The Journey Museum and Learning Center facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
The Journey Museum

The Journey Museum
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Established	May 18, 1997
Location	Rapid City, South Dakota
Type	Historical
Visitors	Estimated 75,000-80,000 in 2008
Public transit access	City View Trolley stops at door of museum, Rapid Ride's Lincoln Bus Route stops at corner of block.

The Journey Museum and Learning Center is a cool place in Rapid City, South Dakota, USA. It has a big area of gardens, about 7 acres (28,000 square meters)! This museum takes you on an amazing trip through the history of the Black Hills. You'll start with old Native American stories about how the world began. Then, you'll explore 2.5 billion years of Earth's history through rocks and fossils. The journey ends with stories of the pioneers who traveled west.

Explore the Main Exhibits

Discover Geology and Dinosaurs

The Geology Gallery shows a huge wall that tells the story of 2.5 billion years of rocks in the Black Hills. The Museum of Geology helps visitors understand this long timeline. You can see amazing fossils in the paleontology section. Many of these are on loan from the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research.

Imagine being a scientist! There's a model of a real dig site with a tent. This helps you feel what field work is like. You'll also see models of a T-Rex and a Triceratops. They even make roaring sounds!

Uncover Ancient History

After the dinosaurs, you'll find the Archaeology Gallery. Archaeology is the study of human history through digging up old things. This gallery is split into five parts, each showing a different time period. It has cool items and facts from the South Dakota Archaeological Research Center.

Learn About Native American Culture

The Sioux Indian Museum is the next gallery. It has over 5,500 items! These items are looked after by the United States Department of the Interior's Indian Arts and Crafts Board. Most of the collection came from a person who collected Native American art from the 1890s to the 1930s.

You can see beautiful beaded items and special ceremonial objects. There are also traditional Native American clothing, items made from animals, and fun things for kids like dolls and games. You'll also see musical instruments, Native American saddles, and tipis. A special holographic image of a Native American elder even tells three stories!

Step into Pioneer Life

The Minnilusa Pioneer Gallery is the last main gallery. It shows what life was like for early settlers. You can see a trapper's cabin and a boardwalk. There are even saddles you can try out! The gallery also has a hardware store that looks like the first big one in South Dakota.

You'll learn about famous local people like Jim Bridger, General Custer, Wild Bill Hickok, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Red Cloud. This section also explains how Native Americans and early settlers interacted. It shows how they went from first meeting to working together today.

Other Cool Exhibits

The Journey Museum has other interesting exhibits besides the main galleries.

• Star Room: Your visit starts here! This room shows the time from when the universe formed to when the Black Hills rocks began. A voice tells both scientific and Native American ideas about how the universe was made.
• Paleontology Field Tent: This is a hands-on area! You can dig for dinosaur bones, solve puzzles, and touch real fossils. You can also see a real lab where scientists prepare fossils.
• Custer's Black Hills Expedition of 1874: This exhibit is between the Sioux Indian Museum and the Pioneer Gallery. It has photos and items from the expedition, like a gun, eating tools, a stirrup, and a knife. You can also learn about the expedition's geologist, Newton Horace Winchell, and see his journal.
• Aviary Room: This room is in the Pioneer gallery. It has over 100 stuffed birds and animals from the Black Hills area. These were collected by Henry Behren between 1888 and 1911.
• Flood Exhibit: This exhibit is at the end of the Pioneer Gallery. It tells the story of the terrible 1972 Black Hills flood in Rapid City. This flood happened on June 9, 1972. It destroyed a lot of the city and hurt many people. The exhibit has maps, pictures, stories from survivors, and news articles. You can also watch a short film about the flood.
• Black Hills Forests Then and Now: This exhibit is also at the end of the Pioneer gallery. It shows how the forests in the Black Hills have changed over the last 11,000 years. It also talks about how people have used the forest's natural resources. You can learn about animals like the American Bison here.

Fun Activity Tables

In every gallery, there are activity tables for kids and adults. They have coloring pages, books, and activities. These activities are always related to the gallery you are in.

Beautiful Gardens and Grounds

The museum is surrounded by several acres of gardens. These gardens feature plants that grow naturally in the Black Hills and other parts of the Western Hemisphere. Many volunteer gardeners help take care of them. The large garden area is split into smaller gardens with vegetables, flowers, and trees.

Exciting Events

The Journey Museum hosts many regular events. They also have special events throughout the year. These might include a sculpting class for kids or a presentation on how to make gingerbread houses.

Learning and Education

The museum offers many educational programs. Weekly programs include Toddler Tuesdays, Discovery Expedition, and Journey Into Space. The museum also creates special learning experiences for school groups and tours. They even have an inflatable planetarium program that can visit schools!

Children's Learning Lab

The Children's Learning Lab opened on July 1, 2008. It is located in the Archaeology area. This lab is a place for classes and drop-in activities during the week. You can find books, puzzles, games, puppets, microscopes, and "discovery boxes" here. Discovery boxes are small boxes with activities, facts, and objects about a certain topic. You can even check them out and take them with you into the rest of the museum!

Recognition

In 2021, the museum won the CORES (Communication and OutReach Experiences in Science) award. This award was given by the Sanford Underground Research Facility. It recognized the museum's efforts to teach people about science.

See also

In Spanish: Museo del viaje y jardines para niños