Visiting the Calvert Marine Museum, Solomons, MD
Activities for Children in Southern Maryland
Jun 1, 2009
Specifically for kids, the museum boasts a Discovery Room, where children can participate in numerous activities. A mini-replica of the Cove Point Lighthouse is open for kids to climb up and explore or they can dig into the sand pit to find shells and fossils from the region.
The Discovery Room also holds the Calvert Marine Museum’s touch-tank displaying a variety of life from the Chesapeake Bay region. Children can touch a turtle and see horseshoe crabs, sea stars and skates close-up.
Through Geologic Time - The main exhibit halls offer some exciting hands-on learning for younger visitors. Along with a movie presentation, touch-screen computers are provided to compliment the map of geologic history, teaching about geologic time and fossil life. Children can also get a look into the workings of a fossil preparation lab.
With some moderate interpretation from parents and museum guides, kids can experience Maryland as it was 10 to 20 million years ago during the Miocene. The Calvert Marine Museum offers a collection of the area’s distinctive fossils and Miocene-age shark teeth, and includes the enormous Carcharodon megalodonfossil, a 37.5-foot monster shark that once preyed upon the shores of the Chesapeake.
Today's Chesapeake Bay - Kids discover the modern-day Bay in a series of aquariums displaying the local marine life. Atlantic spadefish, rockfish, white perch and others can be viewed in the large open water tank. Blue crab from Broome’s Island, striped blennies and sea squirts from the oyster reef environment, a salt marsh characterized by periwinkle snails, mussels and silversides; every habitat within the Chesapeake region is exhibited in miniature form. There is also a very interesting tank of colorful comb jellies.
In a special exhibit, “Secrets of the Mermaid’s Purse,” several cow-nosed stingrays swim around a large pool for visitors to view closely. Nearby, incubation chambers for the rays show eggs in various stages of development. Interpreters are available in these areas to answer any questions.
Older kids will appreciate the Eco-Invader room, which houses non-native species that have been introduced to the Chesapeake Bay region. These include critters with some gruesome sounding names like the snakehead and the green crab.
Ecology and History of the Patuxent - Following the course of the museum, visitors exit from the back door where benches are provided to sit and watch the two agile and playful otters. The enormous tank makes it possible for children to watch the shy animals at play above and below the water. Because the otters’ tank is outside, it is necessary that they be taken in periodically for feeding and napping, but the staff is always willing to let you know at what times the otters will be out to play.
If you’re able to drag your kids away from the otter tank, the marsh walk is a small trail that runs over the water and through the marsh where crabs and small fish can be spotted in their natural habitat. This short boardwalk is marked with educational signs providing information on the local flora and fauna.
The museum displays other memorabilia of maritime life including a full-size sailboat, an impressive collection of boating equipment and paraphernalia, and a photo essay depicting life along the Patuxent River as it was over a hundred years ago. Families can also tour the historic Drum Point Lighthouse or take a chartered boat ride for a modest price on the Wm. B. Tennison, a ship that has been sailing since 1899.
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