Come see the world through the eyes of a scientist and explore what research reveals about life and our planet. Graduate students from the departments of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Human Evolutionary Biology, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University will share their research through hands-on activities in the museum galleries. This program is designed to actively engage families in learning more about science and exciting new discoveries in our natural world.

Regular museum admission rates apply.

Presented...

Four Saturdays: March 30, April 6, 13, and 27
9:30 -11:30 am

Explore the beauty and variety of plant forms using pencil, watercolor, and colored pencil. This four-week course will introduce botanical drawing techniques through close observation and practice with contour, gesture, foreshortening, shading, and color. All skill levels are welcome.

Instructor: Erica Beade

Fees: $110 members/$130 nonmembers

Advance Registration required....

The world of birds is full of diverse behaviors and appearances. Some birds blend in with their environment, while others do everything they can to stand out. How and why do birds achieve these visual feats, and what can it tell us about their natural history and evolution? Harvard University biologist Dakota McCoy will use feather and bird specimens from the University's collections to explore how and why this diversity of forms and behaviors arose. Artist Erica Beade will show participants techniques to capture the nuance of avian color and form in their drawings.

Fees: $45...

What makes a mineral a mineral? Find out in this hands-on and interactive program. Be a geologist for the day and learn how to identify minerals. Discover the secret properties that make some minerals truly unique. Participate in gallery explorations of our mesmerizing mineral collections. Investigate the different uses of minerals and even create your own mineral pigment artwork to take home! All activities are designed to be a fun and interactive experience for elementary age students and their families to participate in together.

Fees: $15 members/$25 nonmembers, per person...

Whether retirement seems far away or just around the corner, it’s important to maximize quality of life as we age. In order to do that, it’s helpful to consider how best to enhance wellbeing, independence and social connection. This seminar will cover topics such as livable communities, in-home supports, technology resources and the cost of long-term care.

Click here to register. 

There are more than 5 million Americans currently living with Alzheimer’s disease and more than 15 million family caregivers who help them in the U.S. Within the next 10 years, that number is projected to increase by 40 percent. This seminar will review the different forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s, and signs your loved one may have the disease. Despite the devastating nature of Alzheimer’s disease, there are supports out there that can make a difference and help you continue to connect with your Mom or Dad. Learn about caregiving strategies and types of care that can improve...

As family caregivers, we are often confronted with a confusing array of choices. How can you sort out the various senior living arrangements, in-home services and care options, so you can determine what’s best for your loved one? How do you find the right support for yourself so you can handle your caregiving responsibilities along with everything else? Learn about the long-term care landscape including resources and costs so that you can be an informed and proactive caregiver.

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While you hope to never receive the dreaded call that mom has fallen or dad had a stroke, many families are not prepared for what happens next. Knowing the right questions to ask, how to be an effective advocate, and what documents to have in place can make a difference. Planning ahead may help you navigate the complex and often fragmented healthcare system, which can lead to better outcomes. Learn how to communicate more effectively with healthcare providers, address grievances, and identify helpful resources.

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This is a unique training opportunity designed to teach techniques of mindfulness to managers (grade 56 and above) for use in their daily work. This free eight-week, classroom-based program provides mobile tools, guided meditations, small group support and weekly reminders to participants as they learn to practice meditation and other techniques to enhance focus, collaboration, and effectiveness. Pre- and post- self assessments, app-generated metrics and personalized reports will demonstrate participants’ progress and the impact of the program as a...

Individuals who have previously participated in the multi-week mindfulness course or many of the individual applied mindfulness course, and who are now looking to expand their understanding of the principles and practices of mindfulness even further, are a perfect fit for this free course, which emphasizes practice and delving into students’ questions.

In Mindfulness 2.0 a greater weight is placed on integrating a range of mindful practices into the fabric of daily life, and to examining...

Bringing mindful attention to our skills as parents increases our capacity to form strong bonds with all the members of our family. This is because the practice of mindfulness cultivates the conditions of openness and receptivity in which communication and emotional connection naturally flourish. In this free workshop, we will learn about becoming more mindful people as well as more mindful parents, able to navigate the inevitable waves of joy and frustration that accompany every parent’s experience with a greater sense of ease.

Session One will be held on March 28 from 12-3 p.m. Session Two will be held on April 24 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Individuals who have established a regular meditation practice recognize that having the opportunity to practice for a sustained period of time, in a location generally removed from distractions, and with other like-minded individuals, is essential to deepening one’s practice and understanding of mindfulness.

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Compassion is sometime described as the state of “suffering together”; but what does it mean to suffer productively, without becoming overwhelmed or burnt out in the face of the needs of others…and ourselves? Mindfulness practice is focused on observing internal and external experience with a heightened sense of clarity, and is an essential element in preparing the heart and intellect to navigate the demands of compassion in sincere and effective ways. In this free workshop we will explore compassion as it is regarded in the mindfulness tradition, as a “quivering of the heart in the face...