Winter Workshop: Make a ‘Pocket Solar System’
The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum’s Reichert Planetarium is offering Pocket Solar System, a winter-break workshop for children ages 6-8, on Tuesday, February 18, from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm.
Tickets: $10/participant, $8/member
What would our Solar System look like if we shrunk it down to fit in your pocket? Find out in this workshop, where each participant will create and take home a scale model of the Solar System!
February School Recess Fun
When schools close during the week of February 17, children can learn and have fun in history, art, and science workshops at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum.
Children in Kindergarten-Grade 4:
Portraits & Mixed Media Selfies
Children will visit the mansion, search for interesting elements in the collection of portraits, and create self-portraits.
Monday, February 17 | 10 am-12 pm | $20 Guests/$18 Members
Children in Kindergarten-Grade 4:
Animals in Winter & Woodland Lantern
Children will explore the wildlife dioramas, learn about adaptations that help animals in winter, and make a woodland-inspired lantern.
Wednesday, February 19 | 10 am-12 pm | $20 guests/$18 members
Winter Break Astronomy Workshops
Children ages 6-8:
Pocket Solar System
Tuesday, February 18 | 11:00 am – 12:00 pm | $10/participant, $8/member
What would our Solar System look like if we shrunk it down to fit in your pocket? Find out in this workshop, where each participant will create and take home a scale model of the Solar System!
Children ages 9-12:
Stellar Suncatchers and Solar Observing
Thursday, February 20 | 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm | $10/participant, $8/member
Learn all about the Sun as we create stellar suncatchers, and safely look directly at the Sun through one of our solar telescopes (weather permitting).
Habitat Professional: How to Support Native Songbirds
The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum will welcome back Anthony Marinello, owner of Dropseed Native Landscapes Native Plant Nursery and a bird-habitat specialist, to speak on supporting native backyard songbirds – on Sunday, February 23, from 11 am to 12 pm.
The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum will welcome back Anthony Marinello, owner of Dropseed Native Landscapes Native Plant Nursery and a bird-habitat specialist, to speak on supporting native backyard songbirds – on Sunday, February 23, from 11 am to 12 pm.
Songbirds add beauty and delight to our world. Backyard bird watching and feeding is a cherished tradition for many who appreciate our feathered friends. Marinello will give a presentation on how to support common backyard songbirds with native plants, bird feeders, and other habitat elements. Afterward, participants will make pinecone feeders.
Marinello is a New York State Certified Nursery and Landscape Professional as well as a Certified National Audubon Habitat and Ecosystems Land Professional.
Beth Laxer-Limmer, Director of Education, said, “The Museum is excited to have Anthony Marinello back to share his knowledge of native birds and plants and how we can create a backyard ecosystem for songbirds.”
For adults and children 10 and up. Participating children must be accompanied by a registered adult.
$25 guests/$22 members
Wilderness Survival with Ranger Eric Powers & Mike Evans
The Vanderbilt Museum is excited to offer the Wilderness Survival Series with Ranger Eric Powers and Mike Evans. Each workshop focuses on specific skills such as making cordage, shelter building, purifying water, and toolmaking. Perfect for those starting their survival skills journey or looking to deepen existing skills, these workshops offer a platform to learn, share experiences, and connect with a community of like-minded individuals.
Saturdays | 2:00 pm
$50 guests/$45 Vanderbilt Museum members
March 15: Water Purification
April 5: Shelter Building
May 10: Toolmaking
June 14: Foraging for Food & Medicine
July 12: Navigation & Traps
Please bring sturdy footwear, work gloves, and dress appropriately for the weather. Survival knives are suggested, but not required
“Ranger Eric” is a wildlife biologist, outdoorsman, and conservationist. He started leading nature hikes in 1987 as a park ranger in Colorado until he served two years in the US Peace Corps. Since then, he has been running nature centers in Colorado, Alabama and then in 1997, Long Island, New York. In 2005 he started a mobile nature company, “Your Connection to Nature” (YC2N), doing environmental education programs, live animal shows, field trips, and eco-tours worldwide. In 2013, he started as an Adjunct Professor at Molloy College and developed a summer course for their Teaching Green Sustainability Institute. In 2016 he co-founded The Center for Environmental Education & Discovery (www.CEEDLI.org ) in Brookhaven Hamlet, N.Y., as Long Island’s newest nature center and holds the title of Site & Program Director. Please view his award-winning TV Series, “Off the Trail…with Ranger Powers” on YouTube.
Mike Evans, founder of Forgotten Skillz, is a motivator, educator, and life changer, blending his roles as a martial arts instructor, massage therapist, and science communicator. His leadership fosters a community on Long Island dedicated to exploring ancestral skills and generalism, from bushcraft and foraging to woodworking and homesteading. Mike’s approach embodies the spirit of being a “jack of all trades”, drawing inspiration from historical methods to thrive in the modern world.
Storytime Under the Stars Returns
The Vanderbilt’s next Storytime Under the Stars will be on Sunday, March 16, at 6:00 pm.
Join us for a special evening of storytelling and stargazing in the Reichert Planetarium. All children are invited to wear their comfiest pajamas and bring their favorite stuffed animal.
A live narrator at the front of the theater will bring selected picture books to life, with pages projected onto the Planetarium dome so families can enjoy the illustrations and follow along. Between stories, an astronomy educator will explore seasonal constellations visible from here on Long Island.
Admission fee: $8 per person | $6 for members.
‘Quilling & Cookies’: Create a Spring Wreath
The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum Education Department is offering a new crafting workshop, Quilling & Cookies, on Friday, April 25, from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Participants will make a spring wreath using the ancient paper-shaping method called quilling. For ages 18-plus.
Vanderbilt Portrait Displayed in Deco at 100 Exhibition
This portrait of William Kissam Vanderbilt II (1878-1944) is included in the Nassau County Museum of Art’s original Deco at 100 exhibition – which coincides with the 100th anniversary of the 1925 Paris International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts – now through June 15.
Vanderbilt, in his U.S. Navy blazer, is depicted at his estate on Fisher Island, Florida. This is the first time a painting from the collection of the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum has been loaned for an exhibition.
The Nassau County Museum of Art calls Boutet de Monvel “a pioneer of the Art Deco portrait style, much like his contemporary Tamara de Lempicka. His style is quintessentially Deco, fusing simplicity and geometry in such high society portraits as that of William Kissam Vanderbilt II.”
Above right: Bernard Boutet de Monvel (1881-1949), Portrait of William Kissam Vanderbilt II, 1935, 39” x 47”, oil on canvas
