Tūhura Club

Join Dunedin’s after-school science club held in New Zealand’s biggest science centre. Ignite your child’s curiosity and inspire a love of STEM, Wednesdays during term time.

Tūhura Club is delivered by professional educators and Museum staff. Based in Otago Museum’s Tūhura Science Centre, children will also explore the Tropical Forest, the Planetarium, and the Museum galleries.

We entertain and educate, providing an inspirational experience. Children will perform experiments, make wonderful things, and see the science and art behind all that surrounds us.

Join the Tūhura Club and explore science, technology, engineering, art, and maths (STEAM) through amazing experiments and inspirational activities every week during the school terms.

Coming up this year:

TERM 3: WONDERS OF LIFE
There’s no other planet like Earth. Join us as we discover the amazing diversity of life around us!

TERM 4: GUARDIANS OF THE EARTH
How can we save our planet? Let’s discover how we can all live more sustainably

TERM 3, Weekly Topics:

WEEK 1: FIRST LIFE ON EARTH
4 August
Find out more about the first things to live on Earth. What did they eat? How did they reproduce? And where did they come from? Make your own water drop magnifying lens and discover more about the microscopic world.

WEEK 2: THE CREATION OF OXYGEN
11 August
For millions of years, algae have been producing most of the oxygen we breathe. Find out how they do this, learn about some of the 20,000 known varieties of algae, and discover how delicious they can be!

WEEK 3: FLOWER POWER
18 August
Discover how plants have evolved to take over the world. We will get creative and sketch some flowers, as we learn how plants help support most of the life on planet Earth.

WEEK 4: INVERTEBRATES ROCK!
25 August
From sponges to jellyfish, snails, insects, crabs, and spiders, there are so many invertebrates! In this session we will dissect some of them to discover what they have in common and discover how these amazing animals survive.

WEEK 5: SOMETHING FISHY!
1 September
Fish have been on Earth for over 450 million years, with over 25,000 species. What do they all have in common? Discover how their wonderful adaptations can help improve our technology, from submarines to diving gear. Fish are the masters of the oceans!

WEEK 6: AMAZING AMPHIBIANS
8 September
Amphibians have evolved to live both on land and in water. Frogs are great indicators of a clean environment. But what happens when pollution enters our rivers and lakes?

WEEK 7: BIRDS, DINOSAURS AND OTHER REPTILES
15 September
Birds are the masters of the sky. Let’s learn about flight technology by looking at how they do it. Discover the ancient links of birds and dinosaurs as we construct a model of a feathered t-rex. Get ready to take off to the clouds and beyond!

WEEK 8: APES, MONKEYS AND OTHER AMAZING MAMMALS
22 September
We finish the term by looking at how humans came to be. Our brains have evolved along with our bodies to allow humans to do things that no other animal can do. Let’s study the body like da Vinci to discover the amazing adaptations we have, and explore what we might look like in the future!

Wednesdays from 4 August – 22 September.

Open to 8 – 13-year-olds. Bookings essential!