Boonshoft Museum of Discovery facts for kids
The main entrance to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery
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| Established | 1893 (Museum of Natural History), 1995 (Boonshoft) |
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| Location | 2600 Deweese Parkway Dayton, Ohio |
The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery is a super cool place in Dayton, Ohio. It's like a children's museum, a science center, and a zoo all rolled into one! Here, you can explore science and natural history.
The museum has lots of amazing exhibits. You'll see a huge collection of natural history items. Plus, they have live animals from Ohio and other parts of the world. The museum also helps schools by bringing programs right into classrooms. It even has sister sites like SunWatch Indian Village and Fort Ancient.
The Boonshoft Museum is a top-notch place. It's approved by big groups like the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. This means their exhibits and animal care are excellent! It's the only place in Dayton with a zoo, an aquarium, a planetarium, and a science center. It also has the Apollo Observatory, where you can look at stars and planets.
Contents
History of the Museum
The museum started way back in 1893. It was first called the Dayton Museum of Natural History. It was part of the Dayton Public Library.
In 1999, the museum changed its name to honor Oscar Boonshoft. He was a very important supporter of the museum. In 1991, they added a special Planetarium called Digistar II. This lets visitors explore the universe!
Awesome Museum Exhibits
The Boonshoft Museum has many exciting exhibits that are always there for you to explore.
Science On a Sphere
Imagine a giant globe, about 68 inches (1.7 meters) wide, floating in the air! This is Science On a Sphere. It can show amazing videos of Earth and space. You can even see airplanes flying around the world. It also shows things like where sea turtles travel!
Hall of the Universe
In the Hall of the Universe, you can learn all about our Solar System. It's full of hands-on activities. There's also an exhibit called Exoplanet Exploration. Here, you can discover planets outside our solar system!
Explorers Crossing
Explorers Crossing is a fun place where you can pretend to be different professionals. You can play in a pretend veterinary clinic or a pizza kitchen. There's also a recycling center and a car repair shop. You can learn about these jobs by playing and interacting with hundreds of items.
Oscar Boonshoft Science Central
This exhibit is packed with interactive fun! It has a water table where you can learn about water. There's also an area where you can make art with rubber bands. This helps you learn about shapes and lines. You might even see a science demonstration in the laboratory area.
Nesiur the Mummy
This exhibit is super old and interesting! It features a real mummy from Egypt. The mummy was given to the museum a long time ago. You can also see other cool items from Africa here.
Mead Tree House
Step inside a fully enclosed tree house! In the Mead Tree House, you can learn about protecting our environment. You can even use binoculars to do some bird watching through the windows.
The Tidal Pool
The Tidal Pool is a special exhibit with live sea creatures. You can see marine invertebrates like starfish that live in the Pacific Northwest. A museum helper is usually there to tell you all about them.
The Bieser Discovery Center
This center has thousands of real specimens! You can see animal skeletons, shells, and fossils. They also have live snakes, including a large burmese python. Plus, there are many science-related children's books to read.
The Discovery Zoo
The Discovery Zoo is an indoor zoo right inside the museum! It's officially approved by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). This means it's a really good zoo. You can see over 150 animals here. They include mammals, reptiles, birds, and amphibians.
Some of the cool animals you might see are a sloth, bat-eared foxes, and North American river otters. They also have African meerkats and a Mertens' water monitor named Nessie. Many of the animals were rescued and couldn't live in the wild. For example, the zoo's Virginia opossum was injured and rehabilitated.
The zoo has two otters, Eno and Sikwa, who are part of a national breeding program. The Discovery Zoo was updated in 2010. This made it bigger and added about 18 new kinds of animals. The Boonshoft Museum is one of only four museums in the United States that is also an official zoo!
Education at the Museum
The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery is a popular place for school field trips. But they don't just host trips! They also have a program called Exhibits-To-Go. These are exhibits that can be taken directly to school classrooms in the Dayton area.
Every day, the museum staff puts on special programs. You can watch science experiments or see the otters get fed. There are also Planetarium shows, story times, and bird watching at the Mead Tree House. You can also enjoy live presentations on the Science on a Sphere and meet live animals!
Special Events
The museum hosts many fun events throughout the year. Some popular ones include Red White & Boonshoft, GeekFest, and Eureka! The education team also organizes big activities about Biology, Nanotechnology, and Chemistry. If you love stars, the Astronomy Department holds Astronomy Day and special Friday night star gazing events.
The Future of the Museum
The Boonshoft Museum is always looking to the future! In 2010, NASA gave the museum over $800,000. This money was used to create an amazing Exoplanet Exploration exhibit.
Besides its regular exhibits, the museum often brings in traveling exhibits. These are temporary displays that come from other places. In 2017, some parts of the museum were updated. For example, the pizza kitchen moved, and a new "shape shop" opened. The Vet Hospital also moved and got bigger. More updates to the lobby and restrooms started in late 2018 and early 2019.
See also
- SunWatch Indian Village
- List of astronomical observatories
- List of museums in Ohio
- List of planetariums
