We were visited by Chalking Up Kenosha this morning 💕

A-Z Kenosha Museums: W-Wheelchair Becoming more widely available in the 19th c, they provided mobility for Civil War soldiers injured during the war & veterans living with old wounds & ailments. After the war, designs became more comfortable & portable, paving the way for modern wheelchairs.

💭 Museum Shower Thoughts: Every gift shop purchase can be justified as educational.

🦖 Fun Fossil Fact Friday! Some fossils can literally explode! When pyrite - better known as "fool's gold" - forms inside or around a fossil, it can break down over time and produce sulfuric acid. The resulting chemical reaction can cause fossils to crack, crumble, or even break apart 💥

Around the World in 90 Years is a new exhibit that takes visitors on a journey through 9 decades of museum history, through photos, drawings, artifacts, memorabilia and more. Now open at the Kenosha Public Museum!

💭 Museum Shower Thought: Every museum has an object that's way cooler once you read the label.

This month's #HiddenTreasure is Tools of the Trade. This Korean War-era medical field kit may look like an ordinary bag but it’s packed with history. Inside are bandages, needles, safety pins, surgical tools, aspirin, & a thermometer, tucked into its many pouches. A small kit with a big story.

💭 Museum Shower Thoughts: Rainy days are just nature’s way of telling you it’s a good day to go somewhere with a roof and 80,000 things to look at.

#MineralMonday Fluorite is showing off its geometry! These crystals naturally form in a variety of shapes, but the octahedron - an eight-faced crystal - is one of its most recognizable forms. 🔮✨ We rolled the dice on this one. 🎲

🦜 Fun Fossil Fact Friday! Meet "Squawkzilla!" Heracles inexpectatus was a giant, flightless parrot that lived in New Zealand around 19 million years ago. At about 3 feet tall, it's the largest parrot known to science!

A-Z of the Kenosha Museum Collections: V-Violin Made in 1864 from scrap wood and basic tools by Captain William C. Stephens of Company F, 16th Arkansas Infantry while he was a POW at the Union Army's Johnson's Island Military Prison in Ohio.

💭 Museum Shower Thoughts The first bird had no idea it was ending the age of dinosaurs.

Fun Fossil Fact Friday! (Kind of) In the 1993 film Jurassic Park, there is only 15 minutes of dinosaur footage.

This weekend is your last opportunity to experience the 50th Annual Transparent Watercolor Society of America National Juried Exhibition at the Kenosha Public Museum. These extraordinary paintings have inspired visitors with their color, detail, & creativity. Make plans to see them one last time!

💭 Museum Shower Thoughts The difference between "junk" and "artifact" is usually about 100 years.

🦖 Fun Fossil Fact Friday! Yi qi gets its name from the Mandarin Chinese words for "strange wing." The name reflects its membranous, bat-like wings, which were supported by an extra wrist bone and may have helped it glide through the trees.

New art at the Dinosaur Discovery Museum by Johnathan Metzger

💭 Museum Shower Thoughts: Museums are the only places where staring is encouraged.

Today’s Museum Mood = ✨😌✨

💭 Museum Shower Thoughts: Would a T. rex taste like chicken? T. rex tendies > dino nuggies

A-Z of the Kenosha Museums Collection: U is for Upland Sandpiper 🐦 Unlike most sandpipers, this bird prefers prairies and grasslands over shorelines. Wisconsin lists it as a Threatened species, making healthy grasslands more important than ever.

🦖 Fun Fossil Fact Friday! The Carnotaurus had some of the tiniest arms of any large theropod - smaller even than those of a T. rex! Visit the Dinosaur Discovery Museum and come face-to-face with our own Carnotaurus!

💭 Museum Shower Thoughts: Every museum worker has been scared by a mannequin at some point.

💎 #MineralMonday Vanadinite from the Apache Mine in Gila County, AZ Vanadinite is prized for its brilliant red to orange hexagonal crystals, making it a favorite among collectors. Beyond its beauty, it's also an important source of vanadium, a metal used to strengthen steel & in some batteries.

🪲 This month's #HiddenTreasure is a Creature Feature! Take a closer look at this fascinating insect collection from Lee County, Texas. Two of these specimens have been preserved since 1911, making them more than a century old!

Do you know where it's not 90 degrees right now? Inside the Museum 😎

💭 Museum Shower Thoughts Future Archaeologists are going to have a lot of questions about rubber ducks.

A–Z of the Kenosha Museum Collections: T - Totem Pole Carved around 1920 by Ditidaht artist Sam Williams, it's a striking work and an important piece of cultural history, reflecting the resilience of Indigenous traditions and the legacy of a family of master carvers whose influence continues today.

💭 Museum Shower Thoughts A mammoth was alive more recently than the Great Pyramid was built.

Three reasons museums are the perfect summer destination: ☀️ Air conditioning 🙅‍♂️ No lines 🎨 You always leave knowing something you didn't when you walked in