A Spectacularly Fun Winter
All events included with admission to Discovery Center unless otherwise noted. General admission: $6 adults; $5 children ages 2-17; free to Members and children under 2.
Busy Winter Days
December 22-30; 11:30-3:30 p.m.
Explore the shapes of the season with hands-on crafts, puzzles, and fun art projects. Included with Discovery Center admission.
Countdown to Fun!
Wednesday, December 31; 12:30-4:30 p.m.
Crafts, games, music and art come together as we to count down to midnight—somewhere in the world! Ring in the New Year with music from Kantorei, the singing boys of Rockford. Rockford Art Museum joins in the fun with party hats, confetti, favors and more!
Included with Discovery Center admission.
Sizzling Sunday
Sunday, January 25; 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Dress up for a Hawaiian luau and come in out of the cold as we get tropical. Explore chemical reactions and other “hot” science topics, witness a volcanic eruption, go island hopping, play in the tide pools, and sample tropical foods. Enjoy arts and craft activities with our Rockford Art Museum friends. Family fun where it’s warm! Included with Discovery Center admission.
Chocolate Sundae Sunday
Sunday, February 8; 2:00-4:00 p.m. Join us for this delicious annual event! Enjoy a sundae you design yourself. Spend time creating heart-y crafts and delight in the toe-tapping tunes of the Dixieland Docs. Sponsored by Dean Foods.
Discover Engineering
Saturday, February 21; 11:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Calling all scouts and kids who like to tinker. National Engineers’ Week is February 15-21 and Discovery Center is in on the action! Join real engineers for some hands-on challenges and lots of career information. Sponsored by 
Illinois Society of Professional Engineers and NDK Crystals, Inc. Included with Discovery Center admission.
Dino Days
Saturday, March 7; 11:00 a.m. -3:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 8; 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Discovery Center joins in the Cretaceous craze with live dino demonstrations and hands-on arts and crafts to celebrate Burpee Museum’s Paleofest weekend. Create your own dinosaur hat, puppets, and more! Included with Discovery Center admission.
Bubble Festival
Sunday, March 15; performances 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.
In advance: $4 public/$3 members
At the door: $5 public/$4 members
Advance Tickets on sale January 26-March 13.
Discovery Center Welcomes bubble celebrity Geoffrey Akins for these live performances and sudsy science fun. Be amazed at the intricate shapes and forms of bubbles during this captivating live show. Then test your own bubble skills with bubble art and activities for the whole family in the Bubble-Palooza Playground. Museum admission not included. The 2009 Bubble Festival is sponsored in part by U.S. Bank. Spring Into Science
Monday, March 23 – Friday, March 27; 11:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Don’t let your brain turn to mush over Spring Break! Visit Discovery Center and “spring into science” with special daily activities and live science demonstrations. Included with Museum admission.
Nano Day
Saturday, April 4; 11:00 a.m.-3:30p.m.
Explore science and technology on the atomic scale. Investigate real life applications of nanotechnology including clothes that stay clean, sunglasses that turn clear, and socks that never stink. Check out the possibilities for super-strong ultra-light materials as well as new cures for cancer, all thanks to this teeny tiny science. Included with Museum admission.
Egg Hunt
Saturday, April 11; 10:00 a.m. -3:00 p.m.
$6 children; $6 adults; Members of either museum free!
Discovery Center joins Burpee Museum for this entertaining egg-stravaganza. Kids 9 and under can look for eggs at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.. The rest of the time, kids of all ages can get their hands on some super springtime crafts and delve into egg-cellent fun.
Kids in the Kitchen
Saturday, April 18; 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Enjoy activities promoting healthy meals and snacks. Free. Sponsored by the Junior League of Rockford. Museum admission not included.
Astronomy Day
Saturday, May 2; 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Discovery Center Celebrate National Astronomy Day with free planetarium shows, star maps, and glittery star crafts. Check out the inner workings of a telescope and take a close-up look at our star the Sun with the Rockford Amateur Astronomy Club. Included with Museum admission.
Crime Lab Detectives
Saturday, May 16; 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Solve the crime on opening day of this new traveling exhibition. Sponsored by OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center. E-I-E-I-O
Sunday, May 24; 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Meet some animal friends as you explore the sights, sounds, taste and feel of barnyard life. Snack on animal food, make an animal hat, try your hand at critter crafts, and enjoy barnyard babies from Buggy Whip Farm. Included with Museum admission.
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Mythbusters Grant and Kari Coming to Rockford
Save the date. Grant and Kari from Discovery Channel's Mythbusters will be visiting Rockford for an exciting Discovery Center Fundraiser on October 3, 2009. Check back frequently as details come available.
GRANT IMAHARA
Before becoming a Mythbuster, Grant Imahara was an animatronics engineer and model-maker for George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic in Marin County, California. He specialized in electronics and radio control at the ILM Model Shop, and has credits on numerous movies, including Jurassic Park: The Lost World, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Galaxy Quest, AI: Artificial Intelligence, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Terminator 3 and Star Wars: Episode III.
He has installed electronics in R2-D2 units for Star Wars Episodes I and II, replacing the halogen light source and rotating color wheel (for the sparkly lights) with a custom microcontroller-based LED circuit that was originally created to make the pulsating lights for the main engines of the Protector, from Galaxy Quest.
Grant has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California. He picked up his mechanical skills from the machinists at the ILM Model Shop, many of whom date back to Howard the Duck (1986).
Grant’s skill set includes electronics design and fabrication, machining, welding, woodworking, CAD layout, pneumatics, CNC programming, and laser cutting, as well as some mold-making and paint.
KARI BYRON
Without knowing, Kari Byron had been training her whole life to be a Mythbuster. By the age of 5 she was setting up experiments to test on her sister using dolls as crash test dummies. Luckily for her parents, they always caught her right before little sister took a ride down a laundry shoot or was the subject of 360 on a swing set attempt.
After graduating from San Francisco State and traveling the world, Kari began her career as an artist, working in sculpture and painting and holding successful exhibitions at some of San Francisco's leading galleries. Artist was only one of many hats she held searching for her place in the world. Her sculpting skills and love for odd jobs soon led her into the world of model-making and toy-prototyping and a job with Jamie Hyneman at M5 Industries. It was here that Kari got her first big break with the Mythbusters team.
Kari works with the MythBusters team, using science and Yankee ingenuity to solve the mysteries of today's most compelling urban legends.