Museum series to focus on water resource activities

Beginning Saturday, May 14, the L. Alan Cruikshank River of Time Museum and Exploration Center will celebrate water resources with a series of Family Fun Saturdays once per month from May through September.

This Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., families can drop by the Center and participate in a range of activities and crafts to discover the role Arizona Rivers have played in helping to settle populations in the Valley of the Sun. Participation is drop in. Admission is discounted to $7 per adult with accompanying children under 16 years free.

Activities at the River of Time will highlight the waters of the Lower Verde River. In addition to a take-home craft or two, families will explore how ancient populations relied on petroglyphs to tell their stories. Children will use this ancient communication form to create their own story about water.

The augmented reality sandbox will be the focus of discovering the flow of the river and participants will manipulate the landscape to discover how varying topography impacts that flow. River of Time Exploration Guides will be on hand to share fascinating stories about how human populations settled in the Lower Verde River Valley region.

Starting at 2 p.m. the Maricopa County Library Fountain Hills Branch, right next door to the River of Time, will host Rachel Shaugers from the Maricopa County Environmental Services, who will help children discover just how much of the earth is covered by water. Participants will create their own watershed, learn about different pollutants, see how pollution accumulates in water sources and find out how to prevent it. The program is free, but registration is required online on the Library’s website, mcldaz.org/en-US/locations/fountainhills.

Unique to Fountain Hills, The River of Time Museum and Exploration Center has been exhibiting the culture and heritage of Fountain Hills, the Verdes and the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation since 2003. The Center is located at 12901 N. La Montana. Operating hours are Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.