September Family Activities in Waltham and Cambridge

If you've got kids, why not bring them to Saturday's "Innovations of Yesteryear" festival in Waltham?

This hands-on event will feature an eclectic, interactive assortment of innovations prior to 1950. Ride on a miniature train, check out a gigantic camera, fire a Viking catapult, and type a letter to your Nana on a vintage 1920s typewriter. We’ve got noisy steam engines, putt-putt autos, high-wheel bikes, musical instruments (ever hear of a Sarrusaphone?), spinners and weavers, blacksmiths, antique sports & games, watches & clocks, and more.

More info is on this PDF flyer.

And later in September ( 9.26-9.28), the MIT Museum hosts Innovation Weekend.

Starting this Weekend: Cambridge Science Festival

We're really lucky to have something like the Cambridge Science Festival in our town, organized by the great MIT Museum. It starts tomorrow, and runs through May 4th. Great activities for kids, teens, and adults, on topics like biotech, brewing beer, alternative energy, solar flares, climate change, women in science, and sustainable chocolate. (Sustainable chocolate?)

New-and-Improved MIT Museum will Open in Late Sept.

I'm really excited about the MIT Museum's $3 million renovation project. This is a place that has too long been hidden away, when it deserves to be a big part of Boston's tech and cultural communities. From Felicia Mello's piece in the Globe today:

The new gallery will eschew historical exhibits to focus on cutting-edge projects including a stackable electric car, new-generation robots that explore the ocean floor, and tropical fish that are helping scientists in the search for a cancer cure. It is the brainchild of museum director John Durant, who arrived two years ago from a British science museum with frenetic energy and what he calls a bullish outlook about the ability to engage the average Joe or Jane in learning about science.

...Durant has pushed to raise the museum's public image, helping start a citywide science festival earlier this year. He is one of many science museum directors looking to dust off their collections and update them to reflect recent discoveries.