Vacation Ideas: The Lied Discovery Children’s Museum, Las Vegas, Nevada

nThis children’s museum is located on 833 Las Vegas Boulevard North in Las Vegas, Nevada. It has been open to the public since September of 1990. The museum serves as a major educational institution for children and families in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. As of the year of 2007, more than 1.5 million people have visited the museum and over 350,000 children have participated in school field trip programs through tours.nnThe Lied Discovery Children’s Museum features:nn• Hands-on exhibits in the arts, sciences and humanitiesn• A traveling exhibition galleryn• An early childhood pavilionn• An eight-story Science Tower in 22,000 square feet of exhibit spacennThe quality of the Museum’s programs has been recognized nationally and statewide.nnDesert Discovery is a new exhibit for children ages five and under and their families. It is a hands-on, interactive learning environment especially designed to support the learning style and activity level of young children. The exhibit includes:nn• Boulder Mountain: Children can wear hard hats and vests to mine soft-sculpture boulders in three basic geometric shapes, operate a hand-cranked elevator and overhead bucket transport system to send the boulders to co-workers in Cactus construction for building materials.n• Cactus Construction: Is linked to Boulder Mountain. The area is a space with materials to construct using soft sculpture boulder and cactus-shaped parts that encourages fine muscle development. There are carts to provide experiences for sorting and organizing materials. The construction site also includes signal flags, and a big, noisy lunch whistle.n• Desert in The Dark: This exhibit develops concepts of day and night. A pretend bedroom filled with storybooks, soft puppets and nighttime costumes encourages role play to support developing concepts of day and night. Children step through a child-sized door beneath a magic day-night clock and find themselves in the desert after dark. Hands-on activities allow children to meet some desert animals that are definitely not asleep.n• Baby Oasis: This is a special place just for the little ones who are not yet walking. The cozy space is filled with materials for babies to explore with their hands, eyes and ears. To encourage the large muscle development there is a mirrored pull-up bar and crawling structure of gently inclined ramps.n• Parent Resource Room: Is a colorful room. This area with whimsical windows offers families a comfortable place to relax and connect with one another. There are helpful books, magazines and community resource information, as well as additional hands-on learning activities for children. Guest speakers, special programs and workshops will be featured on a regular basis in the Parent Resource Room.nnFor more information, call the administrative offices at 702-382-3445nnLittle Learner ProgramsnnChildren 5 years old and younger are offered explorative and creative play workshops in Desert Discovery. The programs are free with admission to the Museum. It is recommended you call ahead to verify dates and times of the workshops at 702-382-3445nnnBirthday Parties at the MuseumnnCelebrate your child’s birthday party at the Museum. Each party package is 2 hours long. There are two themes for parties available and extras. For booking information call 702-382-3445 Monday through Friday. They require a $100 non-refundable deposit to hold a reservation.nnThe Lied Discovery Children’s Museum is available for after-hours functions. They can accommodate groups up to 2,000 for a standing reception and up to 1,000 for seated functions. They offer the use of their space as part of fund-raising efforts. For more information contact the Special Events Manager by phone at 702-382-3445.nnSource: The Lied Discovery Children’s Museum OnlinennImportant Disclaimer: The URL address in the resource box of this article is not associated with the Lied Discovery Children’s Museum. This article and the web site are offered as a resource for formulating vacation ideasnnnnThis article is FREE to publish with the resource box.n© 2007 Connie Limon All Rights Reservedn