Take the Kids: Dig into the Museum of Life and Science's new animated sandbox

In recent weeks inside the Durham museum's butterfly house, staff have cleared out a space, which was formerly used as a seating area for weary parents, and added a new hands-on exhibit that's proving to be pretty popular: an animated sandbox that lets you explore the various layers of the ground as you dig.

The sandbox uses special software to project the various layers of the soil as museum visitors dig deeper. So, the top layer features flowers, grass and leaf cover. A you dig deeper, you'll see dirt and ants crawling through.

Check out the video for a closer look ...

You may have seen similar sandboxes at Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, Kidzu Children's Museum and the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences. Life and Science's table is much bigger, giving lots of kids the opportunity to play at the same time. (Just remember, this isn't a sandbox you can sit in. It's designed for visitors to stand up around the edge and play.)

The space, which is straight ahead of you as you walk into the butterfly house, also features an easy-to-use microscope where kids can get a closer look at various specimen and bugs. On the other side of the room, there are also a couple of live creatures on display—a dragon headed katydid and a large stick insect.

Matt Pusateri, the museum's marketing director, tells me that visitors likely will see more changes in the space over the coming weeks and months. The projection software over the sandbox also can be updated to offer new displays for digging adventures.

But, he said, so far, "it seems to really draw this excitement."

The sandbox is just the latest change at the museum. It also recently unveiled Science on a Sphere, a exhibit where museum visitors use a touchscreen to select the information they want to appear on a giant globe—from turtle migration to real-time flight data and more.

Museum of Life and Science opens new exhibit that features real-time data from around the world and beyond

It's all free with admission, which is $20 for adults and $15 for kids ages 3 to 12.