Learn about “-ology” at the Natural History Museum of Utah

Utah is rich in history – even before the Mormon Pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. The Natural History Museum of Utah provides interactive exhibits on meteorology (weather), biology, geology, archaeology, paleontology (dinosaurs) and more. It’s great for kids, because it uses more simple words like native people, dinosaurs, rocks and more. I’m not a kid anymore, but I will say, I’m glad it used smaller words. 😉

My wife and I enjoyed a Saturday afternoon visit to the Natural History Museum of Utah. We tackled each floor, learning more about the great state we live in. My wife’s a school teacher, and in several of the exhibits, she found things she wanted to share with her sixth-grade students, or ways of showing things to her students to help them better understand what she’s teaching.

The Natural History Museum of Utah is great for educating students AND adults. Here’s a rundown on what to expect at the museum.

COVID-19 UPDATE: The museum is open. Purchase tickets in advance of your visit and show up during the arrival window. While touring the museum, masks are required over the nose and mouth. Upon arrival, you’ll receive a stylus you must use in place of your fingers as you interact with museum exhibits.

Getting Tickets and Preparing for Your Visit

Like many places, you need to purchase tickets online in advance of your visit. This is great to help you plan a time to visit the museum. Tickets will not be sold at the museum’s admissions desk. However, if you arrive to the museum without advance reservations, you can purchase them on your phone – if there are tickets still available for that time slot.

The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day of the week. On Wednesdays, they are open till 9 p.m. You need to plan on about 2-3 hours for your visit, because there’s a lot to see and do. If you have your kids with you, their attention span may keep your visit closer to the two-hour mark. My wife and I spent a little more than three hours reading, learning and interacting with the exhibits.

When you arrive at the museum, the front desk will scan your tickets (either from a printed copy or your phone). You’ll then head up the stairs to get your stylus so you can “touch” and interact with the exhibits without spreading germs. Then take the elevator up to the fifth floor to begin your descent through the museum.

The Sky and Native Voices

Years ago, I helped with marketing messages around water conservation in Utah, and efforts to repair the ecosystem in Utah Lake. So as we approached the first exhibit area, I was hooked, learning about the watersheds in Utah, the fish that call those rivers and streams home, and the impact humans are having on those species.

While on the fifth floor, take advantage of a great view across the Salt Lake Valley. Step out onto the terrace to see a working weather station. You may also notice solar panels on the rooftops of the museum. A large panorama map at the rail of the overlook helps you to identify areas of the Salt Lake Valley you’re seeing.

Back inside, take time to learn about the Native Americans who call Utah home. The Native Voices exhibit highlights the early days of Native Americans and the challenges they faced. We were amazed at the intricate and colorful beadwork of the clothing and accessories on display. It brought me back to my days in fourth grade, learning about Native Americans in Colorado (because that’s where I lived when I attended fourth grade).

Since I’m a space nerd, one exhibit you shouldn’t miss on the fifth floor is a small Utah flag that was flown to the moon many years ago. You’ll find that by the doors to the outside terrace on the astronomy wall.

Cells, DNA and Animal Life

Who knew DNA was so complicated and intricate! We spent about 10 minutes looking at and studying the DNA display as we entered the Life exhibit. Around the exhibit is the DNA makeup of a few species. My wife compared the human DNA strand to that of an orangutan. There weren’t a lot of differences in the makeup of it, which was interesting. That doesn’t mean we come from orangutans, or that orangutans come from us. It just means we have a similar makeup.

When we got to the cell exhibit (as seen in the photo above), I remembered a playdough cell I had to make in 8th grade science class. I swear my 9-inch cell looked just like the large one you see in the picture, only smaller. I must have been a good sculptor. 😉

If you like insects and other animals, I think you’ll really enjoy this area. You can see the shimmering wings of butterflies, the hard shells of massive beetles and the beauty of birds. We enjoyed watching ants make their way through their intricate tunnels with a grain of sand in their pincers as they continued digging. It’s one of those things I could probably sit and watch for quite a while.

The final areas of this exhibit showcase animals in their desert mountain habitats. It was almost like a Where’s Waldo as you’re looking at the exhibit. Can you find the Mormon Cricket or the toad? They’re there… you just have to have eagle eyes to see them.

Gems, Geology, Land and the Great Salt Lake

A few weeks ago, while driving with my kids along Utah’s scenic byway 12 between Capitol Reef National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park, I began wondering what the elevation zones were called. At one point along that road we are in dense forests, full of evergreens and aspen trees. As we descended from the mountains, we ended up in a colorful rock area with sage brush and desert foliage. I asked my kids what that elevations were called, but we could only remember alpine, and maybe subalpine. But the descending walkway from fourth to the third floor filled me in on the varying layers. It was coincidental.

P.S. I’m not going to tell you what all those zones are. The museum does a great job of explaining them, so all the more reason to visit.

Along the descent, you can watch water erode earth and create cool formations like an alluvial fan. You can move a fan to see how find sand moves about, creating hills and pockets. And when you finally reach the third floor, you can see if your jump can register on the seismograph (as I’m doing in the photo above). After all, the floor said, “Jump!”, so I said “How high?” It’s a great little spot to learn about earthquakes.

This floor is probably one of the most diverse floors in the exhibit. You can learn about the first peoples of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau. They’ve set up an archaeologic dig so you can see what something like that may look like out in the real world. You can look at displays to see items uncovered from those prehistoric people.

The Great Salt Lake is a pretty interesting place, and the museum helps you learn all about it. You can even see sea monkeys (brine shrimp), like what kids would order from magazines back in the day. The salty lake is an important feature of the ecosystem here, so take some time to learn about this amazing, though salty, resource.

Gemstones and Special Exhibits

But before heading to the exhibit about wetlands and the Great Salt Lake, walk across the bridge to the gems exhibit across the hall (near the elevators). You can see lots of colorful gems and rocks. There’s even an display case that has glowing rocks. It was pretty surreal.

The Natural History Museum of Utah has special exhibits from time to time. During our visit, they were between exhibits. But later this month, an exhibit on Ancient Egypt will open up.

Dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum of Utah

Young kids will probably want to bypass all the other exhibits and just start with the dinosaur portion. After all, kids love dinosaurs. My generation grew up with movies like Land Before Time. The brontosaurus was always referred to as Little Foot, and Tyrannosaurus Rex was Sharptooth. The fossils on display in this portion of the museum include dinosaurs big and small.

If you’ve ever been to Dinosaur National Monument in eastern Utah, you’ll know that fossils are being found throughout Utah. There are also dinosaur footprints near St. George that may be worth checking out. So the history of Utah and dinosaurs is fascinating, and the items on display at the museum support a better understanding of both.

As you wrap up your walk through the dinosaur area, you’ll end up back at the main area where you picked up your stylus. Drop your stylus in the bin so it can be cleaned and reused, and swing through the gift shop on your way out to grab a toy, t-shirt, book or other item to remember your visit.

The Details:

Address: 301 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT 84108

Cost: Adults are $14.95 each. Young adults (13-24) and Seniors (65+) are $12.95 each. Children (3-12) are $9.95, while children 2 and under are free. Current University of Utah students, staff and faculty are free with ID, along with museum members.

Hours: Sunday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Open till 9 p.m. on Wednesdays.

Website: https://nhmu.utah.edu/

Phone: (801) 581-6927

Disclosure: I received two complimentary admission tickets to the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City for the purpose of review. All opinions are my own.

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