Our Backyard toolkit
Our Backyard is the Science Museum of Minnesota’s interactive, hands-on outdoor exhibit. Experience large-scale, full-body, nature-based, messy, and noisy experiences — that are difficult to do indoors. Encourage learning about engineering concepts while enjoying the museum’s location on the bank of the Mississippi River. Practice skills like creativity, teamwork, and problem solving.
Exhibit features:
Explore kinetic and potential energy, generate electricity, and experiment with solar and wind power.
Engage in playful, nature-situated making and engineering activities along the edges of a small stream.
Use your own bodies as the wires to complete a circuit and turn on electrical devices.
Customize your own playhouse using a variety of natural materials.
Create and run your own obstacle course and get lost in a fenced maze, using your navigational skills to find your way out.
Create a small wind turbine and test its effectiveness.
Paint with water on slate easels.
Drop a small parachute experimenting with wind resistance.
Share secrets across the park with whisper dishes.
Design a game featuring water blasters and targets, then work cooperatively (or competitively) to hit your mark.
Experiment with water and aquifers while thinking like an engineer at an artesian well.
Build a boat, bridge, dam, or waterwheel as you creatively solve problems in a bamboo water run.
Demonstration fields and gardens provide a living laboratory for exploration of cultural connections, sustainability, and the future of food.
Food service, shaded seating, and a 1,000 square foot pavilion are new this year, offering space for events and community gatherings.