Last Thursday, we decided to take our cousin and her son who were visiting us from out of town to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. We were excited to hear about their new self-guided tours on everything from LA History to Fears and Phobias. Since my 3-year-old has really been into dinosaurs lately, we decided to try the Eat/Drink/Breathe Dinosaurs tour. When we arrived at the museum, we were greeted by a giant skeleton of a real fin whale in the Otis Booth Pavilion! My 7-year-old daughter looked up and gasped in amazement. The best thing about coming to NHM with a reading age child is being able to see them read and learn about the animals on their own. Fascinated by the skeleton, we learned that this native Californian whale is the second largest species on Earth!
We proceeded through the front doors through the gift shop and it was my younger daughter’s turn to have her mind blown by the two fossilized skeletons of a T-Rex and Triceratops in battle at the center of the Grand Foyer. There is something breathless looking at these two amazing prehistoric creatures that makes you wonder how amazing it would have been to live among the dinosaurs.
We happened to visit on “Homeschool Day” at NHM which meant that there were plenty of activities going on around the museum. The first station in the Grand Foyer was a craft station where kids got to color and design their own giant dinosaur footprints. We also got a scavenger hunt to explore the Dinosaur Hall which the kids could not wait to get to, so off to the first part of our self-guided tour to learn all about the Tyrannosaurus Rex!
In the Dinosaur Hall, we were able to witness the Tyrannosaurus rex growth series which featured a baby, juvenile and sub-adult T-Rex! We always picture the T-Rex as a giant fierce dinosaur, so it was amazing to see how small a baby T-Rex actually was! As we made our way into the Dinosaur Hall, we found many more dinosaurs with names like Augustynolophus and Mamenchisaurus that are so hard but fun to try and pronounce! My older daughter said her favorite dinosaur is the Mamenchisaurus because of its remarkably long neck which makes up half of the total body length. The Augustynolophus, or endearingly called Auggie, is our California’s state dinosaur—did you know we had one? We didn’t, and learned that Auggie, a duck-billed dinosaur, lived right here in California during the Late Cretaceous period.
We headed to the second floor to take a peek at the Dino Lab where we found real scientists called paleontologists who work on studying fossils. It was fascinating to see them carefully and gently chipping and brushing away the rocks to reveal the bones of real dinosaurs and other prehistoric reptiles. The patience and concentration these scientists have is amazing as it can take days and days of work to clean a single bone!
After the Dinosaur Lab, we headed to the 3D Theater for a showing of Oceans 3D: Our Blue Planet where we learned so much about the deep blue ocean and some of its amazing creatures. We learned about one fish called the Tusk Fish which uses its teeth to hold onto a clam while hitting it against a rock to crack the clam so it can eat its meat inside! At the 3D Theater, you can also watch Titanosaur 3D which goes back in time to the end of the dinosaur age to learn more about all the giant dinosaurs that roamed our planet once upon a time.
We ended our tour where most families find themselves at the end of their visit to the Natural History Museum—the outdoor Nature Gardens filled with spots for the kids to run around and play. Everyone’s favorite spot was the Urban Waterfall where kids kick off their shoes and put their feet into the cold running water. Make sure to bring a change of clothes because the kids will definitely get wet exploring the outdoor urban wonderland! This trip to the museum turned out to be the perfect mid-week break we needed to recharge for the weekend. We got to learn, play, and create amazing memories with our family and it was so fun learning about dinos on the tour.
Interested in taking your family on a self-guided tour at the museum? Check out the NHM’s tours here. After your visit, make sure to post your photos on social media using #MindBlownLA to be entered to win prizes each month, like a museum membership!
