Santa Barbara Natural History Museum

Santa Barbara Natural History Museum  

I took the kids to the Natural History Museum in Santa Barbara yesterday. Every other year they have “Butterflies Alive,” a butterfly habitat that is home to about 15 different species of butterflies for about 4 months. This year was a little warmer and more humid than normal and the butterflies loved it! They were very active this year. Emma was a little creped out by the butterflies landing on her but Owen embraced the opportunity for a butterfly to land on his foot! 

Emma was reading this butterfly book to Owen and then asking him, if he had found all the butterflies in the book. 

The Museum also has a really cool dinosaur exhibit that will be leaving in a few weeks. I wanted to get the kids up there to see both exhibits before they are gone. They had a triceratops and a T-Rex that were both mechanical and very real- like. Owen thought that they were great- Emma not so much. The T-Rex was next to the restroom and every time Emma had to use it she would tell me, “mommy hold me and running really really fast.” Besides the mechanical dinosaurs they had some other great displays and interactive activities for the kids to participate in.

 Digging for dinosaur bones

Emma was happy to dig for the bones as long as we were not near the dinosaurs

The Museum has a great area called, “The Museum’s Back Yard,” its an outdoor area that has large rocks to climb on, hiking trails, a running stream of water to play in, and a tepee made from bamboo. The kids both really enjoyed playing in this “natural play environment.”

The Museum also has some great displays on local birds, their eggs, the Chumash Indians, local seas Creatures, the pigmy mammoth that was found out on our local islands and planetarium. We had a great day at the Museum and look forward to our next visit.