Bell Museum

So many things to see and not enough time. Wow is all I have to say about the Bell museum. We went specifically for the planetarium show which showcased our very own night sky. It was immersive and interactive which was great for my littles. Parking in the overflow lot across the street was less than ideal for the frigid temps of MN but otherwise not a big deal. This place is totally accessible as well. Staff are around and are enthusiastically willing to help explain something or show you the way. There is also a gift shop and place to buy food. Will definitely return!

This was a fun place to check out. Lots of hands on items for kids to explore. The mammoth was probably my favorite. It's a good learning experience type place for kids and adults. It's a bit small but they do a really good job with filling up the space with the area they have. We watched two planetarium shows. The Minnesota night skies is definitely good for kids and people who get motion sickness easy. The second show we saw was the super volcanos and honestly i got a little sick lol. I do get motion sickness kinda easy. But it still is worth checking out. The staff members that work the shows are very friendly and outgoing. The staff members who work at the front desk are basically just there. Not much personality and they usually are just reading books when you go up to disturb them to buy a ticket.

The Bell Museum has some great exhibits, awesome life-sized pieces, and some newer storytelling spots. Definitely take some extra time to thoroughly go through the upstairs exhibit, there are tons of spots that are super interesting. However, the layout is a bit odd, we double backed a few times because the order wasn't inherently understood.The worst part, in my opinion, was the pricing. Not only is there admission, but there is also a parking charge. All-in-all it seemed pretty steep for the small museum.

My office on the University of Minnesota East Bank Campus was near the old Bell Museum and I had visited it several times. I had not visited the new Bell Museum since it moved to the St Paul Campus. The new Museum is spectacular. Much more space than the old one. There is a planetarium which we enjoyed. The old dioramas have been dusted off and the mammoth is impressive. There were lots of kids who seemed to be having a great time. The museum itself is easily accessible and there is a small parking lot. It is easy topurchase tickets online. I highly recommend.

I took my four boys here on a day off. It was a neat museum and a place I'd recommend a visit!Pros:- hands on exhibits - recreated life size creatures- clean facility - unique learning opportunities - beautiful grounds Cons- they charge for parking and the museum is already a steep price - the planetarium was boring. I'd recommend they use the university creative writing department to come up with a more entertaining show. I thought it would be so educational but we were all bored and disappointed we paid extra for it.

First time going to The Bell Museum and we will definitely be going back! My son and I saw the show at the planetarium and we enjoyed it. Next we got to see live insects and snakes, we even got to pet a live snake! We went upstairs and saw a wooly mammoth along with lots of interesting exhibits. Parking is easy and cheap, $2 and we were there about 2.5 hours. Can't wait for our next trip.

Loved the open airy architecture and the amazing detailed dioramas. Came specifically to sketch the life size wooly mammoth in all its glory. Can't wait to come back and sketch the other animals.

My husband and I were looking for a fun and unique date night, that wasn't just us going out to eat! Enter, the Bell Museum! We had the opportunity to check it out, they have an "after hours" type experience and we jumped at the chance.It is a pretty cool museum that sits on the edge of the University of Minnesota campus in Saint Paul. This museum of natural history has some pretty cool collections! My favorite ones were the Touch and See lab (holding the skull of a hippo was crazy!) and the observation deck where we tried to look at the sun! There's also an awesome gallery that walks you through Minnesota nature and all the cool plants and animals we have in this state I definitely think kids would love it (there's a cool DIY creativity section for kids) - for me, it was pretty fun but a quick experience. I do however want to go back when it's dark to use the telescopes on the observation deck and learn more about what I can see with them!It was nice that they had on-site parking. One thing I thought it was missing was some sort of cafe or food situation! All-In-all, something you should check out at least once!

This was a fun experience. My girls really really enjoyed the animals and the staff was so nice about explaining things about the animals and showing them the animal pelts, they really loved that because you can't really pet a red fox or wolf in the wild. The displays of the native animals was definitely a eye opener especially the woolly mammoth. It's great to know about what animals used to roam this region and what we can expect to see now. My girls are not really big into space so the we browsed through and listened to a talk about space rocks which was very informative. The Solution Studio is a great place for young and old minds a like. Lots of brain challenging activities. My girls had fun playing with the robots. Verdict- I would advise anyone who is interested about wildlife and plants in Minnesota and The Northern Region this the place for you. If you have kids I would strongly recommend only come if your child is interested in animals or space otherwise they might be a little bored.

My family and I really liked this place. Everything is very realistic. Thanks to the staff for the cozy atmosphere. I recommend it to everyone.