Arizona Museum of Natural History
Website: azmnh.org
Plan for a full day at this Museum. It is filled with amazing exhibits and breath-taking artifacts. Throughout the museum, there are plenty of children’s activities. So much information is filled within every exhibit. There are several levels containing rich filled history. As you walk in the museum the beginning space is open and filled with dinosaur fossils. It leaves an inviting feeling and exhilarating firsthand experience. Once you enter past the entrance the museum's layout contains the beginning of our origin one side and on the other history of Dinosaurs. The flow of the museum is almost as if a story were being told. A history of where civilization began to where we are now. This museum holds an entirely interactive experience. You will be blown away with sound effects, video, text and fascinating exhibits that take you back in time.
The museum contains a rich filled history of Arizona and its neighbors. I love the fact that it contains beautiful Arizona pictures titled, “Arizona Highways” on the upper floor. The museum showcases rich filled text and offers another dimension of interaction such as mineral displays you can touch and projects for children to engage. Projects for children and adults include puzzles of maps, pottery, fossils, rugs, and many other activities for children that will intrigue the mind. These interactive displays are offering history by exploring hands-on. The history presented is exciting within the museum and holds many wonders. The sounds of dinosaurs and of a waterfall make it even more of an enhanced experience. For the sound takes you out into a different time and place. The spaces within the museum that offer sound make it even more enjoyable. For example, the “The lost Dutchman” exhibit was featured as a cave and contained dim lighting from lanterns and windows of artifacts with sound. It was next to an old jail that needed no sound because walking in the jail exhibit was a very grim experience.
Also, the museum contained so much history of Native Americans and delivered the displays very well. Exhibits contain pottery, jewelry, tools and huts containing some artifacts and life-size characters showing native Americans within their element. It was wonderful to imagine and easy to understand the display of items because of how well everything was positioned. This museum did not leave you guessing. Each layout for the exhibits were well displayed along with fascinating information to read or items to engage. As I mentioned, the activities were plentiful, and there was an area especially for children to play called, “The Dino Zone.” This particular area was dedicated to children and had so many activities for them to learn and engage. The museum also contained some movie screen information as well. It displayed old posters including Marilyn Monroe, Star Wars and much more. I really appreciated the way the museum included so much history of Arizona. The museum answered questions with displays. Who was here before we were? What did they do? How did they live? All thoroughly explained well on display.
Displays and exhibits created many dimensions for engagement. Videos, text, outside of window exhibits. A 3D dimension experience was offered in many of the exhibits that were displayed other than a window. You have a greater appreciation of the window displays because of the artifacts being extremely fragile. It’s phenomenal to believe Mesa contains items so old and fragile there for the public to view. An amazing experience to see the first made tools and blades used to cut open a Mammoth. The first of our civilization all gathered up to show to the public within one building. From space exploration and the planets to constellations all showcasing such beauty. The rocks and minerals showcased flowed nearby the space area and worked well by complimenting one another. The museum is telling you a story of how it all began on so many levels.
The museum also contains the history of the Spanish explorers and has a display of a knight as a Spanish Conquistador. Father Kino is also a part of Arizona history and a display showing one of the first churches built was wonderful to view. The dynamic of history from South America and Mesoamerica was fascinating as well. The displays were diverse in culture and offered plenty to experience and understand. The textures of the exhibit took you into a different time and space. Exemplifying a space from somewhere else picked up and delivered to the Arizona museum. Spaces displayed brought you into another time dimension. The detail of the structures for the exhibits were carefully thought out and brilliantly displayed for all to see. You can view our history by the structures and designs that displayed pieces of beautiful history. Various arts including pottery and woven blankets were lovely to see. Although, some delicate artifacts were behind glass they were still lovely to view as they were.
When I visited the museum, it was on the weekend and there was a children’s birthday party being held within a special room in the museum. Sounds like an enjoyable experience to have a rich filled museum birthday party. The museum took careful consideration of making it a kid-friendly environment. If you don’t plan on leaving your home and would like to visit the museum the website offers a “Google 360 tour.” The website also offers many images of the artifacts on display. Technology is a beautiful thing especially if you wanted to preview the museum from out of state or within the comfort of your home. Also, parking near the museum was easy. Within the museum, you can use the stairs or an elevator to travel between the various levels. From bottom to top the story of history continues beautifully Throughout the museum you had the ability to tour freely, except if you were bringing a stroller you might have a bit of trouble within just a couple of exhibits. Other than inside you also have an outside experience called the “Paleo Dig Pit.”
To conclude, take the day and explore our history of civilization by visiting this museum. I especially am thankful for the museum being located here in Mesa, Arizona. Our history is richly filled with beauty and wonder. It is diverse and above all makes you greatly appreciate the fascinating past we once had. The museum will take you back in time and bring you back. Enjoy this kid-friendly environment full of constant interaction. I was only able to describe just a small bit of what the museum had. There are so many more exhibits and attractions that are featured at the museum. The experience is magical and mystifying. A special thank you to those who made all this possible for Mesa residents to see as they please.
Written by: Diana Madril
Sources:
Vision Internet-Innovators of Online Government.(2017). Arizona Museum of Natural History. Retrieved from http://arizonamuseumofnaturalhistory.org/
