Dino Days at the Putnam Museum & Science Center -- June 29 and 30.
Saturday, June 29, and Sunday, June 30
Putnam Museum & Science Center, 1717 West 12th Street, Davenport IA
Those who love dinosaurs and all things Mesozoic will be in Putnam Museum & Science Center paradise when the venue welcomes families to the June 29 and 30 celebration Dino Days – a family-friendly, specialty-ticketed weekend event boasting crafts, activities, a scavenger hunt, and screening of dinosaur-themed movies including the Putnam premiere T. rex.
Incorporating scenes of real-life paleontology (including that of three children who recently found dinosaur fossils in North Dakota) with cutting edge CGI to bring the world of dinosaurs to life, T. rex will enjoy weekend screenings alongside the Putnam's popular Dino Dana: The Movie and Dinosaurs Alive!, with a special showing of Steven Spielberg's classic Jurassic Park taking place the evening before Dino Days, on June 28 at 7 p.m.
The Putnam's two-day event will also include a “Create Your Dinosaur Name” activity, face painting, a dinosaur-button station, and a special “dig” area with a sluice and a sandbox. A dinosaur-themed scavenger hunt will take place, and there will be talks given by a paleontologist ... and her dinosaur! With the full museum open all weekend, attendees are invited to preserve their Dino Days memories with two separate photo opportunities: one for printed photos and one for selfies.
Although Sunday's Dino Days schedule runs from noon to 5 p.m., there will be a special sensory-friendly version of the event starting at 10 a.m. As the Putnam’s sensory-friendly events are set up to avoid over-stimulation, the guest paleontologist will not be joined by her dinosaur until after noon, and some activities will be modified. A sensory-friendly version of T. Rex will be screened at noon; the film will be presented in 2D, the lights will be dimmed instead of off, and the volume will be lowered. Guests will be free to move around the theater and make noise, and there will also be a “cool-down” zone in the Lardner Balcony, which is accessible from the upper exit of the theater.
Admission to the Dino Days weekend is $18, with Putnam members able to enter for $9, and the event will take place on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. For more information and tickets, call (563)324-1933 and visit Putnam.org.
