Museum of Life and Science facts for kids
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| Established | 1946 |
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| Location | Durham, North Carolina |
| Type | science museum, children's museum, and zoo |
| Association of Science-Technology Centers | |
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The Museum of Life and Science is a super cool science museum in Durham, North Carolina. It covers about 84 acres, which is like 60 football fields! This museum is a mix of a science center, a children's museum, and even a zoo.
You'll find the museum in the Northgate Park area. It has both indoor and outdoor areas for learning and fun. The main building, the Butterfly House, and the Dinosaur Trail are on one side. There's also a fun train ride called the Ellerbe Creek C.P. Huntington train.
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Museum History
The Museum of Life and Science has grown a lot over the years. A person named Richard Wescott helped it become what it is today. He started as a volunteer and later became the director.
Thanks to him and others, the museum added many amazing things. It built one of the best collections of space items in the country. This included a special Lunar Landing Module (LEM) and exhibits for blind visitors. The museum also started caring for many live animals.
Richard Wescott also helped create the Dinosaur Trail. He designed and built more than twenty life-size dinosaur models. These models have been a favorite for over thirty years!
Explore the Exhibits
Main Museum Building
The main building has two floors packed with exhibits. You can learn about weather, sound, and math. There are also sections on health, building, and engineering. You can even see native North Carolina wildlife. There's a special play area for younger kids. Plus, a hands-on lab offers new activities all the time.
The Farmyard
Get ready to meet some farm animals at the Farmyard! You can see donkeys, goats, chickens, and pigs. Recently, some alpacas have joined the farm family too. You can learn how zoos keep animals happy and healthy. Animal keepers also offer close-up experiences. There are many other fun, hands-on activities here.
Hideaway Woods
Opened in 2015, Hideaway Woods is a two-acre outdoor adventure. It has eight awesome treehouses to explore. There's also a flowing stream and cool nature sculptures. You can relax in hammocks or explore a special area for younger kids. This exhibit shows how important it is to play in nature.
Aerospace Adventures
The museum is famous for its Aerospace exhibit. It focuses on the early days of NASA space travel. Many items here are on loan from the National Air and Space Museum. You can see real pieces of space history!
Imagine seeing a Moon rock or Neil Armstrong's special device. There's also a test vehicle for an Apollo Command Module. You can even see part of an Apollo Lunar Rover. A full-sized model of a Lunar Module is also on display.
The museum got these amazing items thanks to people like James E. Webb. He was a NASA administrator from North Carolina. Richard Wescott also helped bring these artifacts to the museum. The Launch Lab lets you try out paper airplane launchers. You can also test designs in wind tunnels!
Magic Wings Butterfly House
The Magic Wings Butterfly House is a huge attraction. It's a three-story glass building that opened in 1999. Inside, you'll find hundreds of tropical butterflies. They fly freely among beautiful tropical plants.
The Bayer CropScience Insectarium is also inside. It shows off amazing insects from all over the world. It's like stepping into a rainforest!
Explore the Wild
Explore the Wild is home to some incredible animals. You can see American black bears and red wolves. There are also lemurs and radiated tortoises.
A long boardwalk takes you over a preserved natural area. You'll find many multimedia exhibits along the way. The museum helps protect red wolves and radiated tortoises. In 2017, a pair of red wolves at the museum had four pups. These pups were a big part of the red wolf population!
The museum also helps with tortoise conservation. They even held a fundraiser in 2018. This helped protect 10,000 tortoises found illegally in Madagascar.
Catch the Wind
Catch the Wind opened in 2007. It has seven exhibits that show how wind affects our world. A 30-foot tower drops giant seed pods. This shows how wind helps seeds travel.
The main part of this area is a huge sailboat pond. You can sail remote-controlled sailboats here!
You can also listen to stories and poems about the wind.
Dinosaur Trail
The Dinosaur Trail is a long-time favorite! It has life-size models of dinosaurs. You can see an Brontosaurus from Murray Avenue. Other models include a T-Rex and a Triceratops. Richard Wescott built these creatures over four years.
A new dinosaur trail opened in 2009. It's in a different part of the museum. This trail has life-size models of other dinosaurs. You can see an Albertosaurus and a Styracosaurus. There's even a reclining juvenile Parasaurolophus you can climb on!
A fun fossil dig area is also available. Kids can use shovels and screens to find shark teeth and other fossils. You can even take home what you find!
Earth Moves
The "Earth Moves" exhibit opened in 2019. It's an amazing experience about geology. Geology is the study of Earth's rocks and how they change. You can explore a cave made from sandstone. You can also change the flow of a 20-foot waterfall. Splash in the water and build towers of stone! You can even sculpt sand.
Images for kids
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Sailboat pond
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Seed tower
