Going to Natural History Museum - your "must see" highlights?

[redskyatnight]

We?re planning a trip to the Natural History museum next week (me, DH and 2DC aged 9 and 7).
We are expecting it to be busy so would like some recommendations about the ?best bits? to visit with DC of those ages (other than dinosaurs which are already on the list!).

We like the bug bit.

Take a picnic there is a big picnic room. Iddon't find nhm very interactive for kids, I think its behind the times for a national museumin that respect. Science museum srund corner though he you want a bit more Ihands on.

We went this week and DD (2) enjoyed roaring at the dinosaurs, the mammal exhibition (counting how many steps it took to get to the end if the whale) and the bugs.

It was very, very busy. We arrived at 10:15 and waited 20m to get in, then another 20m for the dinosaurs. By the time we left at about lunchtime the queue to get into the dinosaur room was 1.5hrs (then another hour to get round to the T-Rex) and about 2 hours to actually get in. Please arrive as early as you can!

I love the NHM. It's fab. And so much more to it than the dinosaurs! What are your DCs into?

If they really like geography and stuff like volcanos and earthquakes, make sure you go to the bit up the escalators in the 'red zone' which has an earthquake experience and cool stuff like that. Lots of geology etc.

I enjoyed the new Darwin Centre and think your DCs are probably the right age. Pretty interactive I would say.

You should also try and get to some of the talks/ hands on things that they run. E.g. Investigate. The Nature workshops are drop in throughout the afternoon. I haven't done this but have heard it is good. here

Also, as you're walking round, set your DCs challenges to find certain things in the fabric of the building itself. there are animals carved into the stone used to build the museum. You can find all sorts of interesting things if you look closely.

My DS still loves the massive blue whale though and all the stuffed animals. Sometimes the old traditional stuff is more popular than you think!