Houston Museum of Natural Science

Peyton and I visited the Houston Museum of Natural Science yesterday.  Our visit lasted about 3.5 hours.  We started out by visiting the permanent exhibits.  Peyton was awed by the dinosaur scuptures in the main hallway and also enjoyed looking at all the other fossils on display.  We then visited the Energy Hall, Chemistry, African Wildlife, Gems and Minerals, and Malacology exhibits.  The exhibits were interesting, and Peyton seemed to be having a pretty good time.  Many of the displays were the same as I remembered them being, but the technology used to share some information seemed to have been updated.  There were several touch-screen, interactive displays that were used to deliver information.  Of course, most of the information was over Peyton's head, but she still enjoyed "playing" with it. 

 

  

 

 

After a quick lunch break, we decided to go to the Butterfly Center.  We both LOVED our visit to the pyramid, despite the heat and humidity of the rainforest setting.  There seemed to be so many more butterflies than I remember seeing on previous visits.  They were absolutely beautiful.  Peyton carried around a butterfly chart, and we tried to determine what kind of butterflies we encountered. 

 

 

Before going into the pyramid, the museum has an excellent Hall of Entomology, featuring cool facts about all kids of insects.  The technology used in the exhibit was new and fun, using interactive games to teach kids about insects.  There was a game-show type setup where I watched a group of young men compete against each other about their bug knowledge.  Peyton enjoyed the display that showed the different ways that bugs see the world and the display where we had to locate insects that were hidden among their surrounds.  I would have to say the the entomology exhibit and the butterfly pyramid were our favorite stops of the day.

 

 

The Houston Museum of Natural Science is a great place to visit for an educational excursion.  It is a popular place for school field trips and I noticed many summer camps taking place at the museum.  A visit to the museum can easily take several hours, depending on how much time you want to spend exploring each exhibit.  I think kids of all ages can find something of interest at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.