Family-Friendly Attractions & Events: Florida Conchology Museum

Did you know that Sanibel (Captiva),Florida Island is considered the shelling capital of North America? If you have the opportunity to wade in the shallow waters of the islands' beach shores, this becomes evident as you notice the plentiful variety of colorful live shells at your feet.

Shells can be beautiful to admire, fun to collect and they also carry with them worlds of history; only three of the many aspects of the shell collecting hobby that are celebrated at the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum in Sanibel Island, Florida.

The famous Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum reigns as the only museum in the country whose focus of interest rests entirely on the art and history of shells and the shell collecting hobby. Anything and everything you ever wanted or never knew you wanted to know about shells most likely lies within one of the thirty exhibits available to navigate among in the museum.

Visitors have the opportunity to explore shells from numerous interest points, or rather, from hundreds of topic categories within topic categories. Some of the more popular niche interest areas covered include: Fossil Shells, Mollusks from a worldwide perspective, and an introduction to the types of shell species that are most commonly native to Southwest Florida.

The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum maintains a firm mission to exist not only as a place where one can simply stop by and look at beautiful shells and their descriptions, but instead as a comprehensive center of education and culture. To provide a fun and educational learning space, and more specifically, one that is family friendly, is one of the major missions that drives the passionate people behind the unique Florida museum.

The shell museum demonstrates a continual effort to fulfill that mission and seems to be accomplishing the goal quite successfully. The historic and cultural educational shell Mecca caters to all types of learning styles, to males, females, girls and boys of all ages, and to individuals speaking multiple languages and the material is presented in an interactive format.

Grown ups and children alike can appreciate the hands-on, learning experience presented by the Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum. The museum, constantly growing and improving upon itself, takes pride in the ability to entertain and educate the whole family with not just visual exhibits but hands on "learning lab" areas, puppet show demonstrations and in depth free workshops devoted to the art of shelling.

The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum is open daily from 10AM to 5PM. If you have the capability to be flexible with your museum visit timing, however, you can really indulge in the shell collecting educational extravaganza by attending some of the ongoing special events and shelling workshops which are offered free with your paid museum admission ticket.

Following are some upcoming interesting free museum event opportunities:

How, When and Where to Find Shells Workshop
Now- 6/29/10
Every Tuesday @ 11:30AM
This workshop will fully equip you with the necessary information to maximize your shell collecting experience. The session will cover where, when, how and what to bring along with you to hunt for shells.

How to Clean Your Shells Workshop
Now-9/30/09
Every Wednesday @ 11:30AM
This shelling workshop goes more into depth about how to prepare and care for the shells once they are in your possession. It covers such details as how to clean your shells, how to bring out the colors in your shells, how to travel with them and extensive information on how to handle the Mollusk creature both when it is dead and alive.

Live Tank Demonstration
Now- 11/02/09
Every Monday @ 2:00PM
This is an opportunity to watch the animals that make shells in live action, also free with a paid museum admission ticket.

Story Time at the Museum
Now-12/04/09
Every Friday @ 10:00AM
This activity is designated for children ages 3 and up. Friday mornings, kids and their parents (required) are invited to gather around for an hour of story time in which tales will be told about the mysterious world under the sea and the animals that live there. Following the reading the group will visit the Museums live tank for a demonstration featuring the animals that make shells.

The Bailey Matthews Shell Museum is located at:
3075 Sanibel-Captiva Road
Sanibel, FL 33957

For more information contact:
888-679-6450
OR Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum