Children of all ages and their families are invited to explore science at the ninth annual Family Science Expo, 4-6 p.m. March 19 at the Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences in Incline Village.

The free expo features dozens of hands-on, interactive science experiments, activities and demonstrations emphasizing concepts in geology, climate and weather, and astronomy through the Fossil Dig, Rock Detective, 3D Earthquake Viewer, Cloud in a Bottle, Make Your Own Thermometer, Pocket Solar System, Meteor Impact and more.

Susie Scoops of Incline Village will provide ice cream.

In addition, this year’s Science Expo will host planetarium shows with the Challenger Learning Center of Northern Nevada. Visitors have the option of viewing a short film at 3, 4, 5 and 6 p.m. In “Earth’s Wild Ride,” viewers explore earth and space science by taking a journey to a lunar colony, riding a river, encountering dinosaurs, and experiencing a volcano and asteroid impact up close. “It’s About Time” is a journey to an orbiting space station to study day and night, rotation, revolution, and orbits as well as the life cycles of stars. Following each movie, Director Paul McFarlane provides a guided tour of iPad apps for discovering the planets, stars and NASA spacecraft.

Seating for the planetarium is limited to approximately 10 adults and 10 children per showing. Reserve tickets with Kelsey Poole at klpoole@ucdavis.edu or 775-881-7402.

Those interested in volunteering, can contact Kristen Reichardt at 775-881-7474 or kereichardt@ucdavis.edu. No science background needed.

The Tahoe Center for Environmental Sciences is located at 291 Country Club Drive in Incline Village on the campus of Sierra Nevada College. For more information or directions call 775-881-7560, or visit http://tahoe.ucdavis.edu/calendar/.

The expo is presented by the University of California Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center and the Tahoe Expedition Academy, other community partners, and with sponsorship from the Rotary Club of Tahoe-Incline.