Bring your family, students, scouts or youth group on a unique overnight adventure. Enjoy a night of special programming and exploration tailored to a theme of your choice.
Designed expressly for groups of children ages 6-14, overnights at the EcoTarium are educational, interactive and FUN!
What's A Night Journey?
- A variety of engaging science, nature, and live animal exhibits
- Special hands-on programming that explores your theme of choice
- A private digital planetarium show
- Sleeping on the museum floor among the exhibits
- An early morning: Wake up at 6:00 am
- An evening snack and continental breakfast
Planning Your Overnight
- When: September through June on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.
- Required Group Size: 28 or more
- Cost:
- $50 per person Thursday and Friday
- $55 per person Saturday
- Prices apply to children and chaperones.
- Times:
- Thursday or Friday Overnight: 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m.
- Saturday Overnight: 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 a.m.
- Age Requirement: Children must be age 6 or older to attend.
- Chaperone requirement: 1per every 5 children.
Choose Your Program Theme:
Crimes, Codes, & Clues - Solve a mystery using logic, careful observation, fingerprint analysis, and encryption! Now with two mysteries to choose from:
- Mystery 1: A Mysterious Letter - Our original mystery appropriate for groups smaller than 50.
- Mystery 2: Feline Forensics (New Theme!) Our brand-new mystery for groups larger than 50, or groups who have already solved mystery 1.
Engineering Design Challenge
Solve problems like an engineer! Prevent "brain" injuries by testing helmet designs and see how far your KEVA bridge can span before it collapses... then build it again!
Ocean Life
Learn about life cycles, food chains, and adaptations under the sea as you dissect a squid, explore a whale, and meet some native tide pool creatures!
Science after Dark
Play games with your night vision and learn how to walk like a fox, listen like a deer, and find pictures in the stars! Practice overcoming our human fear of the dark by taking a night hike on our grounds (weather permitting).
Stars & Space
Zip around the solar system in our planetarium, explore Mars, and land your own probe on the red planet! Observe the constellations and, weather permitting, take a look through a telescope!
Science for Wizards
Explore the scientific method and use science to feel like a wizard as you attend 'classes' in some of your favorite magical subjects, such as potions and astronomy! Non-magic folk welcome. Wand and robes encouraged but not required.
A Night Journey is an exciting way to experience what the EcoTarium is all about; however, since most of our time together is spent engaging in special themed programming, there is always much more to explore. Therefore, every overnight guest will receive a free return admission pass so that they may come back another day and continue to enjoy our extensive exhibits, animals, and grounds at their leisure.
You are welcome to use your return admission passes for the following museum day, but please be aware that you must exit the museum grounds at the conclusion of your overnight programming and re-enter museum grounds upon the start of our standard visitor day.
How to Book Your Overnight Program
- Estimate your group size, consider some possible dates and explore our themes.
- Email us at reservations@ecotarium.org(link sends e-mail) or call 508.929.2703 to reserve your date at least one month in advance. A $150 non-refundable deposit is required at booking.
- Notify us of your chosen theme and the final number of people in your group no later than one month prior to your overnight. Be sure to share the overnight information sheet with all chaperones.
Please understand that we may not be able to accommodate your change if the maximum capacity for the night has been reached.
If your group has members with distinct learning styles or severe allergies, please let us know by contacting our overnight program coordinator at least two weeks in advance of your overnight.