The Bean Life Science Museum celebrated Charles Darwin's 216th birthday with various family friendly activities on Feb. 15.
“We have five options for activities, and if you do four of them, you get a Rice Krispie treat,” Emma Olsen, an employee at the Bean Museum, said.
Activities included a curiosity cart, where participants learned about the evolutionary history of bones, and a button-making and coloring station where visitors made custom pins. The museum also offered a video screening in the auditorium, story time and a competitive game.
“We’re doing a 'Minute to Win It' based off of bird beaks, which Charles Darwin studied," Audrey Gordon, an employee at the Bean Museum, said.
Gordon helped lead a game where participants use various utensils and tools — each representing different bird beaks — to transfer bird food into empty bowls. Participants raced against the clock to collect as much as possible.
“Some of our bird food are cotton balls, and we are using spoons to scoop those cotton balls up,” Gordon said.
Gordon said the event was particularly applicable to her studies at BYU.
“I’m a wildlife and wildlands (major), where we have to learn about adaptations and how animals and wildlife adapt to different circumstances," Gordon said.
The Bean Museum is trying to make evolution a concept that is not controversial and something everyone can celebrate, Gordon said.