Pirates, the Kracken and Superheroes invade the Museums

Well, it's that time of year for Jack-o-lanterns, candy and fun costumes. On Friday night, October 28th, the Museum of Natural History (MNH), Old Capitol and Paleontology Repository hosted one of their largest events of the year, Creepy Campus Crawl. The Old Capitol and Paleontology Repository themed their event as Pirates of the Caribbean and sea creatures whereas MNH hosted an event called, "Rusty the Sloth: The First Avenger" and produced a lot of superhero themed games. This was my first time attending the event and I brought along a few people: My husband, Randy, my friends, Randi and John and John's kids, Johnny (4) and Allen (7 months). We all knew we had to fully partake and all dressed up in our own costumes to get the full effect. Although Allen was still too young to actually enjoy the events, he seemed to be pretty content riding around and people watching while Johnny partook in everything he could!

The Kracken at Old Capitol

We began in Old Capitol where a giant kracken was controlling the front steps. As we entered, I recognized many of the museum administrators all dressed up in their pirate themed costumed, which made the effect much stronger. In the museum, they had rooms with Calypso telling fortunes who informed Johnny, dressed as Mario from Super Mario Bros, that he was going to become a video game creator someday. He seemed to enjoy that future! Also, a puppet show was taking place in the Senate Room, a short scene walking the plank in another room and storytime in yet another room. There were quite a few different areas for the kids to enjoy. All of the workers seemed to be enjoying themselves playing their parts and handing out candy to the kids. The older kids seemed to be more drawn to the puppet show and other mini shows than my little friend Johnny was. However, he seemed more at home at his mere 4 years old at creating a pirate hat and getting a cool pirate tattoo. So, I would say the event was well suited to entertain children of different ages.

Calypso will tell you your future!

Next, we ventured over to MNH, which sadly always has a sort of directional issue due to the strange layout of the building. Since I spend most of my time in Macbride Hall, I knew exactly where to go, but I can see how confusing it can be for other visitors. There were signs posted, which were very helpful, that said what events were taking place upstairs in other exhibits. Everyone seemed to be finding their way through everything pretty well with only a few that seemed a little lost. In MNH, we changed gears to superheroes. (This was a little more fitting for my WonderWoman costume!) Throughout MNH, there were lots of activities that ranged from drawing mutant animals with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, making slime, making spiders with Spiderman, and many more tables. For Johnny, he seemed to most enjoy Haunted Mammal Hall. The lights were dim and several mystery boxes were spread throughout the exhibit. He would put his hand in a box and feel an item like petrified wood and homemade plastic and try to figure out what it was. A very well placed informative note was placed on top of the box. Johnny seemed to like the mystery and learning what these new things were. He was also very pleased with all the candy provided at each station! Johnny went through the Kryptonite Cave (created with cardboard boxes) and used a flashlight to find his way. He seemed to really enjoy the crawling around and adventuring through that area. We then finished our MNH visit in Bird Hall. There, a Captain Planet quiz helped the kids learn their power and received a power ring. There was also a very simple bird matching game that Johnny really enjoyed . Overall, the kids seemed to be really enjoying all of the festivities in MNH and again, many ages were drawn to different aspects. This whole event is nice for that because anyone could bring their children of various ages and see them enjoy different areas.

Rusty!

 We ended our evening in the Paleontology Repository's set-up in the Geology building. The Paleontology Repository on campus is one of my favorite places. I visited it in my Intro to Museum Studies course and was hooked. This is where thousands of specimens are housed from various organisms and locations in a room the size of a couple classrooms, so clearly, the events were in the halls and classrooms of the geology building. The theme was sea creatures and they had various rooms throughout the halls. There was another crawl through cave here which was designed like the Kracken. Johnny liked this one so much he went through twice! The Geology exhibits throughout the building also seemed to catch his eye and we'd stop and spend some time talking about the cases between rooms. There was a "fun room" set up with face painting and a few other activities. This room was PACKED! We were roaming these halls near the end of the evening so we passed on that room so we could see the rest. Clearly, however, this was one popular place. We saw several kids showing off their face paint proudly. One of the last rooms was a fossil room, where we helped Johnny uncover a fossil in the sand and looked at various bones of different animals. It was a very educational, yet fun set-up. In the final room we entered, there were a couple real snakes for the kids to look at and more specimens on display. Overall, I would say that the activities hosted by the repository were very well organized and educational at every turn. We all really enjoyed this building, as did the several visitors around us of varying ages.

Digging up fossils

 Overall, the event was very entertaining! I was happy I was able to get my favorite little boy to attend with me because the event is completely focused on the kids, of course. I enjoyed watching his reactions at every turn and seeing all the kids in their costumes react differently to different sections of each museum. This event was entirely free and the kids were provided with candy bags and ended up with lots of candy and take home items from the event's stations. I've been told thousands come through this event every year and there is an obvious reason for it: it's just a blast! Not only is this a great way to experience the museum in a new way, but you can also learn of all the great events that also happen at the museums. I encourage you all to take the kids to Creepy Campus Crawl next year and make sure you check out the museum's ongoing events on the website! I know I've already planned to bring more of my friend's kids with me next year!

My husband and I at CCC! Happy Halloween!