Philbrook’s Second Saturday

It occurred to me over the weekend that I am failing to make the most of our Philbrook membership: Before getting the membership, Joss and I basically only went to Philbrook on 2nd Saturdays, a day of free admission and fun activities for the whole family (kids 17 and under get in free daily). Now that we’re members, that’s still the day we are most likely to visit the museum!

Each 2nd Saturday event has a different theme. May 11’s theme was “Summer Camp,” and included friendship bracelet-making around a luxury tent, nature walks, games in a room boasting a large-screen digital campfire, creating Mother’s Day Cards (or “letters home”), etc.

Pro tip: When you walk into Philbrook on 2nd Saturday, snap a picture of their activities board so you can refer to it throughout the day, since some of the activities, such as story time, happen on a specific schedule.

Although the theme and specific activities change each month, in general, here are some activities you can probably expect at any Philbrook 2nd Saturday: storytimes, tours, a space to sit on comfy cushions and read, an art activity that involves plenty of stickers, markers, etc., a Member Lounge (they were serving up some mimosas this past weekend for Mother’s Day, woot!), and chess! Philbrook’s Chess Club meets Friday evenings from 6-9 p.m., but they also set up chess boards on Second Saturday on the main level by the exit overlooking the gardens; I can’t imagine a more lovely place to play chess! Joss really wanted to play, but he’s still figuring out the “hide” part of “hide ‘n’ seek,” so we’ll probably wait on chess for a few years. 🙂

This lounge tent provided by Homma Camp Co. was a huge hit at this past 2nd Saturday! And I love that they had fake grass, lanterns and blankets so you could set up your own “campsite” outside the tent as well!

We didn’t tackle the traditional knotted friendship bracelet, but Joss made himself a very unique bracelet out of beads!

Mother’s Day card examples. So nice to have a space in which to do arts and crafts that doesn’t involve finding sticker backings all over your living room for the next month!

I didn’t get a photo of the room across from Philbrook’s restaurant, Kitchen 27, which often has a table full of books and large floor cushions. At this past event, they also had several bins of legos(!) as well as board games. It was just a good space in which to do your own creative exploration and relax for a bit.

Of course, one of our favorite parts of any visit to Philbrook is strolling through the gardens! Joss even has a favorite statue now, the wolf! As soon as we got to Philbrook, he started asking if we could go visit the wolf. (We also look for the garden cats, but it’s definitely easier to find a statue than a shy kitty!) Our other favorite garden spots are the Tempietto and the garden dome behind the log cabin! We played “duck duck goose” in the dome this past Saturday, which isn’t really a two-person game, but Joss was smiling, so it was all good.

View of the Tempietto, and Joss playing duck-duck goose

While we missed the guided nature walk (and the elusive cats), we still saw plenty of wildlife around the gardens–birds of all kinds, including a kingfisher (I think? Something big, blue and beautiful hunting in the water), koi in the fish pond, and apparently there was even a giant turtle in the creek, which someone from the nature walk told us about but we failed to spot. And in addition to the veggie garden by the cabin, there are a variety of flowering and other plants all over the gardens (obviously–they are gardens, after all, but still, it’s always a treat to see what’s new throughout the seasons, like the baby succulents in the rock grotto at the west end of the pool)!

Spring is a lovely time to visit Philbrook–we enjoy it at all seasons, but of course it’s nice when you can enjoy the outdoors without sweating or shivering. Plus, now that the weather is warmer, their Friday night burger nights are back, and the Philbrook Film on the Lawn series is about to start back up, starting with “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” on May 24! I’m very tempted to go to this, even though the movie doesn’t start till 8:45 p.m.–15 minutes past Joss’s official bedtime. But that’s what Friday nights are for, right?!

If you do go to Philbrook’s Second Saturday and lament the fact that it only happens once a month, don’t forget that Gilcrease has a similar event, Funday Sunday, on the 3rd Sunday of each month, also featuring free admission and art activities. Plus, Philbrook offers Studio Saturdays on each Saturday of the month (excluding 2nd Saturday), an event that features drop-in art activities, included with cost of admission, from 12:30-3:30 p.m.

Have you been to 2nd Saturday at Philbrook? What is your favorite statue/feature in the Philbrook gardens?