Museum of Nature and Science

Over our weekend in North Carolina, my parents and I loaded up the car to take Lucas to the Nature and Science Center in Durham. I used to go there years ago with the kids that I nannied for, and was looking forward to taking Lucas. Boy have they expanded it since I was there!  I was wonderful...tons of indoor and outdoor activities...lots to keep kids Lucas's age and big kids (like me!) interested. We had a blast and are already planning a trip back at Christmas.  Here were some of the highlights...

One of the first indoor areas deals with architecture. They have these HUGE boxes of wooden blocks and building plans for the kids to try and copy. I'm not sure how good Lucas's building would have been in real life, but he was THRILLED with the box of blocks!

This was one of those spiral things where you put the penny in and watch it roll around...he was fascinated.

The bone exhibit:

Maybe the hit of the day...in the toddler play area playing with balls and ramps :) Yes, he has on a harness. My child thinks that he is big enough at 15 months to run free and wherever he pleases.

On the nature walk. This lovely outdoor path goes through an estuary and features exhibits with North Carolina native animals...bears, wolves, owls, etc. Most of the big animals were hiding from the heat, but it was beautiful anyway.

The mist garden. Lucas liked it because there was water.

We all liked the air guns...Lucas had to hit every one of them before he would leave. Not sure he got any air to come out, but he sure enjoyed trying!

This was the "farm" area. We got to see sheep, goats, chickens, a duck(!!!), cows, and pigs.

This was cool...they had a big area with TONS of different metal and wooden objects hung up. The kids got to get sticks and whack everything to hear the different sounds they make. Perfect for my active boy!

Didn't get any great pictures of the butterfly house, but it was cool, too. We can't wait for our next trip back!