Fernbank Museum Sets Official Opening Date for All-New Children’s Exhibition, Fernbank NatureQuest

Fernbank Museum of Natural History has officially announced the grand opening date for its expansive new children’s exhibition, marking March 19, 2011, for the unveiling of Fernbank NatureQuest. The nearly 7,000-square-foot exhibition is one of the most significant and exciting additions to the Museum since the world’s largest dinosaurs moved into Fernbank’s Great Hall in 2001.

This all-new $8 million exhibition will offer Fernbank’s youngest visitors a different kind of museum experience, where children will be engaged through over 100 interactive encounters on a journey to explore an immersive, nature-inspired environment filled with live animals, hands-on learning, the inspiration to discover, and the thrill of following curiosity’s path.

“When we set out to design a new children’s exhibition over four years ago, our goal was to create an experience where visitors would be challenged, engaged and able to explore in ways that cultivate curiosity—just like real scientists,” said Fernbank’s President and CEO, Susan Neugent. “This was our opportunity to create a museum experience like no other, where children are part of the exhibition, not just observers. The sophisticated experiences in NatureQuest will inspire further investigation year after year.”

Fernbank NatureQuest provides an open-ended experience for visitors, where an unexplored world exists all around them. Inside the clubhouse, visitors can find exploration cards that offer tips on how to explore, where to look, and what to search for next, including suggestions for parents on how to investigate each habitat, special scavenger hunts for deeper explorations, and “ologist cards” that provide a directed investigation of the exhibition through the eyes of different scientists, such as an archaeologist, geologist, a zoologist, a marine biologist, and others.

For more information, visit Fernbank Museum of Natural History.

Journey Into Amazing Caves Now Playing in the Imax Theatre at Fernbank Museum

Journey into Amazing Caves pairs scientists with intrepid filmmakers to garner unprecedented footage from unique and forbidding ice caves, underwater caves and terrestrial caves. Audiences can squeeze into Earth’s alien, hidden realms guided by two female cavers brave enough to enter caves so remote and so threatening, exploring them is like exploring a new planet.      

Now playing through March 17 at

Fernbank Museum of Natural History
767 Clifton Road Northeast, Atlanta, GA 30307

Greece: Secrets of the Past Opens January 14, 2011 At Fernbank Museum

Greece: Secrets of the Past is showing exclusively during Fernbank's Martinis & IMAX®

Journey to the birthplace of democracy and embark on a quest to uncover the buried secrets of one of the world’s most enlightened societies. Set against the breathtaking, azure vistas of the Greek Isles, Greece is both a modern detective story and a sweeping journey to the distant past, complete with digitally recreated scenes that restore centuries-old spectacles such as the original Parthenon and the volcanic eruption that buried Santorini in 1646 BC.

Fernbank Museum of Natural History is located at  767 Clifton Road, N.E. Atlanta, GA 30307.

Journey Into Amazing Caves At Fernbank's IMAX Theatre January 10 - February 18, 2011

Journey into Amazing Caves tells the story of Nancy Aulenbach and Dr. Hazel Barton, who share a love for caves and cave exploration. Join these two accomplished cavers as they explore unusual caves, like ice caves in Greenland and underwater caves in the jungles of Mexico, looking for important clues about the Earth's past and microorganisms that inhabit its most extreme environments.

On the giant screen, this unique story will transport viewers on an adventure to some of the most extraordinary environments on earth.

Fernbank Museum of Natural History is located at 767 Clifton Road Northeast, Atlanta, GA 30307. For more information, visit www.fernbankmuseum.org

Winter Wonderland At Fernbank Museum Through January 5, 2011

Light up the holiday season with a festive tree display decorated by local community partners and Consulate offices. Fernbank’s first annual Winter Wonderland features more than 20 trees that will twinkle with lights, glimmer with color, and shine with a variety of cultural ornaments and emblems celebrating the diversity of groups, traditions, holidays and events around the world.

For more information, visit Fernbank Museum of Natural History.