This Sunday, December 10th, Chewonki’s Traveling Natural History team will be visiting the American Museum of Natural History in New York City from 10am to 4pm, to present the “Cephalopod Challenge” an interactive obstacle course celebrating the remarkable abilities of our decapodiformian  friends.

Earlier this week, our staff and a few brave volunteers from the Elementary School at Chewonki set up a test-course in Chapin Hall to work out the details of the challenge. 

“It’s going to be awesome,” says Emma Balazs, Program Coordinator for the Traveling Natural History team. “We put a lot of work into it, and I think it’s going to be a really fun way for kids to lean about cephalopod locomotion, habitat and behavior.” 

The obstacle course, which will be located in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life (under a life-sized replica of a Blue Whale), will invite kids to experience a day in the life of a plucky young cephalopod: adapting to the background by changing color with clever disguises, hunting for food among rocks and corals using suction-cups, fleeing from predators (shark attack!) and returning home in disguise using found-objects, like a hollow shell or coconut husk.  

Chewonki staff are “ten-tickled” to be asked back again this year to present at the American Museum of Natural History. “We connected a few years ago when the AMNH was looking for organizations to bring presentations to the museum,” says Balazs. “They really liked the presentation ideas and the props that we brought and we’re back again.”

Curious about Camp Chewonki for Girls? 

Meet the Director this Sunday in NYC: 

Nancy Kennedy, Director of Girls Programs, will be joining the octopodial outreach at the American Museum of Natural History on Sunday, December 10th. If you would like the chance to learn more about Chewonki, our summer programs or Camp Chewonki for Girls, Nancy will be available! Want to connect with Nancy? nkennedy@chewonki.org 

Learn More: https://girls.chewonki.org

The Cephalopod Challenge: