We have been lucky enough to have a family membership to the Canadian Museum of Nature since my oldest was a baby (with enormous thanks to my aunt who gifts this to us for Christmas every year- seriously the best gift!), so we visit a couple of times a month and know the exhibits well. So when a new special exhibition opens, we can’t wait to check it out!
We were treated to a preview of the newly returned Planet Ice: Mysteries of the Ice Ages exhibition this week before it opens on Friday (May 20th). This exhibition initially debuted in October 2020 but sadly was closed early due to provincial lockdowns, and had limited interactive elements even when it was open. But now it’s back and promises a fascinating look at how different ice ages have shaped our planet, with displays that cater to all age groups.
When you arrive, you’ll see some interactive games that illustrate the conditions necessary for ice ages to form on Earth. My kids favourite game was one where you can create unique snowflakes using different types of ice crystals, and see them appear on a big screen!
Continuing on into the exhibition, you’ll see some full sized woolly mammoth tusks, as well as some of the museum’s collection of Arctic animals such as muskox, caribou and arctic fox, adapted to live in the kinds of conditions present during ice ages. One of the star attractions of this section is the full body sensor activated mammoth or American lion emerging from a snowstorm. My five year old referred to this as her ‘Elsa powers’ to conjure animals- be prepared to spend a long time playing here!
Another highlight for my kids was seeing some skeleton casts of some ice age mammals such as a sabre-toothed cat and a mastodon. My seven year old recently did an 8 week Outschool class on ice age mammals, and found these especially cool, most notably the short-faced bear skeleton (‘you can see how people who found these skeletons thought they were giant humans, mama!’)
If you are visiting on a weekend, or a Thursday evening you will have the opportunity to speak to one of the educators at the museum who has some casts of woolly mammoth and mastodon teeth that kids can actually play with. In July and August, there will be an educator present every day with some extra activities about different animals’ adaptation to cold conditions today.
We spent over an hour at this exhibition, and when combined with a visit to the rest of the museum this was a very full morning of over three hours! Next time we visit (which I am sure will be very soon!) we will bring a picnic lunch to enjoy outside by the woolly mammoths. Grab some tickets and head on over to see this spectacular exhibition soon!
Where: Canadian Museum of Nature, 240 McLeod Street
When: May 20th - September 5th 2022, Tuesdays-Sundays 10:00am-4:00pm (open til 7:00pm Thursdays, open holiday Mondays)
Cost: Free with membership; adults $17.00; children 3-12 $13.00; under 3 free