. Go early morning and during weekdays to avoid the big crowds. The museum is open 9 AM to 5 PM (Sunday opens at noon).

2. Start on the 2nd floor. Young kids will enjoy playing musical instruments and explore the seasonal exhibits. Older kids will be absorbed at the live TV and newspaper stations. There is a quiet play and reading area for babies and toddlers.

3. Get them “exhausted” climbing Big Eddie up and down. That can easily take up to 30 minutes.

4. Catch a snack break at the Clubhouse, open 11 AM to 2 PM (closed on Sunday).

5. Continue your tour on the first floor. Main attraction here is the fire truck. Young kids love to go shopping at the grocery store or play farmer.

6. Cool off at the water exhibit outside. They will get wet no matter what you do, but the fun is guaranteed.

7. If there’s still time and energy left drive to the Columbia Riverfront Canal park nearby for fresh air and an amazing walk down the river.

8. For even more educational and truly inspirational activities be a proud South Carolinian at the magnificent State House. You can enjoy for free its fascinating history, outstanding architecture, remarkable sculptures, monuments and Revolutionary War paintings.

Check out the following photos for a sneak peak inside the museum:

Nothing like playing live music on TV!

You can see the food digestion process in action

Check out a real fire truck! You can dress like a fireman and test your skills going down the fire pole

Bob the Builder boys have a blast driving the bulldozer…

Little Beethoven in the making?

Kids have fun getting wet at the water conservation and energy education exhibit

Older kids always get a good workout climbing the ropes outside

Fishing with the big net in Central Africa

Where

211 Gervais Street, Columbia SC 29201, Phone (803) 779-3100

www.edventure.org

Tickets: Adult $8.95; Children $6.95

At the EdVenture Children Museum in downtown Columbia, kids of all ages have lots of fun playing with all the science exhibits, driving the fire truck, anchoring the news, exploring exotic Earth places, playing with the band on TV, being doctor for the day, creating music, or just climbing Big Eddie up and down.

You can read my detailed post, for more information about the museum.

Let A Day at EdVenture photos speak for themselves: