Homeschool Fun at Denver Museum of Nature and Science

5/11/2016

by Lyn Lomasi & Richard Rowell, Write W.A.V.E. Media

It happened to be a free day at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, so we decided to take Aja and Amber there since we had the time. Amber hadn't been there in something like ten years, and it was the first field trip we have been able to take Aja to in awhile. While most of the special exhibits happened to be paid ones on this particular day, we were still able to see all of the free stuff.

To chronicle our time there, Lyn and Richard took many photos that document most of the major sections that we were able to visit.

At the beginning, there was a guy in a walking dinosaur that was out greeting people. It actually freaked out a few little kids, of which there were many on this day. Next, we visited one of the smaller first-floor exhibits which featured the life cycle of butterflies.

Then, we visited Space Odyssey at the Coors Visitor Center to the Universe. There were many interactive displays here, and we would have liked to spend more time here. However, we were trying to see everything in a limited span of time, so we only spent a few minutes here.

Outside of the Coors Hall of Gems and Minerals, there were a few service puppies on display! One of them looked a lot like our Shih-Tzu Bo-Bo! He/she did have a white patch on his head and is smaller than Bo-Bo, but the coloring was almost the same!

We decided to take the elevator to the third floor and work our way back down to the Gems and Minerals exhibit later. On the third floor, we first visited the Egyptian Mummies exhibit on the third floor, one of the older ones at the museum. Rich got a little carried away with the mummy silliness, but it’s a fun little experience.

Next, were the Wildlife Halls exhibits on both the second and the third floor. After that was the Prehistoric Journey exhibit.The large dinosaur models built to scale, which are pretty awesome to see.

The North American Indian Cultures exhibit (should be Native American Cultures, honestly) is one that we had missed on a previous trip since it’s located behind the Wildlife Halls on the second floor. It’s pretty cool. Rich learned about the Utes, and he thinks he knows how to say it properly now. Since Lyn and the kids have Native American ancestry (Rich does have a tiny bit, as well), this was a particularly interesting exhibit. We also were quite intrigued by the Navajo Hogan dwelling.

Our final stop on our tour around the museum was the Coors Hall of Gems and Minerals. It’s both dark and a bit awkward to take pictures in close quarters. So, we don't have many photos of that.

We were able to see pretty much everything in the course of about an hour and a half or so. There were a couple of exhibits that we missed, including Expedition Health which actually did not require a ticket although we thought it did. They had people waiting outside because there are certain items that they don’t want brought in there. We’ll have to check this out on a future visit.

We could have spent more time in individual exhibits, but we only had a limited amount of time to see everything, as was mentioned earlier. The other exhibits all required tickets, which would have added up quickly.

Here are some of the photos we took as well. Click the photos to see the full view, as well as to enlarge them.
(There's more to the story after the gallery)

All in all, this is one of the best museums to visit on a free day. So if you happen to be in the Denver area for whatever reason, see if they are having an SCFD free day. It’s quite conveniently located and while parking is often full, you can always park nearby at the zoo, which is right next door.