Behind the Scenes Tours and Open Houses

Appropriate for: Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Lights, Camera, Action! will demonstrate and encourage hands-on interaction with film and television equipment, including a television studio, professional cameras, jib, steadicam, broadcast switcher, audio mixer, and more. Participants will create a short video program in a team environment.

Learn more about Lights, Camera, Action!

Appropriate for: Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Join the Beal Botanical Garden to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the campus arboretum by giving Baker Woodlot some spring love! Participants will learn all about this important work and help remove woody shrubs, vines, and herbaceous invasive plants such as garlic mustard.

Learn more about Dig in! Help Root Out Invasive Plants at Baker Woodlot

Appropriate for: Kindergarten and Pre-K, Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Biosystems engineers combine biology, math, and design to solve problems related to food, health, energy, and the environment. Explore how engineers benefit society by touring a laboratory where technology to kill pathogens is engineered. See biological sensors that can detect disease and examine the world's smallest flowering the plant under a microscope. Visit an engineered reactor that converts renewable biomass into fuel, learning how it works from its designer. Get your hands dirty restoring a model river using ecological engineering techniques. Learn how robotics are used to improve agricultural production of fruits. Chat with both students and professors about Biosystems Engineering.

Learn more about Biosystems Engineering Open House: Solving Problems in Food, Health, Energy, and Environmental Systems

Appropriate for: Kindergarten and Pre-K, Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Many people know their clinical specimens get sent to the medical laboratory, but what happens next? Who performs the testing, and how is it done? Tour the Biomedical Laboratory Diagnostics program and explore the different disciplines of the medical laboratory, do some hands-on medical laboratory activities, and learn about the scientists who perform medical laboratory testing every day!

Learn more about Explore Medical Laboratory Science!

Appropriate for: Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Use lasers and a microscope to grab and interact with live swimming bacteria in a video game like experience! Participants will be invited to use our optical tweezers microscope. Users will receive brief training prior to using the instrument.

Learn more about Laser Tweezers: Reach Out and Grab Bacteria!

Appropriate for: Kindergarten and Pre-K, Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Visit Michigan State University's Pollinator Performance Center for a tour of the facility. The Pollinator Performance Center is located on south campus, and it focuses on research and extension to support beekeepers, growers whose crops depend on insect pollination, and the public. At this open house, you'll get to check out the honey processing room, beekeeping equipment, and other educational stations. You'll also learn about different pollinators in Michigan, the issues they're facing, and what people can do to help keep them healthy.

Learn more about Tour the MSU Pollinator Performance Center

Appropriate for: Kindergarten and Pre-K, Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Join student organization Tower Guard and get an inside look at Beaumont Tower! Members will give you the history and neat facts about each floor and lead you to the very top. There, you will meet MSU's carillonist and learn about the 49 bells. Listen closely and you might hear the MSU fight song!

Learn more about Get an Inside Look at Beaumont Tower!

Appropriate for: Kindergarten and Pre-K, Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Join Katie Fry, Beal Botanical Garden's Collection Manager, to celebrate the campus arboretum's 150th anniversary with a walk-through Beal to learn about the trees of Beal that are not native to Michigan. Why and how did they get there, and what fun stories do they contain?

Learn more about Unique Trees from Around the World

Appropriate for: Kindergarten and Pre-K, Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Join us for a family-friendly event focused on reducing waste by practicing the principles of a circular economy.

Tour the recycling center and vermicompost hoop house. Get creative with Spartan Upcycle. Freecycle clothing and books. Learn how and why to do a home waste audit. Engage with other campus groups, and more!

Hosted in partnership with the MSU Office of Sustainability, MSU Student Life & Engagement and Eco Reps, MSUVote, and MSU PIRGM, the campus chapter of the student-run Public Interest Research Group.

RSVP encouraged but not required. Visit bit.ly/earthbash2024

Learn more about Earth Bash @ MSU Recycling

Appropriate for: Kindergarten and Pre-K, Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

This is your chance to “go inside” the body, identifying bones, organs, and systems! The Anatomage Table is the only fully segmented real human 3D anatomy platform and is the most technologically advanced 3D anatomy visualization and virtual dissection tool. You'll get a chance to view and interact with the other 3D visualizations, including reptiles, mammals, birds, and even see inside a scanned mummy!

Learn more about Blood, Bones, and Brains: Inside the Body with the Anatomage 3D Table at MSU Libraries

Appropriate for: Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Vernal pools are more than just mud puddles in the woods that dry out in the summer! They are extremely important and diverse features in our forest ecosystems that provide critical habitat for a variety of organisms. These pools are important sources of food and water in early spring when very little else is available. Join us in MSU's Baker Woodlot to look and listen for the unique invertebrates, amphibians, and other critters that make these special pools their home.

Learn more about Get Wet in the Woods with Vernal Pools!

Appropriate for: Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Tour the MSU Libraries Hollander Makerspace! The Makerspace is an alternative learning environment and gathering space that encourages cross-discipline collaboration, experimentation, and learning. See a variety of 3D printers, watch our laser cutter in action, and learn about our technologies available to the public!

Learn more about Hollander Makerspace Open House

Appropriate for: Kindergarten and Pre-K, Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Join Carolyn Miller, Beal Botanical Garden's Plant Recorder, to celebrate the campus arboretum's 150th anniversary with a walk-through to learn about Michigan native trees in the spring.

Learn more about Native Trees of Beal

Appropriate for: Kindergarten and Pre-K, Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Tour the banks of the Red Cedar and learn about the history and ecology of the river at the heart of MSU’s campus. This 1.2 mile round-trip walk will start at the MSU Main Library and loop from the Kalamazoo Street Bridge to Farm Lane and back, with stops to describe interesting historical and ecological features of the river. Please wear comfortable shoes. In case of rain the program will be inside the Main Library.

Learn more about Red Cedar River Historical and Ecological Walking Tour

Appropriate for: High school age, 18 years and above

Join the Beal Botanical Garden to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Campus Arboretum with the mythology and lore of trees. This tour will explore the trees of the Beal Botanical Garden and the stories, warnings, and magic they contain!

Learn more about Tall Tree Tales

Appropriate for: Kindergarten and Pre-K, Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Explore the world-class Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), where nuclei are smashed into a target at nearly half the speed of light! Our tour takes you behind the scenes where nuclei are accelerated, smashed, and studied. The secrets we learn could help explain what happens in supernovae and the origins of elements that make up the human body. Adults will need to complete a permission form for any minors in their party. This tour will be limited to the first 50 visitors in line; others will be invited to the virtual tour at Abrams Planetarium.

Learn more about Tour the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams

Appropriate for: Kindergarten and Pre-K, Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Explore a world-class rare isotope laboratory where nuclei are smashed into a target at half the speed of light! Our new 1500-foot-long linear accelerator and the research spaces inside MSU’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) will be revealed with images, 3D models, and animations projected on the dome. Our “virtual tour” takes you to many locations that would normally be inaccessible!

Learn more about Get a Backstage Pass to the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB)

Appropriate for: Kindergarten and Pre-K, Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Gather around the campfire for a fun evening of s’mores, hikes, and exciting hands-on activities at Woldumar Nature Center. Take a hike, dissect an owl pellet, work on identifying trees, and more! We’ll end the night with a colorful fire presentation around the campfire, so come join us to learn more about the nature that’s right in our backyards! Presented by Woldumar Nature Association and Graduate Women in Science Mid-Michigan.

Learn more about Campfire Science Night

Appropriate for: Kindergarten and Pre-K, Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

MSU’s Corey Marsh Ecological Research Center (CMERC) is a hub for natural resources education, research, and public engagement located just 20 minutes from campus. Join us for an exciting morning of bird banding, animal demonstrations, hands-on activities for all ages, guided marsh exploration, and more! You can also learn more about citizen science and how to be a scientist in your own backyard.

Learn more about Ecology Extravaganza at Corey Marsh

Appropriate for: Kindergarten and Pre-K, Elementary school age, Middle school age, High school age, 18 years and above

Create your own linocut prints of animals and plants on a small hand-powered printing press and write poems to celebrate the recovery of these species. View a Science On a Sphere projection, featuring species recently removed from the endangered species list. Printmaker Samantha Earley and public poetry artist Nancy DeJoy will create images for the projection and help all participants create their own pieces of art to take home. Explore our amazing Earth with this and other arts-based activities.

Learn more about Celebrate the Recovery of Endangered Species with Printmaking and Poetry