Parents’ Night Out
Enjoy an evening of adult company only.
First Friday of Each Month
6:30pm – 9:30pm
Ages 6-12 years.
Drop the kids off for a night of scientific and theatrical entertainment! Kids will take part in games and activities based on the movie of the night. Kids will bring their pillows and we provide the popcorn!
Check out these links for First Friday activities and proprietors on our Historic Downtown Square – just minutes from the Discovery Center. These business support Parents’ Night Out and we often are able to pass along special coupons to our parents:
Integrated Touch Therapeutic Massage
Ocala’s Chocolate & Confections
May 4 – Aid us this month in Finding Nemo! Adventure awaits us in the deep blue sea, as we meet a timid clownfish and journey with him as he attempts to rescue his abducted son! Along the way, we will dive into the world of water and investigate all of its mysteries! Learn about the ever important water cycle, discover what kind of critters can be found in pond water, and enjoy a yummy snack of seaweed spaghetti and octopi hotdogs!
June 1 - Enjoy Up, a tale of an adventurous engineer who’s dreams to see the world lead him to create an exciting invention. Then: What goes up must come down! Join us for an egg drop parachute challenge and put your own engineering skills to the test!
July 6 - Ice Age is the story of a trio of animals who become unlikely heroes when they rescue a lost child and return him to his hunter-gatherer family. We’ll learn about this hunter-gatherer lifestyle by learning to make arrowheads and designing our own arrowhead necklace. We’ll also look at famous cave art of the early Americans and design our own cave mural for the Discovery Center.
August 3 – Cars come to life and learn to slow their wheels when a hot-shot racer crashes a comfy town. We’ll make kit cars of our own and see whose design can roll the farthest! As a tasty snack, try out our Tow-Mater Cupcakes!
September 7 - See the tale of a loveable, wide-eyed robot WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class). His job as Earth’s custodian gets transformed from routine to adventure when a probe comes to earth to check on the status of his clean-up! For activities, look into the forgotten world of junk from the viewpoint of archaeologists as we examine our own modern-day midden mounds. Then get an idea of what it’s like to be a robot with our robot hands challenge!
October 5 - It’s RIO! Watch as Blue, an endangered bird, travels to the colorful world of Brazil to meet a dedicated ornithologist and become and awkward and unlikely hero of his species. You’ll develop your own bird species, create a bird feeder statue, and enjoy “pigeon poop” snacks suitable for human consumption!
November 2 - This home isn’t haunted, it’s alive in Monster House! Kids team up to prove that the neighborhood spooky house is after them as they try to save their unsuspecting neighborhood. As part of our fun we’ll experiment to learn what makes houses creak and moan, create clever noise makers of our own, and enjoy a fun tasty and spooky treat. Kids come dressed up to enjoy their Halloween costume one more time!
December 7 - Horton Hears a Who! The Dr. Seuss classic of Horton the elephant, whose mighty ears hear the cries of microscopic Whoville. Now he must protect this tiny world from everyone else who thinks Horton’s gone crazy. We’ll try our own luck at discovering microscopic communities with microbiology, look at our own cheek cells under a microscope, and even take home a bacteria culture!
Cost: $15.00 per participant includes snacks. Limited to 25 registered participants.
