Events Calendar

Spots of beauty on the ocean floor, the pinto abalone is the only abalone species in Puget Sound. Come learn about these beautiful treasures and their role in the Sound! Join the Puget Sound Estuarium and Henry Carson from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for a 7 pm presentation. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

Join Thurston County Environmental Health staff for a 2 pm presentation about common allergy and asthma triggers inside your home and how to remove or reduce them through easy, low-cost cleaning and maintenance practices. You’ll learn how to read labels on common household products, do a science experiment to test the effectiveness of a safer product, and make your own green cleaner to take home! Lots of take home information provided. Related activities all day.

In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the WET Science Center is closed Monday, January 21.

Are you interested in knowing more about our native frogs and salamanders? Are you 12 or older? Then this 9:30-11 am workshop is for you! Join Stream Team and herpetologist Dr. Marc P. Hayes for a fun, informative workshop exploring the ecology, habitat requirements, and unique characteristics of local species. You’ll learn how to identify different life stages of local amphibians with emphasis on egg mass identification. Register for this workshop at www.streamteam.info. Amphibian activities for all ages throughout the day.

Ooey gooey goodness! From humans to slugs, there’s lots of mucus aka slime created in the world. Did you know a hagfish can make four cups of slime in a fraction of a second? Learn about this creature and more during a slimy presentation at 2 pm. We’ll make slime all day!

Get creative and celebrate Valentine’s Day with fun art projects expressing your love for Puget Sound and all the amazing creatures living there. Or design a card for that special someone in your life! At 1 pm, join us for a short presentation followed by a tour of the Budd Inlet Treatment Plant to see how LOTT cleans the water you send down the drain and the steps taken to protect Puget Sound. Tour participants must be 10 or older and wear sturdy, closed shoes.

Come meet Big Mama, the life-sized walk-inside inflatable humpback whale! Explore Big Mama’s internal and external anatomy with experts from NOAA’s Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Learn all about what makes humpbacks important to our Washington waters. Practice identifying humpback whales, discover how they eat, and the importance of a thick layer of blubber. You might even discover that whales and humans are more similar than you’d expect!

In observance of Presidents Day, the WET Science Center is closed Monday, February 18.

From Namu to Free Willy to Blackfish, orcas have fascinated us for generations! But our Washington State marine mammal is in trouble. Learn all about our local orcas and how YOU can help save them. Join the Puget Sound Estuarium for a 7 pm presentation with Cindy Hansen from the Orca Network. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

When you walk in the woods or on the beach, there’s an abundance of interesting creatures and habitats. Yet the most fascinating things are nearly invisible – the relationships. At 2 pm, John F. Williams with Still Hope Productions Inc. highlights some of these relationships with excerpts from his collection of films and his new publication “Salish Magazine.” He’ll illustrate that the relationships aren’t just random…there actually is a “system” in ecosystem. Best for ages 10 and older. Related crafts all day.

Join staff from the Washington Invasive Species Council for a 2 pm presentation about real life alien invaders, how they spread, what their impacts are, and how we can stop these menaces. Throughout the day you can build your own 3-D invader out of recycled materials. Or become a citizen scientist and complete a scavenger hunt to practice reporting invasive species. Everyone gets cool prizes!

Join us at 2 pm to slow down, close your eyes, and take an auditory journey around the world. Hear a variety of interesting sounds from humans and nature and the awesome stories behind them. Make your own recycled musical instrument anytime throughout the day!

Experience the amazing world of robots! From 11 am to 4 pm, local robotics students lead hands-on activities for all ages. Sign up for “Robot Garage” workshops offered by the Museum of Flight at 11 am and 2 pm. These free workshops are for 4th grade and up, with no experience required. Participants use robotics kits to explore basic engineering skills, learn robotics history, and discuss cutting edge robots in space. Registration is required for the workshops. Register at https://robotgarage.eventbrite.com.

Our lives are full of plastic products and now our oceans are full of plastics too. Microplastics get mistaken for food by marine animals, and it’s estimated that by 2050 there may be more plastics in the ocean than fish. Join the Surfrider Foundation for a 2 pm presentation and learn fascinating facts about plastic, how it impacts our environment, and how you can make simple changes in your daily life to combat the plastic pollution problem. Related crafts and activities all day.

Whether you have a way with words or just like to rhyme in time, come for a celebration of poems and poets. Join Olympia’s Poet Laureate Amy Solomon-Minarchi at 2 pm for a poetry reading and workshop. Family-friendly poetry activities available all day.