Choose Your Own Campus Adventure!

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

Calling all bird nerds, beak geeks, and fans of feathered friends. Join us for a birding walk around the MSU Horticultural Gardens and Baker Woodlot. Learn the basics of bird identification, explore helpful apps and guides for birding, and discover ways to attract and support birds in your yard. Spring migration is just getting underway, so there will be an exciting mix of year-round species and some that are just passing through. No experience needed and all ages are welcome.

Learn more about Birding Basics

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

Learn about plant pigments used in food, beauty products, textiles, and even famous works of art. Then, paint a bookmark using watercolors made from plant-based pigments.

Learn more about Botanical Pigments, 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 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

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 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

Celebrate all things reduce, reuse, recycle with a day at the campus recycling center and thrift store. Go secondhand shopping, tour the material recovery facility and vermicompost hoophouse, make upcycled crafts, and enjoy some freecycling, all while listening to music provided by IMPACT 89FM! Let's go green!

Learn more about MSU Earth Bash

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

Join us for an open house at MSU’s Rachana Rajendra Neotropical Migrant Bird Sanctuary. Located in Baker Woodlot, the sanctuary provides an urban refuge for wildlife and people to enjoy year-round. It is home to a diverse ecosystem of plants, animals, and microorganisms. We invite you to come out and play in the sanctuary while learning about its inhabitants and what makes it such a special place. The open house will highlight unique habitats, like vernal pools, and the plants and animals you can find in spring.

The Sanctuary is located in Baker Woodlot. Meet us at the northern Bogue Street entrance, the closest intersection is Bogue St. and Service Rd. 

The trails are often muddy in the Spring, so please wear appropriate shoes!

Learn more about Open House at the Rachana Rajendra Bird Sanctuary

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

Soils vary widely in composition, color, and texture. Learn about soil types, then create a work of art with soil-based paint.

Learn more about Soil Painting presented by Horticulture Organization of Graduate Students (HOGS)

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

Tour the Plant Biology Conservatory and Teaching Greenhouse and view the Arid, Tropical, and Evolution collections.

Learn more about Plant Biology Conservatory and Teaching Greenhouse Tour

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

Comics are a great way to communicate science – and scientsts make great comics! Stop by the Special Collections Seminar Room in the Main Library to see some of the most awesome, amazing, and scientifically accurate comic books featured in our Special Collections. Take a special bird comic home with you!

Learn more about Comics and Science

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 environmental history 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 some interesting historical and environmental 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 Environmental History Walking Tour

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

The Digital Scholarship Lab will be hosting a series of activities that will give visitors an opportunity to reflect upon and learn about the significance of forests and trees through Virtual Reality (VR) and other immersive technology. In the 360 Room, artist and scholar Hailey Becker will share an immersive artwork titled: “Where the Light Gets In: Engaging the Community about Tree Removal on Campus.” Supplies will be on hand for visitors of all ages to create collages of real and imaginary forests and then display their creations in the 360 Room. In the VR Room, members of a research team led by forestry professors Emily Huff and Samantha Gailey will be on hand to discuss their study into how people respond to different forest types in VR. Visitors will be given an opportunity to explore different forest landscapes and learn about the benefits of spending time with trees in real life.

Learn more about Seeing the Forest for the Trees in VR and IRL

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

Travel through the MSU Library on an adventure of discovery and stack your stamps! Stop at one of three tables featuring a different library resource and get your card stamped. Start at our antique iron printing press that uses the same basic mechanism as the Gutenberg printing press! With each new stamp, a new superhero of science is revealed. Collect them all!

Learn more about Stacked Stamps

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 a 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 1,500-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 of the planetarium. Our “virtual tour” takes you to many locations that would normally be inaccessible!

Learn more about A Virtual Tour of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams

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

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

Join us for a casual-paced bike tour of MSU's campus! Along the way you'll get a behind-the-scenes look at many of MSU's gardens, museums, and research facilities. This event is open to all skill levels. Bikes will be available to rent through MSU Bikes.

Can't make it on April 18th? Explore at your own pace with a self-guided interactive map, generously provided by MSU Bikes. Plan your route, track your distance, and enjoy the experience on your own schedule.

Prefer to ride from the comfort of home? Take part in a virtual bike tour, also courtesy of MSU Bikes, and experience the route from anywhere:

Learn more about Pedal Through Science!