Our final stop last Sunday in Dallas was the Museum of Nature and Science at Fair Park, the Texas State Fairgrounds. This turned out to be much better than I expected, and I wish we had allocated more than 2 hours for the visit.
They've combined two neighboring museums, The Museum of Natural History and The Science Place, both opened more than 60 years ago.
The Science Place has been renovated so extensively that it feels light, airy, and very modern; and more importantly the exhibits are highly interactive and engaging. In contrast, while Natural History may have been state-of-the-art in 1936, today it feels dated and kind of sad, though the second floor appears to be under extensive construction.
If you only have time for one museum, skip Natural History. It also will feel disappointing if you visit after seeing The Science Place, except for maybe the fossil exhibits.
About The Museum Of Nature And Science
The boards of the two museums decided to merge in 2006, and have announced plans to build a new 200,000 sq. ft. facility in downtown Dallas a few miles away in Victory Park. Today the museums are part of a complex built for the Texas Centennial in 1936 that includes the Cotton Bowl and hosts the Texas State Fair each year in the late-September to October timeframe (including the Texas-Oklahoma football game).
I hadn't been to Fair Park in many years, and though the surrounding neighborhood is still somewhat seedy they seem to have expended some effort in sprucing up the grounds. But we were accosted by a couple of panhandlers when we stopped at the McDonald's across the street.
There are 7 museums on the fairgrounds, with Natural History (1936), The Science Place (1946), and The Planetarium all part of the science group, though the Planetarium and the IMAX theater in The Science Place charge separate admission.
Admission to the exhibits for both museums was $5.50 (total) for the kids and my $8.75 adult admission was waived because Bank of America customers get in free on the first weekend of each month. (I didn't know this beforehand; I only found out because I was using my BoA credit card.)
Parking is usually free except for during the State Fair.
The Museum of Natural History
We went to Natural History first because it was closer to where we parked the car. The museum is frankly creaky and rundown, with static exhibits that mostly consist of stuffed animals and obscure rock exhibits on the first floor.
The second floor is a little more interesting, with dinosaur fossils (many of them found in the area), but again the exhibits are static and not interactive. One half of the floor was mostly closed off for construction, where it appears they're doing some major renovation.
Natural History wouldn't be worth paying for admission on its own, but is of minor interest since it's essentially free with The Science Place admission.
The Science Place
By the time we got to The Science Place we were all tired and hungry, so we stopped in the small cafeteria first (we had also visited the Dallas World Aquarium that day). Unfortunately this left us with just 45 minutes to tour the museum, which is not nearly enough.
The first gallery was devoted to optical illusions, which we'd mostly already seen elsewhere. But just past the gallery a volunteer was conducting a kitchen chemistry experiment that my nieces loved. The kids were given the opportunity to participate in making super balls from Elmer's glue, food coloring, and borax. (Corn starch may have been part of the mix too.)
The kids really liked being able to participate and when I called the next day after returning home to Maryland, my nieces were in the kitchen recreating the experiment from memory.
I had trouble tearing my nieces away from the next exhibit, despite my desire to make a quick run through the museum before it closed. This was a giant sandbox where the kids could play paleontologist and look for fossils. I didn't get a picture because I was trying to scout ahead so here's an image from their web site.The next gallery seemed to be focused on mechanical things and physics, with some giant soap bubble makers and a Rube Goldberg-esque machine demonstrating the effect of gravity.
They had a large exhibit devoted to the human body that included this thermal imaging camera. There was a hand pump in front that you could work in order to see your image change color as your temperature increased with exertion.
The other exhibits I remembered were one that showed if you rub your hands with chicken wire between them, you get an odd silky feeling, and the vomit diorama. (You push a button and it spews forth liquid from the "person's" stomach. Both of my nieces simultaneously said, "Eewww!!")
Otherwise the only exhibit we had a chance to tour in detail was a traveling exhibit about building materials and construction, which was very interactive in showing you the principles involved.
We weren't able to get to the network exhibits or to the exhibits downstairs, which appear to be oriented toward younger kids but which I think my nieces would still have enjoyed. These included a dental exhibit and a "Little Urban Farm" where, among other things, they can simulate milking a cow.
Other Attractions and Summer Camp
Outside, they've created an attractive lagoon with swan-prowed paddle boats. My nieces really wanted to ride them but they closed at 5:30 and no boats were available by the time we walked out. The cost was $10 per boat and there are two pedaling positions and a middle seat.
On such a beautiful day (80 degrees with a light breeze) I think we should have spent about 4 hours at Fair Park. The other museums sound like they're too specialized to be of general interest, but the science museum and lagoon would easily make for a productive afternoon.
There are also two dishes in front of the science museum to demonstrate that a parabola can collect and focus sound at the focal point, so a whisper into one dish can be heard at the other dish about 15 yards away. From YouTube:
They're also offering some science camps at Spring Break and during the summer. They sound like they're fun but it wouldn't necessarily be easy to bring the kids into downtown Dallas every day.
Other Activities For Kids In Dallas
We also considered going to the Dallas Zoo, but with limited time and funds, I decided on the aquarium and museums instead. One of my nieces was very disappointed because she wanted to go to the petting zoo.
However, I had read decidedly mixed reviews that left me with the impression that the Dallas Zoo is an old-fashioned zoo (similar to Baltimore's) with very small habitats for the animals, which can be a little disconcerting (in contrast to the Fort Worth Zoo, where we've gone a few times and which is very large and modern). I decided not to risk it, especially since the aquarium was almost like a zoo anyway.
More Links
Some links that I found useful when researching these museums:
- MuseumSpot.com - a consolidated listing of museums in various cities around the US, including Dallas
- 10Best.com - a site that gives you an editor's opinion of the best attractions in a city
- TripAdvisor.com - user-generated ratings of almost everything a traveler needs. I find it most useful for evaluating hotels, and to a lesser extent restaurants and attractions. Quite often the reviews are contradictory.
- Yelp.com - Yelp has a large enough base that you often get useful reviews, though of course you have to filter out the biases of the writers.
- Dallas For Kids Part 1 (Amazing Jake's Food & Fun)
- The Dallas World Aquarium (Dallas For Kids Part 2)
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