Museum Events

Mazes and Brain Games

Maneuver your way through this mind boggling collection of mind-bending adventures, 3-D puzzles and full-body games – an unforgettable adventure that’s sure to challenge, entertain and amaze visitors of all ages.

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Spirit Week at the Virginia Living Museum

Eggstravaganza 2023

Price: included in  admission or membership.

Come learn all about animals that lay eggs, as well as the eggs themselves! Throughout the day, explore the museum, talk to our staff and volunteers at different pop-up stations to talk all about biofacts relating to egg-laying animals, participate in an egg scavenger hunt, and enjoy lawn games in the conservation garden!

Stargazing April 2023

Laser Nights

Looking for some Saturday night fun? Start with a planetarium program. Then experience a sensory extravaganza as laser shows provide music to both the eyes and ears every second Saturday of the month. The museum has an incredible laser system that splashes brilliant high-color LED laser light all across the entire surface of the dome. It’s the most amazing light show you’ve ever seen! Plus, there’s music to suit every taste. Different bands are featured every month.

Cost: Members $5, non-members $8 per show.

April 8: Stargazing Night

Join us for a CNU Science Night! The CNU Gravitational Wave Physics will be doing a FREE live science show at 5:15pm and will feature cool demos and interactive activities all about gravitational waves!

FrogWatch

Join us for FrogWatch – a community science program to help monitor frog populations! Practice identifying over 20 unique frog calls and learn about frog conservation. After learning the calls, you will be able to help monitor and submit data about local frog populations. Training is 2 parts and you must attend both parts.

Training time: 2pm-4pm

Training #1 dates: January 29, Feb 26, Apr 9.

Training #2 dates: Feb 5, Mar 5, Apr 16.

Minimum age: 11 years old. Children ages 11-14 must have an adult present. Registration is required.

January 29th training

February 26th training

April 9th training

Earth Day Week

4/17-4/23

Join us as we celebrate the Earth and learn about ways you can invest in our planet to create a brighter future! Watch live animal programs, take part in hands-on activities, join a behind the scenes tour, or talk to vendors to learn how you can take action to make eco-friendly choices all year long!

Spring Native Plant Sale 2023 Member Preview

Member Preview Sale: April 20 | 4pm-6pm

Public Sale:  April 22-23, 29-30 | 9am-4:30pm

Choose from an incredible array of beautiful and unusual native plants for a variety of garden sites and styles, from wet ponds to dry rock gardens. Many of these are excellent plants for attracting butterflies, hummingbirds and other wildlife to your yard. The Virginia Living Museum’s horticulture staff holds this annual sale as a fund-raiser, but the real goal is to introduce the gardening public to the incredible variety of native plants that will do well in the landscape, and to educate gardeners about those which are better left in the wild. Native plants are good choices for area gardeners because such plants tolerate the area’s weather and serve as food and shelter for area wildlife, while also providing a good show in the garden.

Click here for full info

Naturally Speaking April 2023

The Virginia Living Museum’s Naturally Speaking Lecture Series is a regular virtual and in-person event. Click the link below for a full run down of upcoming lectures.

All Lectures

Learn about the threats that birds face in Virginia, from window collisions to cats, deer, habitat loss, and invasive species. Discover what you can do to alleviate some of these in your own yard.

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All-Level Yoga at Frothy Moon Brewhouse to Support the Virginia Living Museum!

Join us at Frothy Moon Brewhouse for an all-levels yoga practice lead by Jessica Ruff to benefit the Virginia Living Museum. All donations go directly to the VLM to support conservation and education programming.  Frothy Moon opens at 8am with a coffee bar and the class runs from 8:30-9:30am.

Spring Native Plant Sale 2023

Member Preview Sale: April 20 | 4pm-6pm

Public Sale:  April 22-23, 29-30 | 9am-4:30pm

Choose from an incredible array of beautiful and unusual native plants for a variety of garden sites and styles, from wet ponds to dry rock gardens. Many of these are excellent plants for attracting butterflies, hummingbirds and other wildlife to your yard. The Virginia Living Museum’s horticulture staff holds this annual sale as a fund-raiser, but the real goal is to introduce the gardening public to the incredible variety of native plants that will do well in the landscape, and to educate gardeners about those which are better left in the wild. Native plants are good choices for area gardeners because such plants tolerate the area’s weather and serve as food and shelter for area wildlife, while also providing a good show in the garden.

Click here for full info

Support the Virginia Living Museum by Eating at Panera!

Spring Native Plant Sale 2023

Member Preview Sale: April 20 | 4pm-6pm

Public Sale:  April 22-23, 29-30 | 9am-4:30pm

Choose from an incredible array of beautiful and unusual native plants for a variety of garden sites and styles, from wet ponds to dry rock gardens. Many of these are excellent plants for attracting butterflies, hummingbirds and other wildlife to your yard. The Virginia Living Museum’s horticulture staff holds this annual sale as a fund-raiser, but the real goal is to introduce the gardening public to the incredible variety of native plants that will do well in the landscape, and to educate gardeners about those which are better left in the wild. Native plants are good choices for area gardeners because such plants tolerate the area’s weather and serve as food and shelter for area wildlife, while also providing a good show in the garden.

Click here for full info

Naturally Speaking May 2023

The Virginia Living Museum’s Naturally Speaking Lecture Series is a regular virtual and in-person event. Click the link below for a full run down of upcoming lectures.

All Lectures

Virginians are increasingly aware of and concerned with plastic pollution that litters neighborhoods, clogs streams and storm drains, and enters our oceans as harmful marine debris. Katie Register of Clean Virginia Waterways will provide an overview of the sources and impacts of mis-managed waste in Virginia and will focus on solutions to the growing plastic pollution problem — including single-use plastic food and beverage items. She will share solutions to address single-use consumer items (bottles, bags, cigarette butts, food wrappers), microplastics, derelict fishing gear, and abandoned watercraft.

Sign up

Endangered Species Day

Come learn about endangered species, including which ones we host here at the VLM, as well as what can be done to help protect species at risk!

This event will include hands on activities and specialized keeper talks throughout the day and is included in your membership or day pass to the museum.

Turtle Census 2023

The Virginia Living Museum Education and Herpetology staff began a multi-year research project to monitor the population changes of freshwater turtles in a local watershed over time.

Every year in June and July we set out live-capture, baited hoop nets in Deer Park Lake to catch and survey as many turtles as possible. VLM Staff and volunteers gather all of the turtles that are collected in these nets and spend the morning identifying the species and sex of the turtles, cleaning the shell to remove any stuck-on algae, and using a special marking system to determine whether each turtle is new for the year or a recapture from previous years.

Turtle Census 2023

The Virginia Living Museum Education and Herpetology staff began a multi-year research project to monitor the population changes of freshwater turtles in a local watershed over time.

Every year in June and July we set out live-capture, baited hoop nets in Deer Park Lake to catch and survey as many turtles as possible. VLM Staff and volunteers gather all of the turtles that are collected in these nets and spend the morning identifying the species and sex of the turtles, cleaning the shell to remove any stuck-on algae, and using a special marking system to determine whether each turtle is new for the year or a recapture from previous years.

Turtle Census 2023

The Virginia Living Museum Education and Herpetology staff began a multi-year research project to monitor the population changes of freshwater turtles in a local watershed over time.

Every year in June and July we set out live-capture, baited hoop nets in Deer Park Lake to catch and survey as many turtles as possible. VLM Staff and volunteers gather all of the turtles that are collected in these nets and spend the morning identifying the species and sex of the turtles, cleaning the shell to remove any stuck-on algae, and using a special marking system to determine whether each turtle is new for the year or a recapture from previous years.