A Friday Field Trip: Dallas Museum of Nature and Science

 

So, now that school has started, we had to dedicate one day to doing fun stuff! That day is THURSDAY! William has school Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and Dance and Speech Therapy on Tuesdays. I get all my errands done during and between William's activities on Tuesdays, so that leaves Thursday totally open. Yay!

For our first-of-the-school year Field Trip Day, we chose the Museum of Nature and Science. I have a membership here, and I usually pack a lunch, so it's pretty much a freebie. We got the got membership half-price on some Mom Bargains web site (I forget which one, chime in in the comments section if you know!), so we're happy with the price!

The place is in Fair Park, which is accessible to us by the DART light rail on the Green Line. If you come into town on the Blue Line or Red Line, get off at Pearl Station and take the Green Line train that says MLK on it. For the State Fair you can get off at the Fair Park station, or stay on just a bit and get off at MLK station, which is the intersection closest to the Museum of Nature and Science and the last stop; it turns around here

The boys really prefer the Natural History building, so we always go there first. It's the building with the giant woollie mammoth in front (front being the part of the building facing the pond. The back faces the parking lot) Every time William sees a puddle under it now, he says it's pee. *sigh*

There was a flurry of activity all over Fair Park in preparation for the State Fair which opens this month. (guess where our Thursday field trips will be!)

Their favorite exhibit is the light exhibit, which has this hologram as you go in.

There are a bunch of different exhibits with kinds of rotating lights on which you can make a myriad of adjustments.

This one is a laser on the regular wall.

This is a "see into infinity" exhibit

Neither William nor Aldous like this...they don't like the slight popping sound it makes when they touch it.

Some of the other rooms in the Natural History Museum have preserved animals in different dioramas. This is in the Texas room.

There is a Riparian Woodlands exhibit. Riparian is my latest favorite word, and I tried to have fun with it on Facebook, but Doug Baum put a stop to that.

There was a whole herd of bison in the Texas exhibit, too. Kinda weird, but the boys liked it.

And, a wall of butterflies. My favorite (not! I really think butterflies are gross)

There is a rock and gem room, and it had these cool rocks which look ordinary under regular light, but glowed like this under a black light!! SO COOL!!

This display was all amethyst. It was much more deeply purple than this, but I wasn't able to correct the pic enough.

After the Natural History building, we headed to the children's museum. The boys only like a few things here. It's also usually a bit busy, but not this day. Here they're excavating a paleontological site.

Another thing they like is the "farm". Aldous tries out a "tractor" but his legs aren't quite long enough.

Checking out the chickens.

After our fun at the farm, we headed outside to eat lunch. Yum! It was so nice to be able to be outside and not melt in the heat.

Our final stop was the Leonhardt Lagoon Nature Walk. It's concrete walkway which winds around an area of the pond.

Turtles!!

Workers getting it all gussied up for the State Fair.

Fair park is a fun place to visit even without going to the museums. And pretty soon there will be a Children's Aquarium, too! What fun!