This week we journeyed to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. This is a fabulous place for kids to learn while playing! From animal exhibits to science, nature, machines, safety, sounds, and more, this place just rocks. (Even adults get caught up playing here. You can’t help it – it’s just too fun.)
With 25 in our group this week, it was too difficult to stay together, so we splintered off into little groups and began to explore.
The dinosaur trail is our favorite part of the museum. My Little Man headed out in search of Troodons (we read a book about them the day before) and he found this guy hiding in the grass.
We had a whole discussion here about whether these eggs would really hatch – at which point we reviewed what extinct means. 🙂
I can’t remember this dino’s name, but just look how big he is compared to MY little guy!
Of course, we had to dig for fossils. I’m not sure how much My Little Man cares to actually find anything – I think he just likes the digging.
Later we headed to the butterfly house.
Aren’t they beautiful? Look at the speed of those wings!
Our final exhibit before leaving was a mathematical volume exhibit inside. My Little Man began pouring beads into one container and then into others to see which was bigger.
The tiny beads are fun to dig into and pour, and this exhibit is always surrounded by kids.
There are many fabulous exhibits here, and with all you could prepare your kids in advance, teach them directly with the exhibit in front of them, or remind them of what they’ve seen at home to study. My children are so excited when they’re there that we usually discuss what we’ve seen after the fact.
What’s really great about these types of museums is that you see something new each time. The animals always do a new thing … you notice a facet of something under the microscope that you’ve missed before … or you understand something in a deeper way. In fact, our children seem to learn there best by building on their experiences a bit more each trip.
An annual membership fee for this museum can be recouped in only three visits. With reciprocal privileges at hundreds of other children’s museums around the country, joining this type of museum is well worth it.
Do you have a great museum near you? Can you recommend one?
