It’s been a long time since I chaperoned a field trip for my kids, so when I had the chance to tag along with my son’s fourth grade class to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, I was pretty excited.
We rode the school bus, and I was surprised to see that kids on the bus aren’t as rowdy as they used to be—of course, it could be because they all had handheld video games. But there’s still the kid that forgets a lunch, and the bus driver who tells it like it is: “Put those stick candies away. If I hit the brakes and you have that in your mouth, you will hit the seat in front of you and that stick will go through your head.” And there’s still that one kid who interrupts the Chumash Indian exhibit by asking the docent, “But why are they all naked?”
I love museums. Especially ones that have huge whale skeletons at the entrance—which this one does. The 72-foot blue whale named Chad is about the same age as the group of little kids I was chaperoning, a fact they found pretty cool.
The museum has a number of terrific exhibits that will entertain the most active child or the most distracted parent. Some exhibits give historical context to the area, such as the Chumash displays and some of the animal set-ups.
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Even the mammoth exhibit has some connection to the area: Pygmy mammoths were found exclusively on California’s Channel Islands. The explanation for their size is that, stuck on an island they were forced to evolve to become smaller in order to consume less.
The Mineral and Gem Gallery features awesome displays of fluorescent and phosphorescent rocks; touchable minerals like smithsonite, aquamarine, and crystal geodes; and grape-like botryoidal fluorite minerals.
After exploring some of the exhibit halls, it was time to take the kids outside. The class followed the path through the Museum Backyard toward the creek. Not only is the Museum Backyard a beautiful natural setting, but if you’re a kid, you immediately notice it’s also set up to encourage exploration. The children ducked under arches and followed the “Boulder Alley” path, lined with boulders the children were encouraged to climb.
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Before we reached the creek, a pile of sticks begging to be arranged into forts attracted some attention. Everything outside seemed meant to work out some of that excess energy children seem to have, but it was all so educational, too.
The Natural Trail along Mission Creek offers lots of hands-on exploration opportunities. Docents provided the class with specimen containers, which allowed the children to scoop up various insects living in and around the creek to look at close-up. Next to the creek are compost piles where critters like salamanders and beetles and worms like to creep and slither. The class enthusiastically dug through the soft mounds of earth in search of the transparent worm whose four hearts can be seen through its skin.
Sometimes educational opportunities are more fun when they’re hands on. The museum is an informative and interesting tour for the curious and the history or nature enthusiast, but it’s a downright blast to see through the eyes of a child.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone wonders whether it’s also a blast to smell through the nose of a child. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 1, 2012.
