Small Yet Mighty (Just Another Museum Visit)

There is something about a small museum that appeals to my family.  I think the kids feel comfortable in a space that is more scaled to the familiar size.  Small means they (and we parents) can wander a bit but not feel at risk of getting lost.  Smaller means less general museum fatigue.  We leave the museum feeling more invigorated, though often we spend just the same amount of time as a larger institution.  Seriously--my kids go around and around the museum in a loop.  So we end up spending our usual 45 minutes, just in less square footage.

The smallness of a museum is not always to be confused with the smallness of its collection and exhibition.  Even in four galleries, a museum could display some remarkable specimens and information.  The exhibit area could be spacious yet full, thorough but not overwhelming or crowded.  I feel I'm speaking in silly hypothetical here ("it could possibly," etc.), but we've experienced a place where this is all absolutely happening.

The Brigham Young University Paleontology Museum (aka the dinosaur museum) is just such a perfect-sized museum with an excellent collection and exhibition design.  We have made it almost a tradition to visit this museum when visiting my family.  It had been an entire year since going to the museum with my then-four and two-year-olds, but when I mentioned visiting grandparents to my now-five-year-old he asked excitedly, "Are we going to go to the dinosaur museum?"  With a request like that how could we deny him?  So yes, yes, we went.

This view captures about a quarter of the museum.  I centered the lovely predator, but there are several more large, complete (or as good as) skeletons to the right of the me-holding-the-camera, behind me, to the left of me in the next gallery.  So, tons of awesome fossils and old bones for the kids (of all ages) to enjoy.

I hope I'm remembering right, as I'm not checking my facts here (for shame, wannabe academic!), but when I was a kid my parents would take me to a game or event at the athletic stadium at BYU and point to a massive area under the bleachers and say, "that's where they keep all the dinosaur bones!"  As we were always at the stadium at night it was kind of creepy thinking about all those old bones piled up in a dark and cold storage room.  And I may have had a nightmare or two about that.  When awake I thought it was awesome and would sometimes think about what would happen when someday the boxes of bones were taken out and opened.  I imagined great wooden crates with old packing material.  Had I seen Indiana Jones by the time I was ten?  I don't know, but that's what I imagined.

Some of those crates must still be being opened.  Or new specimens are arriving into the collection.  Either way (or likely both) we get to see some of the behind-the-scenes action from the comfort of the gallery.  A wall of glass allows us to see into the cleaning room and each time I have visited there has been a student or two working away at a big bone part or fossil remnant.

Can't resist a mommy and me museum moment photo-op with some hand-horns.

Each of the four galleries had at least one station for hands-on touching of fossils, petrified tree bits, dinosaur bones.  I didn't get any shots of the kids' cute hands touching the stuff, but I have lots of those like from other museum visits in my files for later.  Don't you worry 'bout that.

How can you not love a museum with a sense of humor?  All the labels had helpful phonetics so we could sound out the name of a creature when our kids asked.  This was our favorite for obvious reasons.

 

I leave you with this marvelous profile.  Hope there are no nightmares resulting from it.  Tell me, friends, have you been to a dinosaur museum recently?   What was your kid's favorite part?  Counting the teeth?  Trying to pronounce those names?  I'd love to hear all about it!