A Quick Pit Stop

Museums are abundant here in Southern California. They are great places to take children to help them wrap their heads around concepts they've been learning about in books and talks at home and school.

We have been taking Kaila to visit these educational gems since she could be pushed around in her stroller at the Getty. Now that she’s older, her appreciation for art, science and history is perking up. We often have to take her back to revisit some of the places where we went when she was younger, because she has a new awareness.

Dinosaurs, prehistoric animals, and tar pits have become her recent fascination. She’s beginning to understand that there were once animals like mastodons, mammoths, dire wolves, saber-toothed cats and ground sloths who lived in our area not too long ago.

The Moorpark Mammoth’s discovery has helped fuel this curiosity in her as well, and she is excited to know that mammoths were living in our own backyard 10,000 years ago.

Tar pits have become a topic of discussion in our home of late. I think Kaila is trying to understand their workings. She has related that she likes the gooey black hazards, but is aware of the danger they pose to animals.  

We took Kaila to visit the Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits located in nearby Los Angeles on Wilshire Blvd. This was her third visit, but her understanding of the museum and surrounding pits within the park is much more keen now that’s she’s older.

We saw huge awe-inspiring skeletons of Columbian Mammoths, but she was a bit afraid of the animated life-size exhibit of a saber-toothed cat preying on a ground sloth.

There is also the famous fish-bowl laboratory located inside the museum where you can get a close-up view of the paleontologists working to sort microfossils, uncast a giant mammoth skull, and uncover new discoveries.

Kaila’s favorite part of the museum trip was getting up close to the oozing tar. There are several large fenced-off pits, but there are also numerous places in the park where the liquid asphalt naturally bubbles to the surface of the ground.

We are lucky to have many museums and discovery centers to visit. Some of our favorites are:

The Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, which has a brand new dinosaur hall opening Saturday.

The Getty and Getty Villa are both wonderful resources to introduce your child to art. Both are free to visit, but you must reserve your tickets in advance and there is a fee for parking. The Getty even has a really fun family room where children are invited to experience art through hands-on exhibits. (Note: the Getty Museum is closed this weekend due to the 405 closure.)

The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is where the Moorpark Southern Mammoth will be incorporated into a newly expanded exhibit in the future. The museum also features the breathtaking Butterflies Alive! exhibit, which runs through Sept. 11. If your little one is more interested in sea life, you can visit the Ty Warner Sea Center which is owned and operated by the Natural History Museum and located on Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara.

Go out and have an expedition and discover what these museums hold.