Discovery Room

The Discovery Room offers families, and especially children ages 5-12, an interactive gateway to the wonders of the Museum and a hands-on, behind-the scenes look at its science. Every major field of Museum science and research, from anthropology to zoology, is represented. Children, accompanied by adults, can explore an array of artifacts and specimens, puzzles, and scientific challenges. Activities for older visitors are located on the upper level.

• Hunt for animals in a majestic two-story replica of an African baobab tree filled with specimens of birds, insects, reptiles, and small mammals.
• Create your own collection of minerals, skulls, or arthropods from a cabinet full of fascinating specimens.
• Gather around an authentic Kwakwaka’wakw totem pole carved at the Museum in 1992. Learn about cultures in locations from Manhattan to Mumbai by examining traditional and contemporary artifacts from around the world.
• Assemble a life-sized cast skeleton of Prestosuchus, a 14-foot long reptile from the late Triassic Period, handle real fossils, and unearth an Oviraptor nest in a re-creation of a paleontology field site.
• Track real-time earthquakes anywhere in the world on our digital seismographic display and explore the natural world with sophisticated microscopes on the upper level.