Calendar

Building Wild with Nature Explore different building stations and let your imagination soar as you use blocks, branches, bricks, stumps, twigs and logs to build habitats for both animals and your friends at locations throughout the campus. Learn more here.
Butterflies: Wings of Wonder Butterflies are amazing creatures in so many ways – their vibrant colors, different shapes, sizes, and patterns and the important roles they play in nature’s web of life. Join us on this special day and celebrate butterflies with added exhibits, family-friendly activities, and opportunities to learn about their fascinating life cycle! You’ll get an up-close look at live butterflies to see what makes them so captivating. You might even be able to help release live monarchs for their migratory journey to Mexico. Plants that attract butterflies will be available for purchase.
Fall Native Plant Sale Choose from an array of native plants for a variety of garden sites and styles, from wet ponds to dry rock gardens. Fall, although often overlooked, is the ideal time for gardening. Cooler temperatures and increased rainfall make it easier to introduce new shrubs, berries, and flowers for the next gardening season. These Museum nursery propagated plants include options for attracting butterflies, hummingbirds, and other wildlife to your yard. Native plants are a good choice 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. 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. The sale will be held in the Conservation Garden and as always, the Museum’s knowledgeable horticulture staff will be on hand to answer your questions, discuss the wildlife benefits of native plants and help with any particular gardening situations. All plants are nursery propagated and many are not yet available in the commercial nursery trade. Sale held rain or shine. Admission to the sale is free.
Otter and Friends
Swamp Turtle Feeding Enrichment activities are designed to elicit natural behaviors: to encourage the animals to forage and work for their food, patrol their territory on the lookout for other animals, and just be more active in general.
A Giant Leap: Exploration Beyond the Moon This fulldome program, narrated by Tim Allen, looks back at the history of lunar exploration and then at some of the teams racing to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon and win the Google Lunar XPRIZE. See a successful launch, landing and tour of the lunar surface, and a visualization of a future settlement on the moon. Cost: VLM members free, non-members $4 plus Museum admission
Red Wolves Enrichment Enrichment activities are designed to elicit natural behaviors: to encourage the animals to forage and work for their food, patrol their territory on the lookout for other animals, and just be more active in general.
Legends of the Night Sky: Orion Explore the evening sky and meet a friendly owl who spins a tale of the winter constellation Orion. Presented in dazzling laser lights, this is an exciting and often humorous version of the classic Greek legend of Orion. Cost: VLM members free, non-members $4 plus Museum admission.
Virginia Skies Explore the evening skies above Virginia in this classic planetarium presentation. A staff astronomer will discuss seasonal constellations as well as any planets visible. Additional topics may be explored depending on celestial happenings around the time of your visit. Cost: VLM members free, non-members $4 plus Museum admission.