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Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
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- Good for Kids:
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13 reviews for Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
I want to return and hike that path that says, "This path leads off of Museum property". There are several nature paths safe for kids, hiking trails, a planetarium, and those things that all Natural History Museums have: the dusty exhibits that make you feel like you're about to be cut open and stuffed--because everything else is.
I love planetariums but be very careful of which show you catch--some of them are incredibly boring. I recommend anything that involves an explanation of constellations and the summer sky/ Winter sky--whichever season you happen to attend
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Hopefully you will catch the butterflies alive! exhibit during summer because. they are stunning. :)
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If I were to identify anything on this recent trip to Santa Barbara that disappointed me, it would be the Museum of Natural History. My immediate impressions were that it was dark, dank, dirty, decrepit and in need of some generous TLC, if not, a total renovation. The Planetarium and Mineral & Gem exhibits were the tiniest I've ever seen and provided little I found of educational value. The calender given to me contained a request from the Executive Director to know what "Diverse minds want to know!" So, I'll tell ya...for 10 bucks, I'll hold for the Smithsonian. This was a rip.
My highlight here was the whimsical and oddly inspiring Dia de los Muertos exhibit which I enjoyed tremendously, especially the "ofrenda" that memorializes the loss of notable American actors, musicians and politicians this year. But they should add Sam Bottoms ("Lance" from Apocalypse Now! fame and a native Santa Barbaran) who lost his battle to brain cancer this year. He was 53 though he'll always be the 20 year old surfer/sailor on that fictionally tragic patrol boat to me. Forever young.
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It's a small museum if you're comparing to the Getty or other big LA ones. The special exhibits are totally cool. Go see the butterflies. You are n a giant cage with them,watching them sunbathe and eat the plates of fruit. What a job- butterfly caterer.
There are always special temporary exhibits, I spend no time on the permanent displays. Running the Numbers, photography about pollution and consumption was surreal. Some artist took thousands of soda cans and re-created a famous impressionist painting, and had 18 wheeler containers stacked so show how much cargo was brought in the the US each day. I am not making it sound as interesting as it is. Go see.
The garden is a nice place for a walk also.
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Nurture the Nature-Lover in You!
If you need a unique way to unwind from the stress of Santa Barbara city life, consider marching yourself or your loved ones over to The Museum of Natural History for some meditative time.
With a full-scale butterfly reserve on its property and lectures on such topics as the life cycle of the bee, The Museum of Natural History is the perfect place to nurture the nature lover in you or those on your guest and gift lists.
And if you find a need to meditate on more than a momentary basis, the Museum has a variety of packages to suit your visiting needs.
The $50 Individual Package: This provides free admission to all properties including the Museum itself, the planetarium shows and Star Parties as well as a free subsciption to the Museum's Calendar of Events and advance notice of upcoming events and exhibits. There is also a 10% discount at the store and an opportunity to reserve the Museum for that oh-so-special private event or party that you have been planning.
In the $75 Family Package: This includes all of the above benefits as well as free admission for 2 additional adults and all dependent children and grandchildren.
And for the most nature-loving person on your list, the $90 Naturalist Package offers all of the benefits of the Family Package plus:
2 free guest passes, invitations to such events as art gallery preview receptions, special curator conversations, and local, regional, and national natural history trips.
We went here last year, Nov. or so, we kinda just found it, it was a nice surprise....
To start us off on a fun foot, there was a entire dia de los muertos set up in the little courtyard when you first enter, it was pretty rad...
Then all the animals, facts, birds, bugs, facts, outside TRAIL! bridges, it was a nature loving good time! oh and facts, I almost had to be rolled out of there my brain was so excited with all these new tidbits of info, whether or not I needed to know all of it-eh, but it was fun to know either way, it was not to busy, which is juST the way I like it... It was pretty big too! I totally recommend it!
They have a few cool things, but not whole lot of interest to see except for two things:
1. They have the largest North American bird collection we have ever seen (my husband is big into birds, so that's saying something).
2. They also have an impressively large regional insect collection.
If you're into birds and bugs, I'd recommend going. If not - it's probably not for you.
This is a fabulous museum that is a hidden gem in Santa Barbara. There is lots of space for kids to explore outside and the exhibits inside are accessible by old and young. The butterfly alive exhibit is worth a trip in itself and the "Running the Numbers" Chris Jordan exhibit is so thought provoking. An unexpected highlight of our Santa Barbara weekend.
Look, there were some cool things... but the insect room killed it for me. Literally. There were the typical fakey built out of clay or whatever exhibits, but below a few of them were supposed to be LIVE animals. A tarantula, a newt, a snake and a lizard. Their water bowls were half empty, and someone was still feeding them... (there were both deceased and live crickets hopping about) BUT THEY WERE ALL DEAD. The lizard was shriveled! Come on! It was very weird and depressing.
I did like the mineral and gems room, though.
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Surrounded by oaks and bathed in canyon sunshine, I found it difficult to step beyond the courtyard and into any of the several halls that house the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History's varied exhibits.
5 Stars first and foremost for the absolute effort and integrity of their dioramas. The mammal hall is intimate, with excellent early 20th century dioramas of everything from bats in a cave, to bears and mountain lions (Although the hall is still missing a Homo sapien gorging itself on an In-N-Out Burger while sauce runs down its forearm.) The insect and Plant hall has several more modern dioramas including one that depicts life returning to the chaparral just 1 year after the Painted Cave fire in 1990. Finally, the Bird Habitat is completing the renovation and looks like it will open any day now.
5 Stars for the immaculate grounds and Spanish Colonial Revival Architecture that pay homage to the natural surroundings of the canyon and Mission Creek. The nature trails, ever-flowing Mission Creek and acres of nooks and crannies of outdoor splendor really make this feel like a museum of natural history, and not just a trophy collection of dead things!
5 Stars for the sound exhibit on dwarf mammoths of Santa Rosae Island, as well as a very rich exhibit on the Chumash Indians. It explored how Native Americans crossed from Asia, to 1950's recordings of the Chumash dialect. The exhibit is replete with every artifact you would expect or could imagine (although I don't believe there was mention of the Chumash Casino. There's was however, a Rusty's Pizza Cart outside with a phone to order pizzas; just imagine the revenue from another cart for the Chumash Casino . . . hmmm!)
And Finally, 5 Stars for the woman walking around the museum grounds with a stuffed beaver . . . You just don't see that every day!
Also an honorable mention for the museum bragging about having the largest Chumash Basket Collection. My reply, Umm . . . Duh! But then, what do I know? Maybe other museums are clambering for such an achievement! :)
There is a huge blue whale skeleton by the parking lot that is free to see without having to go into the museum, as well as some whale fossils behind the creek. The insect pavilion had lots of drawers located beneath each diorama filled with books and specimens and the Mineral Hall was dark with the sound of dripping water in the background. There was also a human body preserved through plastination and then sliced and separated into a 16 foot specimen for easier viewing (Most Museums charge additional for these displays, and while it was only one body, it was nice to have it available for viewing without having to buy an additional ticket.)
So, here's the rundown of exhibits . . .
Chumash Life Hall
Mammal Hall
Hall of Plants and Insects
Mineral and Gem Gallery
Paleontology Hall
Marine Life Hall
Space Lab - (A little hidden. To the right of the nature collections, as you walk towards the creek)
Bird Habitat Hall
Art Gallery
Giant African Dinosaurs Exhibit (Temporary, I believe)
Nature Trail
Chumash Gardens
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is a great museum that is as good for taking a date, as it is for taking the kids. It should take about 3-5 hours to experience everything. No food other than vending machines near the restrooms (Although I suppose you could have a pizza delivered from Rusty's if you use the phone located on their cart behind the Paleontology Hall.) The museum is a reciprocal member to quite a few museums, so check your other museum memberships to see if you can visit for free (donations always accepted) when you are visiting Santa Barbara. Ample free parking as well as walking distance to the Rocky Nook Park and the Santa Barbara Mission.
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I really enjoyed the Chumash Indian exhibit as well as the fossil exhibits. The whale skeleton outside was really impressive! The insect and gem and mineral exhibits were a hit with the kids!
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Ms. Bree above needs to get a life. Or go on a field trip sometime after fifth grade.
The SB Museum of Natural History is quite accessible, regardless of one's academic orientation--but starting with an open mind would be nice. I.E., save the "ick" remarks for the slumber party Friday night.
For grown folks, it is best to go after 2PM when the kiddies are back on the bus and one can enjoy the beautiful exhibits in peace and safety.
Clearly a great deal of thought by the curators has gone into the creation and layout of the dioramas--give it a fair chance and savor the experience. The fossil hall is not to be missed.
Aw, I have so many nice memories of the Museum of Natural History. I had lots of favorite exhibits when I was a kid that I never got tired of coming back to visit, like the bee hive, the mineral hall, and the rattlesnake where you could push a button and hear the rattle (always a good time).
As a preteen budding vegetarian, I do remember the mammal hall causing me some concern, but my dad told me that all the animals had been accidentally hit by cars. I bought this explanation. Thanks, Dad!
Also, the nature trail behind the museum smells really good. It smells like dust and sage.
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I'm from NYC whose Museum of Natural History kind of defines the genre. This little gem is like the Art Institute of Chicago. It's approachable. Give it two or three hours and you can get a fabulous education on the local fauna and flora. We were lucky enough to take in an exhibit about Darwin. We'd seen a wonderful exhibit about Darwin in the Huntington Gardens right after Thanksgiving in 2008, and the little exhibit in Santa Monica really added a great deal. We hadn't really gotten the feel of how short his stay in the Galapagos was or how long it took him to put the theories together. Anyway, that was just one exhibit. There museum has the norm bunch of dioramas that you'd expect in a natural history museum but you get these drawers marked "open me" that give you a closer contact with the elements in the exhibit. It's weird how one little diorama - about condors - made such an impression about us. There was a time that only 30 California condors were in existence, and now there are hundreds and they've been introduced to different environments like places in New Mexico ("Condor, may I present Albuquerque. Albuquerque, condor." "How do you do?" "Charmed.") We were driving up the Pacific Coast Highway after that and we saw condors aplenty. Really gave us an appreciation. There was also an odd little exhibit about Sikhs, sponsored probably by some Sikh Association. Never expected to see anything like that but it was quite instructive. When we get back to NYC, I'm going to have something to talk about to the cab drivers.
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