Buena Vista Museum of Natural History & Science

Great idea and lots of wonderful information. The pros is the cost is affordable for family. Lots to discover on 2 floors. The cons it can use a deep cleaning and new display ideas.

It is a cute little museum. My son definitely loved it here the staff was very friendly and willing to help me out. They have an elevator in the back to help get through the three stories of the museum. Will definitely come again. And was a fair price too!

Love, love, love this museum!They have 3 floors of interesting exhibits.. theres sure to be something for everyone! I like the taxidermy floor and all of the marine science exhibits and my husband likes the Native American artifacts.My kiddo has a blast everytime we come here! There is a whole floor of hands on fun for kids.. plus the dinosaur exhibit has 2 full skeletons! The price is low and they almost always have some kind of groupon deal, so be sure to check that out before heading down!

On our way to Joshua Tree NP, we had a day in Bakersfield, Kern County Museum on our list was closed for an event that day so we ended up spending time here. We felt that they have a lot of interesting sections but the presentation was lacking - displays lacking lighting and maintenance, papers covering windows, water damage on the roof, lack of AC in all sections etc.This place has potential, if only they had funding, it can become a top quality museum.(millionaires looking for a cause take notice :) )They have a sections on- Native Americans in California- Mayans- Earthquakes- Precious gems- Dinosaurs - Sharks- Touch and play section for kids.- Animals

So after a few visits here I have found that the street view does not do this place justice from what they offer inside. This museum has lots of great stuff for the kids to check out and learn about. The staff first off is very inviting and welcoming as soon as you walk in. The museum is currently trying to afford being able to purchase and update their building. Of the 4 floors they have there is bound to be something that will intrigue each member of your family. My son loves the info about the sharks and upstairs the stuff about dinosaurs. My daughter loves the geology area. They both love the Oh! Zone in the basement. This is the area where kids are allowed to touch and play with everything! They have a big sandbox to dig for dinosaur bones, large foam blocks to build the biggest towers, microscopes to check out the small things, and light boards to look at bones from X-ray film. I really hope more people visit and increase the activity here. They are only open Thursday-Saturday and occasionally Sundays but call ahead of you want to visit.A side note: if you have a membership to either CALM or the Kern County Museum your membership gets you into this museum for free as a reciprocal zoo/museum!

Really nice little museum in the middle of downtown Bakersfield. Love the gem collection. Kid had a blast!

Went with my Allyvea on her second grade school field trip, and I have to say I have never been to this place before. It was different, but was very nice. All the staff did very well with the 2nd graders. We went to go see taxidermied animals, skeletons, and minerals and a lot of the kids liked it. This place is geared more towards children than towards adults. I wouldn't recommend it for smaller kids, but I would for kids 7 and up.The staff was very patient with the kids and all their questions .

This place was amazing! My son had the best time! We went as a birthday group for a friend, she didn't tell me how much she paid but said that is was so cheap and she's a single mother who paid for the 20 of us . First advice never judge a book by the cover! Also future advice Instead of trying to travel to see new things in other places, first make sure you have explored your own city! I'm 31 and have never been but it was an amazing experience! I truly enjoyed it and so did my toddler ! The once alive animals were amazing , and huge,they look very well taken care of!! Staff is friendly and not to pushy or rude. We had room to discover so many things. I will never forget my sons face when he saw the dinosaur part of the museum , it's truly amazing ! What a Gem we have here! They have an elevator for stroller families and stairs for the regular folk! Large parking in the back and some areas in the front. This is a must see and revisit for sure! My favorite part of this museum is the elephant on the first floor and the basement it's a large active area for learning and fun for children! My son had the time of his life. I hope people read this review and make it a family outing! Colorful and fun!

This was my first stop in Bakersfield for my "There is so things to do in Bakersfield" adventure. I had called while getting gas to make sure they were open. It was veteran's day after all. Nice lady who answered warned me of a parade that was going to shut down the streets around the place. She even suggested where I should park. Several hours later, I arrived, and parked in the suggested parking structure. A short walk later I entered the place. Sure, it's no LA Natural History Museum. But there's practically nobody here. Entrance price was a mere eight dollars. Three floors of goodness ranging in topics from local history to dinosaurs to space exploration. Pretty cool and stuffed with information for such a tiny place. The top floor has their geology, paleontology and anthropology areas. There was even a neat hands-on experiment demonstrating the properties of sound. Lots of models, they've even got a reconstructed full sized ceratopsian as well as a reconstruction indian home up there. The middle floor has mostly natural and current animals. There are a few more paleontological exhibits here too. Fossils of ancient turtles and sharks along side bones and other examples of more modern species. There were even fossils that you could pick up and touch. I've never been able to do that. Even at the LA Natural History Museum. I've never experienced millions of years of history within my hands. Connecting with the past first hand. Wow. Very cool. There's also the gift shop here. Small. No refrigerator magnets. Coffee cups though. Downstairs is the kids fun-zone area. I'm a big kid, so I went down there to check it out. A large room of things for kids to hang onto and science. One that I particularly liked was a row of large high powered magnifiers. Each with a basket of assorted stuff to look at under said magnifier. Bones, rocks, shells...and lots of other things for young minds to pick up and see under great magnification. An Elephant's skull also sat down here. It was very large, and very worn through hands on contact by a very many people. There were also microscopes focused on slides for kids to look at, but they were off at the time I visited. Also downstairs was a room on space exploration. This room was also dark, despite attempts at the light switch. My cellphone light illuminated an image of the moon, and a model of the stars and other astronomical objects. I explored this area, and the kids play/learn area a bit. When I attempted to complete the arch for the hands-on architecture experiment, I found that it was missing a few pieces. Neat experiment, I'd have loved to see how it finished. Overall, I liked the place. I really did. I just wished some of the things that were off/broken/incomplete were on and running and whole. Nice friendly employees, neat exhibits, and a great place for kids to visit and tons of hands-on-learning. Absolutely worth the eight dollar entry price. I'll be back if I'm in the area again. Next time I hope they'll have some refrigerator magnets in the gift shop!

Always good time for my kids. Staff is very friendly, too. The also have unique displays you will not see anywhere else in kern county