Choose Your Own Campus Adventure!

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

Visit the many plant-focused facilities on MSU’s campus and explore the wondrous world of plants. Plants are part of daily life, from waking up in cotton pajamas, to brushing your teeth with mint toothpaste, to eating, drinking, and of course, going outside. Plants are a major industry in Michigan, creating many jobs, and spanning countless career paths from art and design, research, production, breeding, museum science, retail, marketing, and technology. Information stations and hands-on activities will be presented by the Department of Horticulture, Michigan 4-H Children’s Garden, Plant Biology Conservatory, and Student Horticulture Association, among others. Celery-brate plants with us!

The central event hub will be the Plant and Soil Sciences Building (1066 Bogue Street). Activities here will include access to the greenhouses, select classrooms, and outdoor experiences in the beautiful MSU Horticulture Gardens.

Events and exhibits will also take place at:

• The atrium of the Molecular Plant Science Building (1066 Bogue Street)
• The MSU Herbarium, located in the Plant Biology Building (612 Wilson Road, Room 166)
• The MSU Plant Science Teaching Conservatory (544 Wilson Road)

Please note that the Teaching Conservatory does not have dedicated parking. Student volunteers will be available to escort guests between the Plant and Soil Sciences Building and the Conservatory at scheduled times.

We look forward to welcoming you for an engaging and interactive experience across these unique campus spaces!

Learn more about Celery-brate Plants!

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

Make your mark on our sidewalk chalk farm and flower field.

Learn more about Collaborative Garden Art Project presented by MSU Department of Horticulture

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

Visit the CELL, a vertical farming research facility featuring climate-controlled rooms, hydroponic equipment, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Learn more about Controlled Environment Lighting Lab (CELL)

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

Explore how rain gardens help manage stormwater and reduce flooding by using soils, microbes, and plants to naturally treat runoff. Investigate how different plants influence water infiltration with infiltrometer and soil moisture measurements, and build your own infiltrometer to support research on plant effectiveness. Discover how rain gardens and other engineered systems enhance biodiversity, improve water quality, and provide habitat—key ecosystem services that benefit both people and nature.

Learn more about Discover How Rain Gardens Support Biodiversity

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

Discover how cutting-edge technologies are making your food more affordable and sustainable! At MSU, researchers in Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering are advancing smart agriculture to reduce costs, optimize resource use, and minimize environmental impacts in crop and livestock production. Explore innovations like autonomous smart weeding tractors, precision irrigation systems, and real-time farm monitoring using unmanned ground vehicles, drones, and satellite networks—all designed to boost productivity and sustainability. Learn how artificial intelligence is transforming agriculture. See a mobile biodigester that turns cow manure into electricity and discover conservation strategies that help protect water quality.

Learn more about Engineering Smart Agricultural Systems: Tractors, Sensors, Robots, and More!

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

Visit the Butterflies in the Garden program, learn about the butterfly lifecycle, and catch a butterfly on your finger.

Learn more about Indoor 4-H Children's Garden Butterfly House

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

Visit our lab to see how we utilize "optical tweezers" that use lasers to reach out, grab, and manipulate individual swimming cells. It is a very interactive, hands-on activity with video game-like joystick action. We invite the public to use our microscope and try to catch and grab hold of live cells and interact with them. We will learn about cells from the bottom up, and about the latest in technology that allows us to see and interact with individual cells and molecules.

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

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

Have you ever wondered how planetary scientists use rovers to identify rocks and minerals on Mars? Geoscientists in MSU's Earth and Environmental Science Department use Raman spectroscopy to study how rocks react with brines to form deposits similar to rocks observed on Mars. Come learn how the Raman spectrometer works and see a demonstration. We will be zapping rocks with lasers to see what they are made of, just like the rovers on Mars! Young visitors may bring a rock to analyze; it just needs to be smaller than your thumb.

Learn more about Lasers, Rocks, and Mars!

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

What does darkness offer you? Join Abrams Planetarium, the Broad Art Museum, and artist Jan Tichy for an immersive experience that explores light and darkness through the work of several labs and researchers at MSU.

Learn more about Learning from Noctalgia: The Art and Science of Darkness at MSU

Appropriate for: High school age, 18 years and above

We interact with salt every day. It plays an essential role in cooking, medicine, and de-icing roads. Come explore salt as a powerful, accessible symbol for ecosystem awareness and the ongoing interactions between humans and their environment. Supported by the 2025 a2ru Emerging Creatives Challenge Grant in collaboration with the MSU Museum, this interdisciplinary workshop features sonic and visual storytelling where art meets geology. Through co-creation of an Indian salt painting and a crankie theater performance with music, explore the ripple effect of a tiny grain of salt.

Please register for this event through the registration link!

Learn more about Explore the Ripple Effect of a Tiny Grain of Salt