BRUNSWICK – Take Home a Polar Bear is the theme of the seventh annual Family Day at the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, March 26, on the Bowdoin College campus. Admission is free. The museum is on the first floor of Hubbard Hall.

Take Home a Polar Bear focuses on Bowdoin’s mascot, chosen in the 1920s in part due to the college’s long ties to Arctic exploration. Explorer and Bowdoin graduate Donald B. MacMillan, Class of 1898, gave the college a full-size polar bear from his 1914-17 expedition. That bear is still on display in the lobby of Morrell Gym.

Families can enjoy making and taking home a small polar bear hooked rug; creating a polar bear with cotton balls; making an origami polar bear; learning scrimshaw; and decorating snow goggles.

Pam Chase will be on hand to demonstrate the art of rug hooking as it was practiced in Labrador and promoted by the Grenfell Mission.

Children can also play an Inuit game and listen to stories about polar bears.

While at the museum families can also view current exhibits, including “Trinkets and Treasures: Collecting Culture in the North” and “Northern Mission: Sir Wilfred Grenfell in Labrador.” In conjunction with “Northern Missions” the museum is sponsoring a food drive for the Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program. Visitors are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item to the collection box in the foyer of Hubbard Hall.

Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday. The Museum is closed Mondays and national holidays. Admission is free.

For more information, call 725-3416.