Family Fun in Vegas Part 1: The Las Vegas Museum of Natural History

Last weekend we took the kids to Vegas. Our first stop was the Las Vegas Museum of Natural History. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for students $5 for children 3-11. Hours are from 9 am to 4pm. There is a BOGO coupon in the Las Vegas Entertainment Book, or you can print one here. Bank of America cardholders can get free admission on the first full weekend of the month.
Yes, it is not as spectacular as the Field Museum in Chicago, but it has several points on the Field for me: 1.It does not take 3 days to drive there 2.There are no tollways between home and the destination. 3. Parking is free (not $19). 4. I can get my entire family in for the less than the cost of one admission to the Field. 5. Even on a Saturday afternoon, the LVMNH was not crowded. I love this! We can take as much or as little time as my kids please, learning about science and natural history.

The first room (not listed on their website) has a few prehistoric oddities. My son (2) thought it was awesome. My daughter (4) found it to be a little scary.

Spiral tooth prehistoric shark

My daughter was certain that if this thing were alive it would eat her, and it just might have.

Next is the Marine Life Gallery. In addition to few interactive science displays there are several live fish, sharks and rays.

I will always check out anything remotely resembling an aquarium.

Frogfish, Do you see it?

My kids liked the Wildlife Gallery. It's full of animals that are native to the area and facts about how they live. And they were surprisingly fascinated by the Geology Gallery (but then they did have glow-in-the-dark rocks). There is also an Egyptian Gallery, with a replica of the tomb of Tutankamen. My daughter found it kind of creepy, but then I always found Ancient Egypt to be somewhat creepy (yet still fascinating) too. (FYI, in Ancient Egypt children didn't wear clothing until the age of 6. My kids would be all for that.)

Learning to grind wheat in Egypt

 Now for the main attraction...The Dinosaurs. And not just any dinosaurs, but dinosaurs that roar and move.

And behind the Prehistoric Life Gallery is the Young Scientist Center. It has several activities and games and on Saturday afternoons they pull out the animals and let the kids touch them.