Museum of Natural History and Science

A favorite place to visit for the whole family. We’ve had a Museum Center family membership for a few years now and I love the option to visit multiple museums under one roof. The Natural History & Science Museum is probably my personal favorite because there’s enough to hold both my 3-​year-​olds attention and mine. And a big bonus for little ones – there’s a giant indoor sandpit for the under-​5 set.
I like the different interactive spaces – the cave and the ice age ones in particular. There’s multiple layers of interaction you can choose from – from simply wandering through to stopping to read signs to playing the games/​activities set up along the way. This keeps it from getting boring even after many, many visits.

I’ve been here at least once a year sine I was born, and I am still finding New things to love about the exhibits and the museum itself.

This is a great place to spend some time learning about the city and the region’s history. The art deco design and the care that’s gone into preserving it is laudable. We found all the staff to be very knowledgeable and the kids loved the in-​character folks that were in various places! We saw most of the stuff we wanted to see but I can see us coming back again and again! This time they had an exhibit on Cinci and support during the second World War. Amazing stuff. Anyway, a gem in a great American city!

We like the «bat cave» but there is so much to explore in this place. When my youngest was 5 or 6, he became scared of the spaceman and so getting past that area required that we run. I would like to explore that area more and this summer — it’s on my list to visit — often!

only the view is worth it, it was all I could give, the Museum of Natural History and Science was closed, but has a good view of the sign and the best view in town. recommend going in the late afternoon that the photos will get better, and still get the look of OH the night is no joke.

Just walking in to see the old terminal is fun. The original murals are still painted on the walls. But this is a review of the museum portion. The cave and ice age sections were fun to walk through. But it felt rather empty. I wish there had been more information to take in. With that being said, I’d like to visit the Cincinnati History Museum next time.

This is my 3 year old nephews favorite place and it has been since he was 1. There is so much more there than the children’s museum so it does not get boring to go back over and over.

Located inside the Cincinnati Museum Center, this museum appeals to various age groups. There is something for children of all ages. For kids under 5 there is a play area, with a sandbox. As children get older there are displays and interactive areas for them. My kids like to synthetic bat cave, glaciers, dinosaur area, and space items. Some of the displays are broken.
Make sure to take the kids to the Trading Post to pick up a scavenger hunt sheet. Children earn points to be traded for small fossils, polished rocks, and shells. Points may be saved to earn larger prizes. School science projects/​reports, fossils, and the not may be brought in and traded for points too. Scavenger hunts change periodically.
This museum does feel like it is more for children than adults.

I always enjoy a trip to the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History and Science. What’s impressive to me is the size. When you walk in, you have no idea how large the museum is, and the exhibits are top-​notch with plenty of interactive opportunities for kids, live bats on display, a cave you can walk through and much more.
My only piece of feedback would be that it seemed like many of the displays had parts that were in disrepair, no longer functioning, etc. It would be nice to see these repaired.
TIPS
— Take your lunch and eat at one of the many seating areas in the main atrium
— There are many hand sanitizing stations located throughout the museum– use them or risk sickness! :)
— Buy an Annual Pass! I can’t stress this enough– If you live in the Cincinnati area– this is a great investment in the community, PLUS it provides you with endless options (it includes all the museums at the museum center) for COLD and HOT days throughout the year. You receive discounts on food/​gift shop items and IMAX and special exhibit ticket pricing.
— Always check the day’s schedule online before your visit. There are always a number of added value events (especially on weekends). Make sure you take a look so you can plan your arrival time.
— Parking! As you enter the Union Terminal there are TWO parking lots. Do not park in the first lot you pass on the right side as you enter. Go past it, proceed past the front of Union Terminal, keep going and park in the next parking lot on the right. This lot is always less crowded and you can park closer to the building.
— If you can, avoid three day weekends (Martin Luther King, Jr., President’s Day, etc.) because that seems to spike attendance.

While this does seem more geared toward children, I thought the limestone and ice caves were pretty neat. It is nice to walk-​through «interactive» exhibits like this.

Awesome place! Their exhibits are the best!

Very, very nice place. I wish it was a bit bigger but a very nice experience.

Good For Adults!
When I was told I was going to be taken caving and hiking, I prepared for a day of outdoor adventure. Little did I know I was being taken to the Museum of Natural History and Science.
Wait a bit, because the museum does start a little lame for the adults. Kids activity center, a bunch of arrow heads, a couple bones, etc. However turn the corner and you get into this AMAZING bat and Cave exhibit. This museum for layout is a little all over the place, but there is a elaborate exhibit of inter-​working caves and water to adventure through and learn about all the cave dwelling animals.
The next exhibit was the X-​ray mummy that was really neat to see, which lead to a Glacier Exhibit that was again a floor to ceiling creation to wonder through. Very interactive type of museum so a super plus for kids.
The rest went back to a short dinosaur exhibit and some American history before ending.
Definitely got my adventure though, plus I threw in some education new facts too.

Go for the indoor cave. SUPER cool. Very authentic. The kids were asking if it was real.
Lots to see and read and touch — it’s a very nice hands-​on museum, GREAT for kids.
We got in free with our Museum of Science and Industry membership — check for the ASTC symbol on your card. If you have a reciprocal membership, don’t wait in the regular line if it’s long — you can get tickets at Will Call.
The ticket line was huge on a Saturday afternoon, so if you’re buying tickets I would purchase them on line then wait in the Will Call line.

[This is part of a set of reviews covering establishments my family and I encountered while taking a road trip to Cincinnati.]
Before I get on with my Unilocal,I have to apologize to Cincinnati-​ans. I visited the Childrens’ Museum and the Natural History and Science Musuem during my visit to Cincy and have so much to say about them, I am going to split this Unilocal into three Unilocal.I figure I can deal with the heat of creating new businesses for the the museums rather than have you read a Harry Potter sized Unilocal.For those of you that are used to the museum because you live in the area, I hope you enjoy an out-of-towner’s point of view.
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This is another cool museum in Museum Center. Frankly, though, I’m not sure why they call it a science museum because there was only one small section devoted to science and the exploration of space. The rest of it was about the natural development of the area.
It’s set up with two distinct areas. One was as a walk through so you go from one exhibit to another and the other was an interactive area for the kids. In the first section of the walk-​through exhibits, they had some cool window displays of the indigenous peoples and how they lived. You pressed a button to hear about the display, but the speaker was too soft and too far away to really hear what was said. It was too bad because it was well put together otherwise.
In one area they did a good job of introducing the animals of the land before leading you to a cool area with life sized taxidermy animals from thousands of years ago.
One of the coolest parts was a cave you could walk through. They had two paths, one easy and one hard. We went through both. The easy path was all on one floor with nice large passageways. The hard one was up and down and had some passageways that got pretty narrow. I was carrying my three year old son and could barely get through them. Each path had a few exhibits about the cave and I feel like they could have had a few more. The hard path is definitely worth it if you can get through it. One of the exhibits on that path had the skeleton of a large cat that said it had wandered into the cave and couldn’t find its way out. It led me to believe that the cave was real and not just a man-​made exhibit. Some of the stalagmites and stalagtites were wet and there was water dripping in a lot of places. Being under Union Station, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was real.
We spent about an hour here without getting too in depth. If you get a scavenger hunt for the kids at the beginning of the walk through area, don’t bother with it. It was actually pretty challenging to find the answers (which was good), but the prize was getting points at the trading post that you used to «buy» shells, rocks, and various other crap that the kids will only enjoy for a day and you don’t need in your house. All the cool stuff worth «buying» cost a lot more points so you would have to come to the museum a lot to accumulate enough points to buy them.
The only other thing I didn’t like about this museum is that the back of the ice cream shop butt up to the entrance and there is a huge window between the two. I don’t know if the window is for ice cream patrons to see the museum or to entice museum goers to the ice cream shop (I’m sure I can guess), but after an hour and a half of walking, all you hear from kids are «can we have some ice cream???» Not cool.