Museum/experience ideas for a 6 year old keen on natural history?

[SarahAndQuack]

As it says on the tin. DD is fascinated by natural history; she loves skeletons and finding out about different kinds of creatures and where they live; she would adore a bit of light dissection (I'm too squeamish - my mum dissected an owl pellet with her and identified all the tiny mousy bones, and DD considers this a high point in life).

I wanted to take her to the Natural History Museum or the Pitt Rivers in Oxford, but train prices are prohibitive as we're in North Yorkshire. Consensus from friends is that the Yorkshire Museum is pretty unimpressive.

Any thoughts - not just about good museums, but also experiences your children enjoyed - would be hugely appreciated!

Your local wildlife trust or local RSPB reserve might be a place to ask for pellet dissection activities.

The museum in Stoke has a great nat history display and I'll bet if you contacted them beforehand you could get the nat history curator to come and have a chat. The Staffordshire Hoard is worth a whizz past, too, though not ofc nat history but human.

Manchester Museum!

Came to say this - amazing place

The Natural History Museum shop (the one in London) and also the Science Museum has a lot of great stuff for kids. Good source of Christmas and birthday presents for a kid keen on science and the outdoors.

Whereabouts in N Yorks?

Hancock Museum in Newcastle?
Leeds City Museum ?
Both have stuff like this.

The Rotunda Museum is Scarborough is geological (rocks and fossils).

The rotunda at Scarborough and then to the art gallery in the crescent. It’s not a huge museum but the displays are great and the materials for kids are great. There’s a map you can follow to walk to the art gallery. If you’re feeling really adventurous you can go to burniston beach. (It’s really a wave cut platform) and look for dinosaur footprints.

Fossil Club for children - not quite the same but includes field trips and microscope tuition What's On | Yorkshire Natural History Museum (ynhm.org)

Is Sheffield do-able?

Yorkshire Natural History Museum is more rocks/fossils than birds and plants, but the Weston Park Museum has natural history stuff.

X post @CherrySocks !

Thanks! I think since my mum's done the pellets with her, I'll call it a day - I mentioned that more to give a sense of what sort of thing I was thinking of.

Stoke Museum sounds great! And personally I would be up for seeing the Staffordshire Hoard even if she's not!

Wonderful! Sounds good.

Your local wildlife trust will also have activities for kids, pond dipping, bat detecting and the like.

Sutton bank visitor centre has microscopes and various displays and activities about the ryevitalise project. Also a great natural play park.

Whitby museum for a more traditional everything in case experience

You probably need to look for when there are special events on. The rotunda has activities throughout the summer
Danby moors centre although there’s a cost for these. Robin hoods bay old coastguard station.

Worth looking at national trust, forestry commission for dalby forest, national parks, websites. Arboretum at castle Howard

That's a lovely idea, thanks. I'm more thinking of things I can take her to/have someone do with her. We are already making our way steadily through last Christmas's science-y haul (and I, a resolute Artsy type, am breathing deeply and reminding myself it's ok to be clueless ...).

8 miles north of York. Would you recommend Leeds City Museum? I saw mixed reviews. I don't know of the Hancock, but I love Newcastle so that would be a nice plan. I've not been to the Rotunda but of course that's close for us so sounds great. She recently went to Robin Hood's Bay and had a fabulous time finding fossils, so I suspect it'd appeal.

Thank you!

This is really convincing me that Scarborough is the way to go! Thank you. It's so hard to tell from googling museums, and I hadn't registered that this would be anything much, but it sounds lovely.

Animal Encounters at Askham Bryan College

National Bird of Prey Centre near Malton does some great experiences for adults and kids from 10 upwards.

Forest Club www.bornoftheforest.co.uk

How did your children get on with this? I'm a bit sceptical of the Yorkshire Museum TBH.

@SarahAndQuack - it's been a few years since I went to Leeds City Mussum. I remember it being "OK", but not much more. DS was about 7. He was ok with the Nat history stuff, but preferred the Egyptian stuff, but he prefers History to anything.

Sheffield is certainly doable. I'm not that impressed by the Yorkshire Museum TBH. The Weston would work well as it's also on the way to family further south, so we could easily swing past. Thank you!

https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/roger-osborne/dinosaur-coast/9780907480884

This is a really good book, I’ve had my copy for years but it’s very well read by my 6 year old. Fossils are fairly easy to find in this coast.

There's nothing particularly close to us that looks very interesting, unless I'm missing something!

@SarahAndQuack the fossil club that @CherrySocks posted about isn't at the Yorkshire Museum, it's at the Yorkshire Natural History Museum in Sheffield. It's only about a year old. I haven't managed to get there yet, but I have heard excellent reports of it, and the fossil club, from assorted children aged 5-10.

Thank you! Sutton Bank sounds great. We like Whitby Museum, but we've done it; likewise Robin Hood's Bay, Dalby Forest, etc. You are reminding me we are very lucky to have a lot of nice things near here.