ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum

Win a FREE Birthday Party at ScienceWorks!

Want to celebrate your big day at ScienceWorks for FREE? We're looking for two lucky families to win the ultimate ScienceWorks birthday party package! All you have to do is enter our Birthday Party Drawing and be willing to let us take awesome photos of your party to use in our marketing. Enter by June 30 for your chance to win. Winners announced July 1. One year to redeem.
Learn more and enter to win on the Birthdays page of our website ScienceWorksMuseum.org/Birthdays

ScienceWorks Summer Camp Scholarships are Now Available

We are pleased to announce that AllCare Health has awarded ScienceWorks another year of scholarship funding. Scholarship applications are now open for the Summer 2026 camp season.

Thanks to the generosity of AllCare Health, ScienceWorks is able to offer Summer Camp scholarships at more than an 80% discount, reducing the cost to just $50 per child, per week. At this time, each child is eligible to receive one scholarship, which covers one week of camp.

Scholarships are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis to families who participate in a food assistance program (such as WIC, EBT, or SNAP) or are enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan (OHP). We are also pleased to offer scholarships to school staff with proof of employment.

To apply for a camp scholarship, please complete the application form on our website. If your application is approved, we’ll send you a discount code to use during registration.
ScienceWorksMuseum.org/Camps

Interactive STEAM Camps | ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum Join interactive STEAM camps for kids to explore science & creativity. Scholarships available for qualifying families. Camps during school breaks!

What does “home” mean to you?

Join us for the opening reception of The Home Project at ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum. Through powerful portrait photography and artist-interpreted works, this moving exhibition explores identity, resilience, and belonging in Southern Oregon. Meet the artists, hear behind-the-scenes stories, and experience an exhibition that asks people "to slow down, listen, and recognize themselves in one another.”
Free and open to the public.

The Home Project
Creating a Culture of Belonging
Art Exhibit Opening Reception
Saturday, June 6
4 to 6 PM
Scienceworksmuseum.org/the-home-project-opens-at-scienceworks

UPDATE: Our website is up and running again. Thank you for your patience while we worked through the issue.

Our website is temporarily down. We’re working to resolve the issue and will share an update as soon as it’s back up. Thanks for your patience!

When art and science come together, they don’t just overlap, they expand what’s possible, helping people not only understand the world, but connect with it. Art and science work so well together because they’re really two ways of exploring the same thing: how the world works.

Science asks questions like “What is this?” and “How does it function?” Art asks “What does it feel like?” and “How can we experience it?” Put them together, and you get a fuller understanding, both analytical and human.

Kick off your summer with art that brings our community together. Three free events. One creative community. Join us this June as art, stories, and connection come to life at ScienceWorks.

The Home Project — Opening Reception
Be among the first to experience The Home Project, a powerful exhibit sharing stories of belonging through portraiture and art, on view at ScienceWorks through August. Artist talks and behind-the-scenes footage at 4 PM followed by opening reception from 5 to 6 PM.
Saturday, June 6
4 to 6 PM
Free

Mural Fest 2026 — “Belonging”
Watch art come to life in real time as regional muralists transform our plaza into an open-air studio.
Saturday & Sunday
June 20 & 21
10 AM to 5 PM
Free

Siskiyou Crest Artist in Residence Presentation
Meet Artist in Residence Cody Markelz and explore how art, science, and wild landscapes intersect.
Sunday, June 28
2 PM
Free

ScienceWorksMuseum.org/Events

Hello ScienceWorks friends!

Your Bird of the Month for May is the Lesser Goldfinch. These bright and colorful little birds are very common and widespread throughout the western United States. I see and hear them every time I go to ScienceWorks, and just about everywhere else in the Rogue Valley.

These social birds fly in bounding flocks looking for seeds to eat. They are able to take advantage of both native and non-native plants year-round and are one of the most familiar resident birds of Southern Oregon.

The “Lesser” in their name comes from the fact that they are slightly smaller than the similar American Goldfinch. These cheerful and plucky little birds don’t seem too bothered about their humbler name and like to sing their long, complex songs from prominent perches, often mimicking other birds. They are not shy around humans and are common in suburban areas and parks.

Lesser Goldfinch males are distinctive, with black caps, green backs, bright yellow fronts, and white spots on their wings (noticeable in flight). Females have more subtle plumage, which helps them stay hidden while on the nest.

Females and non-breeding males can be distinguished from American Goldfinches by subtle differences in their plumage, such as the color of their undertail coverts (butt feathers). These are yellow in Lesser and Goldfinches and white in American Goldfinches.

Lesser Goldfinches are one of a few bird species I have confirmed nesting at ScienceWorks. I found this fledgling doing a wing-flapping display and begging for food. The dad dutifully obliged.

Every time of year offers something special for birding, but May is the most magnificent month for birds across most of the Northern Hemisphere. Breeding season is in full swing and migrants are still moving through in their millions. I highly recommend getting out early to a riverside, marsh, or lush woodland at least once this spring and simply basking in the glory of birdsong. You’ll hear goldfinches and many other colorful birds in their race to survive and breed for another year.

Happy Birding!

To read more of Nate's posts, visit ScienceWorksMuseum.org/Field-Notes

Our Pterosaurs exhibit is soaring away on May 31. If you haven’t had a chance to explore these incredible flying reptiles, now is the time. Stop by before they take off for good and get up close with the science, scale, and mystery of these prehistoric giants.

What’s coming next? Let’s just say… things are about to COME TOGETHER in a whole new way. We can’t wait for you to see how it all CONNECTS.

As we prepare for our next exhibit, a portion of the main gallery will be closed from June 1 – 12. We appreciate your patience during this transition and look forward to welcoming you back to experience something entirely new.

On May 20, 2017, the United Nations officially proclaimed World Bee Day following a proposal from Slovenia — a global reminder of just how essential bees are to life on Earth.

Bees are some of our most important pollinators, supporting biodiversity, strengthening food systems, and helping sustain ecosystems around the world. In fact, every third spoonful of food depends on pollination.

Today is a chance to pause and consider how we can protect these small but mighty creatures.

If you're inspired to take action, consider planting native plants in your yard or even in pots on a deck or patio. Pollinator Project Rogue Valley is a great local resource to help you learn more about our native flora.

For a dose of hope and inspiration, check out Homegrown National Park (homegrownnationalpark.org), a nationwide effort encouraging people to add native plants and remove invasive species everywhere we live, work, and play. Their interactive map allows individuals across the country to register their native-planted spaces — large or small. It is inspiring to see how many people are joining the effort to restore biodiversity and support pollinators.

This spring, we’ve been putting these ideas into action right here at ScienceWorks.

Thanks to generous support from our community, we’ve added a new round of native and pollinator-friendly plants around our plaza and Bear Garden. These spaces are now buzzing with life.

We are deeply grateful to Shooting Star Nursery and Ashland Greenhouses for their plant donations,
VH Contracting LLC for providing mulch, and to our executive director, Gaby, and our volunteer, Emily, for contributing additional plants and hands-on care.

Our new plantings feature a vibrant mix of mostly native species and their cultivars, including sages, yarrow, phlox, and other blooms that are especially loved by our local pollinators. We’ve also incorporated manzanitas, which provide important habitat for birds and support a healthy ecosystem beyond pollinators alone.

These plants were chosen not only for their ecological value, but also for their resilience. Once established, they are drought-tolerant and deer-resistant — a necessary approach to sustainable landscaping in our region.

Right now, many of these plants are in bloom, and the results are already visible. Bees, butterflies, and other pollinators are hard at work, moving from flower to flower.

We invite you to stop by, take a closer look, and maybe even pause long enough to notice the hum of activity. What do you see? Which plants are the most popular with pollinators? What might you try planting at home?

Here’s to the tiny pollinators that make a big difference, and to the community effort it takes to support them.

Stay curious 🐝

Homegrown National Park page

We’re honored to be on the ballot for the Ashland Food Co-op’s Change for Good program 💛

If you’re a Co-op owner, we’d be grateful for your vote to help bring ScienceWorks back as a 2027 partner. This simple round-up program makes a real difference — just a few cents at a time — supporting hands-on science education, accessible learning, and a welcoming space for our whole community.

If ScienceWorks has been part of your story, we’d be thankful for your vote.

Stay curious ✨

Update from the ScienceWorks field — native flowers are blooming!

It’s been a long, slow process to restore our field over the past couple of years, but we’re starting to see signs that the work is paying off. Last year, we spread several pounds of native seeds, and this spring they’re beginning to return the favor.

If you look closely (we know it’s hard to see, these flowers aren't as showy as their commercial cultivar cousins), you’ll spot blooms from native lupines, poppies, red clover, and more.

This growing diversity does more than add color, it helps rebuild a healthy ecosystem. Native plants provide food and habitat for pollinators, support soil health, improve water retention, and create a more resilient landscape over time.

We’d love for you to come see it for yourself. Take a walk around the field, slow down, and notice what’s emerging. What do you see? Who’s visiting the flowers?

Small changes add up, and this is just the beginning.