Antler antics
Anchorage Museum
Skills Advanced: Informal Education, Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), PVC fabrication & assembly
Objective: Teach museum visitors about the antler velvet shedding process through informal education and an interactive activity.
While working at my local museum, I designed and built an interactive learning station that taught visitors about moose antler velvet shedding through physical play and observation, grounded in principles from Visual Thinking Strategies and informal education.
After putting on the helmet, participants rubbed against fabricated “trees” to remove the velvet, mirroring how moose shed antlers in the wild. The activity encouraged movement, experimentation, and conversation among visitors, families, and facilitators.
The goal was to move beyond passive signage and allow visitors to experience the behavior directly. I designed and fabricated wearable “moose antlers” using bike helmets with custom PVC antler attachments. Visitors could add modular antler segments and then cover them with oversized brown pipe cleaners representing antler velvet.
The station was intentionally low-barrier, humorous, and highly photogenic, which increased engagement while still communicating real concepts in arctic biology, animal behavior, and seasonal adaptation. By combining fabrication with open-ended interaction, the installation supported learning without requiring formal instruction.
