bevzuc32

Review of Academy of Natural Sciences

A great museum geared towards young learners. The...

A great museum geared towards young learners. There is a display of dinosaur bones though not vast can be quite impressive to a young child. There's also an area for little ones to pretend to be paleontologists and dig for bones. Other sections of the museum are very educational. There's an auditorium that sometimes has live animal shows which are educational. The displays are very dimly lit on the 1st level and 2nd floor I'm guessing for preservation purposes. My 2 1/2 yo son seemed somewhat disinterested by it and/or scared. The 3rd floor is a fun place for little ones with lots of live insects and bunny rabbits were there when I went, a sandbox with buckets and shovels/other digging materials were there which my son loved at his age. Staff would bring some insects out on occasion and talk about them with older kids. There is also an area with butterflies which is very hot. You definitely want to 'check your coat in' during winter months as the museum is fairly warm with winter clothing on. There's no actual check in though with someone supervising your jackets so your discretion is warranted though I can't say I've ever had a problem there. I would go with a full stomach as I did not see an area for eating or walk with snacks for younger ones. Lastly, there's a gift shop to find cute little gifts/ items. A fun and inexpensive activity/gift right outside of the gift shop near the staircase is a penny grinder that costs 51 cents and is fun for little kids.