Austin Nature and Science Center

I had taken Havoc to Zilker Park's Nature and Science Center when he was about nine months old, and while he liked playing with the other little boy we hung out with that day, he was really too young to enjoy everything the Center has to offer. Today was an unusually warm December day, topping out in the low 80's, so we decided to take the boy back to see if it would be more fun for him now that he's two and a half. Plus, it's free (although I strongly suggest leaving a little donation), and oh, how I love free!

The main building has a room filled with cool things for the kids (and Dads, if Tim is any kind of gauge to go by!) to touch; animal pelts, bones, snake skins, teeth, feathers, all kinds of interesting sensory items. Havoc loves to touch things, so that was a hit, right up until he realized that it was totally okay to be touching these things, so he lost interest.
There is another room with a big cave that is always full of kids (and Dads) running through the tunnel and laughing. Havoc found a couple of cute sisters and chased them around for a while, giving them "Yarrrr"s (roaring at them) and laughing his little face off. It was super cute, aaaaand then the girls' tiny little baby sister started crying from all the yelling, so we bolted before we got any glares from the other parents.

Outside, there is a small zoo of rescued animals, most of whom were sleeping, of course. I'm not sure how it is in other places, but it's a serious rarity to see zoo animals up and about in Central Texas during the day! The enclosures are decently outfitted, although the close quarters and heat make it smell just awful. The small animal house (which is small in and of itself) is even smellier, but the snakes and fish and turtles and tarantulas made it worth it to me. I love me some creepy crawlies! Havoc enjoyed seeing the animals, but he was much more interested in the Birds of Prey area, full of owls and vultures and hawks, oh my! He minded his manners and told the owls goodbye when we headed to the Dino Pit.

The Dino Pit is, I think, the biggest draw for the kids.

It has several big pits full of sand for the kids to dig in, and under the sand are buried (artificial, of course) dinosaur bones! They're huge and cool and there are tons of kid sized shovels and brushes to bring out the little archeologist in the kids. I wish there was some kind of shade there, as I don't particularly enjoy baking in the sun and certainly don't want my fair skinned little man getting burned, but other than that it's a great area.

There is a beautiful pond there with turtles and water lilies and reeds and such, and a shallow stream in which you can usually find some adventurous youngsters splashing around!

It's a great picnic spot for the fam, although I doubt I'd bring non-parents there, just not much there to interest the childless... and somehow I doubt it's "acceptable" to BYOB.  Seemed wisest to just not ask. It's also not dog friendly, which is unfortunate since most of the rest of the Zilker area is and we love to take Zoe there to run around. It's open Monday-Saturday from 9-5, and Sunday 12-5.

Dad: 7 of 10
Mom: 7.5 of 10
Kid: 9 of 10
Price: 10! Free is always a 10

http://austintexas.gov/department/austin-nature-science-center

(By the way, sorry about the craptastic photos, I spaced out on bringing the big kid camera and took these with my phone. Oops!)

I am in no way affiliated with the Austin Nature and Science Center.