Thanksgiving Point American Adventure Maze

(I received a membership to Thanksgiving Point in exchange for my HONEST review – all opinions will forever remain my own)

Thanksgiving Point American Adventure Maze

What if you could pretend you were an early Jamestown colonist for a day?

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What would you do? Where would you make camp? What would you do for food?

Have you ever wondered what it was like to be in America back before America was a civilized country?

We recently went through the American Adventure Maze at Thanksgiving Point’s Museum of Natural Curiosity. And we got to learn all about the early Jamestown colonists.

Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point

Have you ever been to Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah?

They have got a FANTASTIC venue for kids – the Museum of Natural Curiosity.

Inside the Museum of Natural Curiosity, there are several fun exhibits. This includes a traveling exhibit, which means they change out the exhibit every couple of months. I like that because it means even people who go to the Thanksgiving Point venues regularly can have something new to explore and discover!

We had not been to this venue since the most recent traveling exhibit swap-out. So it was a fun surprise to go and find something new to explore! (honestly, I didn’t even know this particular part of Thanksgiving Point WAS a traveling exhibit – so color me SUPER surprised!)

This time, the traveling exhibit location features an American Adventure Maze.

American Adventure Maze at Thanksgiving Point

The best way I can think to describe the American Adventure maze is kind of like a live-action video game. Or a choose-your-own-adventure game.

You walk into the room and there is a HUGE maze set up. (Seriously, it DOES NOT look as huge as it actually is.)

The Thanksgiving Point website says this maze is 2500 square feet. Wow.

You go to the starting point and you are greeted by a super friendly helper. She (ours was a she) gives you the instructions and sends you on your way!

You are each given a life counter thing. There are slots for health, wealth, food, and morale. You can gain and lose these ‘goods’ throughout your adventure. Lose too much and you’re dead and have to start the maze over.

Learning About The Jamestown Colonists

For this adventure, you pretend you are an early Jamestown Colonist.

Out of the 104 early colonists, did you know less than 40 survived? Apparently, it’s not easy to settle a new land.

Throughout the maze, you are presented with questions and choices. I was impressed at how detailed these were! There are background information and detailed facts given at either the question, the answer, or both! So those that take the time to actually read through everything presented to them will learn an awful lot. Very impressive.

Now unfortunately I didn’t get pictures of everything. But as you wander through the maze, you are presented with fun choices and problems.

Such as:

• The colonists came across lots of strange animals. Which ones were edible?
• The colonists had to choose the best place to make camp. Where was the best place based on healthy drinking water?
• Which strange animals were venomous?
• Which strange plants were edible vs poisonous? What about useful for building resources?
• Did the colonists eat turtles? What did they do with their shells?
• Identify the strange new plants by smell
• Identify the strange new animals by blind touch

It was really an in-depth activity that we highly recommend. And it’s something we plan on going back to very soon!

The Museum of Natural Curiosity is so big, we have yet to see everything there is to see. There is definitely no way to see absolutely everything in just one day.

But you’re welcome to try! Maybe you have more energy than we do! (wearing the 5-month-old all day definitely takes a lot out of this momma!)

We actually plan on going back to Thanksgiving Point next week (membership passes, remember?) and I’d like to go through this maze again, this time slower. Now that we know more what to expect, I am hoping we’ll get even more out of it the second time.

Field Trip Curriculum

Normally we do a big, in-depth field trip curriculum for you to purchase.

These field trip curriculums are built to be purchased to go along with specific field trip locations.

Now unfortunately (or fortunately?) the Field Trip Curriculum that goes along with the American Adventure maze is not yet completed. I know. Bummer, huh?

This field trip curriculum is turning into such a big project, it’s taking a lot longer than we thought it would. But I’ll be sure to let you know when it’s done.

But never fear! In the meantime, I’m offering one of our early American word searches as a freebie for you.

Feel free to download the free word search. This can help enhance your learning experience at Thanksgiving Point or at any other venue that teaches about early American settlers.

Or, if you are interested in teaching your kids about the USDA Wildlife Services or about endangered species and invasive species, feel free to check out our Wildlife Services Field Trip Curriculum. Now that is a quality curriculum.

Children’s Museums

Is there a children’s museum near your home? What is your favorite part about your local children’s museum?

I absolutely LOVE children’s museums. I love how they are built and designed just for kids. I feel great knowing my kids have this HUGE place that is safe for them to explore. I also love that these venues are designed to educate as well as entertain.

If you haven’t been to a children’s museum with your kids, I highly recommend you remedy that ASAP. The Thanksgiving Point Museum of Natural Curiosity is our favorite children’s museum just because of how HUGE it is, but there are plenty of other fantastic children’s museums out there just waiting to be explored. Go check one out!

And if you’re ever in the Lehi, UT area and want to explore the Museum of Natural Curiosity with our family, shoot me an email or leave a comment below and we’d LOVE to meet up with you! We love meeting new friends!