Durham museum makes way for new exhibit, adds owls, offers cardboard construction

Plans call for a two-acre nature-based playscape, called Hideaway Woods, to open in summer 2015. Earth Moves, an interactive approach to Earth sciences, is scheduled to open in 2016.

Already, work is being done to install Hideaway Woods. The museum added a new pedestrian walkway this summer, which passes beneath the train tracks and offers a great view of the train overhead, the museum's Leslie Pepple tells me.

The walkway will connect Hideaway Woods with the new Gateway Park and Woodland Waters. This accessible, re-circulating fresh water stream is designed for wading and learning how water interacts with other natural elements, Pepple tells me.

Construction on Hideaway Woods' Treehouse Villages will begin this winter. 

Some other changes that you might notice if you head over there: The farmyard got a facelift this summer and now features a new, expanded pig exhibit, animal scale and new animal care education barn with videos, tools and shaded seating. The farm also welcomed two new additions - Brooklyn and Bronx, great horned owls.

This week, the museum is bustling during its Global Cardboard Challenge. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., daily, through Saturday, visitors can create whatever they want with cardboard in a room filled with the stuff, along with connectors and other building supplies. It's free with paid admission. No pre-registration is required.