Academy of Natural Sciences

Brought our kids here to explore. They had a good time and the best part was walking through the butterfly exhibit. It’s pretty hot and humid in there so be prepared. Our kids had a blast seeing all the different butterflies and the cacoons.
The dinosaur exhibit was also something different to see. They also had quite a bit of animals on display (stuffed) and during our stay they had a live animal show going on. They also had a ninja turtle station where kids could get their face painted for free. :)

Very cool place to visit. Good for kids 5 to 10 years old. I’m 44 and still loved looking at dinosaur bones.

Our family enjoyed the Academy of Natural Sciences. We had 3 children with us who especially enjoyed the hands on activities.

This has been my favorite museum in Philadelphia for 23 years (I am 24). For as long as I can remember I have been coming here and have been amazed. This is an amazing place for children, absolutely, but they also host some awesome events for adults with drinks and various other things. You can always find an amazing gift for anyone at the gift shop.

Overpriced… The entrance must be free… Suuper small place and exhibition, and also you cant see all the exibitions because you must yo pay for it… I mean. Yoy pay for the entrance, and they wnat you pay againg… They have only one dinosaur…

I just brought my daughter here for one of her friends birthday and I have to say the staff was amazing. The party room is central to the dinosaur exhibit and also allows for the kids to see workers scraping away at fossils. The tour guides were perfect and did an excellent job of ensuring that the kids had activities at every place.
They also had coloring paper and balloons in the room as well as had the tour guides help serve pizza and cake. Overall I would highly recommend for a children’s birthday party and was very happy with the service.

Went there with my wife and kids. We got to see a lot of fossils and dinosaurs and he loved it! I think it’s a lovely permanent collection and really fantastic temporary exhibits. There are plenty of things here that are at least interesting and some that are fascinating.

For the price, I would not recommend this place. It is really really small we went through the whole place in about 30 – 40 minutes.
The best thing about this place is the live butterfly exhibit! You get to actually walk through the butterflies habitat and see all of them either perching on trees, fruit, or walls. It’s really amazing. However be careful because they blend in really well and you might step on one! It’s also super hot in there (80 degrees) so take off your jacket first!
Overall, if you have the Philadelphia pass and free time, it’s worth checking out because it’s right next to the Franklin Institute. But, if you’re paying per museum I would just walk on over to the Franklin Institute. MUCH better use of your money and time.

A wonderful gem of a museum. Perfect combination of beautifully maintained old dioramas and contemporary exhibits. Small enough to tackle in a few hours with lovely docent staff.

Absolutely loved this place!
My husband and I, as well as our children fell in love with this place.
Their exhibits were a lot of fun, and they also had a lot of interactive stations, where you could touch fossils, and live creatures. They also had a theater where you sat, and they had special presentations with live animals. There was also an activity area for children as well.
My kids are begging me for another trip, and soon!

I’ve been a big fan of natural history museums ever since I was a kid, and the Academy of Natural Sciences did not disappoint. They have a wide variety of displays covering many topics, as well as rotating special exhibits. Drexel students get free admission, and I highly recommend taking advantage of it before you graduate!

Although small compared to other more famous natural history/​natural science museums like the National Museum of Natural History or the Field Museum, it is still a good place to bring kids to learn and to be curious. If you do, make sure you attend one of the presentations held just outside the theater and plan to spend only a couple of hours if you like to read and look at everyone closely.
I wish the information plaques had more information on them or that they identified the plants, insects and other animals also located within the dioramas.
The Academy has a rotation of special exhibits so be sure to check out their website regularly.

This was pretty cool, but it’s SO SMALL. I was shocked that it only took us 45 minutes to walk through. Kind of a bummer, but if you’re looking to kill a little time, maybe it’s worth the trip.

I took my son here recently and was pretty impressed by the museum. I grew up not too far from Philly but where I grew up was much more in the NYC sphere of influence so the only place like this in Philly that I really knew of was the Franklin Institute. It actually wasn’t until I had taken my son to the Franklin Institute did I look across the street and see the Academy of Natural Sciences. The outside of the building is exactly what you would expect from a museum of its age. Very stately, with granite columns and stone stairs. When you first walk in, to the right is the dinosaur room which is a great way to get kids excited about the trip. Upstairs in the dinosaur room the kids can actually put on a pair of goggles and dig for dinosaurs themselves! Then there are some animal dioramas that show different taxidermied animals posed in their ‘natural habitat’. Probably the funnest room is the butterfly room where you can walk through a butterfly habitat.
Definitely worth a visit and a membership if you live in the area

Yes to this museum! Yes to its many corridors and halls of natural science exhibits from dinosaurs to taxidermy animals to the beautiful live butterfly exhibit. Yes to the great tours and presentations from leading scientists. When we lived in Phila, we were members and I took my kids there a few times a year. A great outing as a family in an absolutely outstanding museum. Wish we could go back more often.

Kids loved it. Dinosaur skeletons were a big hit, and the staff was incredibly friendly, taking time to talk with the little ones and try and teach them something new.

We had an awesome time here. Very interesting exhibitions, if you like dinosaurs this place should be in your bucketlist. We spent 3 hours here reading, watching and taking photos of everything. Admission fee is 15.95 but if you are interested to see another special exhibition (we also saw the titanoboa exhibition for another $ 3.00) you have to pay extra. Butterfly room is included with general admission, this place is so colorful and pretty. They have theaters, cafeteria, shop,… My experience was so great, i totally recommend this interesting place!

Solid! Took around 2.5 hours to fully explore. The chocolate exhibit (going on until Jan 24, 2015) was the best part.
Good mix of stuff for kids and adults and the age-​specific areas are spread out in order to keep you moving. Struck me as odd that there were no docents walking around — none! I want to be told not to touch stuff!
Be sure to visit the gift shop for some lols. To be honest, we initially only visited the museum at all to see the giant dinosaur slippers they were selling.

Enjoyed myself. I loved all the animals.. Most I’ve never even knew existed. Always cool to learn new things

Overall the Academy is a fun very worth while visit, although somewhat smaller than I’d expected. We started with a Live Animal Presentation which had the kids in awe of an owl & a central american Coatimundi (like a big raccoon).
The Dinosaur Hall is impressive & my son really enjoyed the ‘Big Dig’ where he got be a paleontologist in the sand. We’ll be back for The Butterfly exhibit as it’s closed until next week.
The Academy Library and Archives look fantastic (from the doorway) but you need an organized appointment to visit– seems fair as kids would probably run amok!
The Café offers good lunch choices & service is fast and friendly (as it is throughout this place).
‘Outside-​In’ on Level 3 is well organized although similar to stuff you see many other places, but my son loved the Eagle nest exhibit & the spider cases.
One small gripe; my own issue & not any reflection on the Academy: on street parking is tough to find in central Philly & even with a discount coupon the Parking Garage up the street cost me $ 22 for two hours! Next time I’ll park other side of the Ben F P’way in the residential zone.

This is great for kids. You can start from the dinosaur exhibit and work your way up to taxidermic animals. I think all the dinosaur bones are just replicas. There are so many activities for the kiddies like a dinosaur dig on the second floor.
There’s a live animal section on the top floor with a gigantic bunny, and tutles, spiders, bee, etc. very fun and interactive for the kiddies.
There is also a live butterfly exhibit, very humid but educational. You can watch where all the cocoons are hung until the butterflies are ready to come out.
They also have a bird exhibit, with no live birds though. It’s all just educational stuff, with videos and presentations. They have a game called dance dance evolution where you can dance like a male bird and have female birds vote for the best dancing bird.
They also have live animal presentations in the auditorium, but you don’t get to touch the animals. Apparently the animals rotate and are random. The presentation was 20 mins to 30 mins. The lady showed us a snake and an iguana.
If you have kids, it will be a great family day :)

Love taking my little nephew here. Even though he may be afraid of butterflies when they land on him (maybe it was everyone pointing at him — regardless — being afraid of butterflies will be a good story when he gets older), this place is full of all those things that kids love!
Dinos!
Butterflies!
Stuffed animals!
Space to run around and be a kid!
A place to dig for dino bones!!!
Can’t wait to go back (I have a soft space for the butterfly room as it’s warm and toasty — check it out in the middle of the winter and you’ll never want to leave).

The butterfly lady (I think her name was Courtney?) will change your life.
‘Nuff said.

A few of my friends were visiting me from my hometown and, since we’re all just a bunch of kids at heart, I decided to bring them here for the dinosaur exhibit. We had a BLAST. The dinosaur exhibit was great, showcasing a lot of fossils and, sadly, a lot of casts.
I would really like to give mad props to the two women working the table of animal bones on the top floor of the dino exhibit. They were great at explaining what everything was to the group of children in front of them, then when the children left and my friends and I walked up (we’re all in our mid-​twenties), they changed their tone immediately and explained everything to us in a very adult manner. They were so knowledgeable and I really dug their enthusiasm. When it dawned on me that they had the butterfly room in this museum («I COMPLETELY FORGOT THAT WAS HERE!»), the two women got excited with me («YES, WE DO HAVE THAT!!!»). I love people like that, and I just wanted to give them the praise they deserve.
Anyway, the rest of the museum was great. The «Paleopalooza» event was going on while we were there, so there were plenty of activities set up around the museum for kids to take part in (my friends and I refrained). The butterfly room was really great. It’s nice that they give people a chance to be surrounded by beauty like that, even in the middle of the city. Even if it is incredibly humid.

We stopped by briefly as we had a layover on r way 2 Paris. My boyfriend (at the time) wanted 2 check this museum out since he wuz a high school science teacher. I enjoyed the giant dinosaurs. Made me feel like I wuz in the movie «night at the museum». They had animal dioramas, lots of neat mollusks, a small tropical butterfly room as well as a gift shop & a café. It’s centrally located & great 4 kids & adults. U can get a discount w a student ID, AAA, or if u’re in the military.