Open Audio Article Player The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium hosts Shells, Science and Community Day Nov. 15
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Shells, Science and Community Day at the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium. -COURTESY PHOTO

The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium presents Shells, Science and Community Day – a full day of fun, new exhibits and activities for all ages on Saturday, Nov. 15 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free for all throughout the day.

Shells, Science and Community Day activities and features include:

Brand-new exhibits of thousands of shells in the reopened Great Hall of Shells, with gallery talks by Science Director and Curator Dr. José H. Leal.
Guided tours of the museum’s vast research collection of shells rarely seen by the public (registration on site at the event required.)
Craft activities include slime-making, shell magnet coloring, and wooden snail painting.
Food trucks.
Snail search and biodiversity walks around the museum grounds (registration on site required.)
Story-time readings for children.
Information tables by community partners, including Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, Naples Zoo, J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife, Sanibel Historical Museum and Village and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Scavenger hunt with prizes.
Interactive touch pools and displays of hundreds of marine animals in the Living Gallery of Aquariums, including keeper chats by museum aquarists.
Birthday cake to celebrate the museum’s 30th anniversary.

“We invite the whole community to come out and enjoy great activities, beautiful new exhibits, good food, and a renewed museum and aquarium as we approach a new season,” said Executive Director Sam Ankerson.

Shells, Science, and Community Day is made possible by a gift from Joan and Don Sherman.

For a complete schedule of activities, please visit ShellMuseum.org/community-day.

About the museum: The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium is a natural history museum and aquarium, and the only museum in the United States devoted primarily to shells and mollusks. Its mission is to use exceptional collections, aquariums, programs, experiences, and science to be the nation’s leading museum in the conservation, preservation, interpretation and celebration of shells, the mollusks that create them and their ecosystems. For more information, please visit ShellMuseum.org or call 239 395-2233.