American Museum of Natural History Review

Overall 4.67 of 5 view all 3 reviews

mrkstvns
Austin, TX

Bigger Really Is Better

love nature, family traveler, fun-loving dad, history lover

Pros

educational, great exhibits, reasonably priced, enormous collection, covers all the natural sciences

Cons

some exhibit halls antiquated

MAR

2008

American Museum of Natural History —

If you haven't already read Jo's review on this museum, go do so...I agree wholeheartedly with just about everything she said about the American Museum of Natural History, though I'm just totally gung-ho about the place.

I can't emphasize enough that you really need to allow some serious time to explore this wonderful museum. It is a HUGE place that a curious kid could easily totally immerse themselves in for at least a couple days. The dinosaur exhibits are amazing and the fossil collection is simply unbelievably expansive. What my kids liked best about exploring the fossil halls was that the museum has these wonderful glass walkways underneath of which is a long spine of some 20,000 year old dinosaur. The exhibit is stunning in its innovative presentation, giving the effect that the whole site was somehow preserved intact and moved into the exhibit hall so you and I could gawk at it. (It's also a great way to convey just how BIG some of those creatures really were.)

I like that there are many halls full of musty old diorama style exhibits showing various stuffed animals. I know some people think these halls are musty and antiquated looking, but the museum itself is quite old and I just love preserving traditions and seeing how curators of the past presented things.

Of course many of the most popular exhibits are totally state of the art. Their space sciences halls are phenomenal, and this is one of the few exhibits that succeeds at conveying to kids just "how big" objects in our own solar system really are. We might think we live on a big world, but compare it to planets like Jupiter, and its an amazingly small rock.

My kids' favorite exhibit (aside from the cafeteria) was the Hall of Ocean Life. The exhibits have an uncanny lifelike quality to them, and the hands-on interactive computer simulations are a smash hit with the pre-teen set.

Overall, the American Museum of Natural History is a highpoint of any New York City trip, and for a family with kids, it is a total "must see" --- it's also a great place to keep in mind for those cold or wet weather days when trips to the Statue of Liberty or the Bronx Zoo are just completely out of the question. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!