Yesterday you read all about our adventures in bones and taxidemied animals and as promised, I am going to show you a few of the pictures I took the in the Earth & Planetary Sciences Gallery at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
From their website:
Earth & Planetary Sciences Gallery
This renovated gallery displays thousands of rare minerals and sparkling gemstones in both rough and cut examples, including a 1,600-pound amethyst geode from Brazil. Exhibits highlight new research and offer a broad overview of the dynamic processes and events that formed our planet and that have shaped its continuing evolution. Visitors can touch rock and mineral specimens that date back to the beginning of our solar system. Uncover mysteries of our planet’s origins revealed in ancient meteorites and terrestrial rock containing some of the oldest minerals on Earth, zircon crystals that have survived intact for 4.3 billion years!
Here is the 1,600 pound amethyse geode:
The thing was ginormous!
We were absolutely amazed by all the rocks, minerals and gems they had on display at the museum.
There were cases and cases of smaller rocks to look at, too.
There were even some space rocks on display.
I know I said it yesterday, but if you live in the area and have never been there, it’s an awesome museum and most definitley worth a visit. My boys are already asking when we’re going back.
The Harvard Museum of Natural History is located at 26 Oxford Street in Cambridge, MA. They are open daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Here’s how much the tickets will run you:
General admission (includes all exhibits):
Adults: $12.00
Non-Harvard Students with I.D.: $10.00
Seniors (65+): $10.00
Children ages 3–18: $8.00
Children under 3: Free
But get this – the museum is FREE to Massachusetts residents every Sunday morning (year-round) from 9:00 am to noon and on Wednesdays from 3:00 to 5:00 pm (September through May) – just be prepared to show your ID.
I can’t believe how much time the boys wanted to spend looking at the rocks
Some of those rocks are amazing. I had no idea there were such colors on rocks like that. Wow.
I have always been a fan of looking at all types of gem type rocks like these. Just fascinating and so pretty. Definitely would have spent hours looking at if I could have 🙂
I am so very interested in Gems… Rocks for healing purposes. Different gemstones are said to help with certain things.
My son’s 4th grade just finished up a unit on rocks. A visit here would have made a great filed trip! That geode is HUGE! Would love to see it in person. 🙂
Oh how I wish I lived closer. I have an Environmental Sci degree and that museum would be right up my alley. I remember loving geology in college (not so much having to memorize the rocks by sight!).
i love it when kids actually want to visit a museum! looks like a winner 🙂
Those geodes are amazing! The amethyst ones are very cool. It’s my grandmother’s birthstone and my mom has some amazing amethyst jewelry. I just love that stone.
xoxo
Lanaya
A good number of those are gorgeous!! It’s amazing what can be found that’s natural, isn’t it? I’d love this display area too.
I love seeing all that you expose your kids too. This looks amazing and an experience that my own kids would enjoy. How cool is that massive amethyst??!
Amazing photos!! Want to adopt me? You take the best trips and visit the greatest places! We have nowhere near by as neat as this!
It’s so nice to see you doing so much with your kids, i love reading your adventures!
I would love to visit that museum. I especially like the amethyse geode. I have never seen one so big until now.
truly amazing! I am amazed by Creation and how much variety there is that we don’t usually see out there.
When you think of minerals and gems I always think small. It amazes me when I see them in huge forms like that!
Oh MAN!! This place looks like we could spend hours just staring at the pretty rocks!! I will for sure be going there if I am ever in the area!
My birthday is Feb 10 and I love Amethyst. I love that huge Amethyst rock wouldn’t it be great to own one of those ?.
Zoe is learning about space right now in first grade and would love the space stuff! How cool all those gems and things.
This place is just awesome. Aside from all the social studies lessons that it lends itself to, I can also imagine the science lessons I could do with these photos.
Some of those rocks are really beautiful! I think those space rocks would be really cool to see in person!
WOW you are so lucky I would love to go here. It looks awesome!
wait….that’s not an Actual hunk of gold…right? because…..I’m going to visit this museum if it is. at night. wearing black. with Tom Cruise and his handy belt rope. LOL
I’m gonna assume it’s a replica.
Love the orange — it’s gorgeous.
This would have been my favorite part of the museum. I love seeing unique pieces of the Earth!
My oldest son and I would really enjoy this part of the museum. The size of the stones/rocks are huge. I hope we have something similar here or get to visit there some day. I can see why your kids already want to return.
WOW look at that rock! My birth stone is Amethyst so that’s awesome. What a fun time you had
That geode is huge and gorgeous! I think the boys and I would really love to check this place out! Hunter even has a small rock collection.
I’ve never seen quartz in its natural bubbled form. It’s beautiful.
I’m in awe over those photos. Boston is on my list of cities to visit and when I’m in a new city I always love to go to museums.
That geode is pretty freaking awesome! It’s huge! I double can’t wait to get there and check it out! I’m about 3.5 hours north of Boston.
Those are amazing. We collect specimens also and have an amethyst geode as well, but not that big!
Oh darn! We missed this museum, wasn’t aware of it! We visited Harvard 2 years ago since my daughter is looking into colleges. That would have been a great trip!
That amethyse geode is quite impressive! They look like they have quite an extensive collection.My kids love looking at rocks, and we visit caves/taverns in the Kentucky area sometimes to try and find our own.
Wow, those rocks are gorgeous! Simply stunning! I so wish we had something like that here!
I love seeing all the fun adventures you go on with your kiddos! I’m loving the orange one for some reason! Thanks for sharing this fun post!
I love that you do so many awesome activities with your kids; there seem to be tons in your area too. This is very cool! As a kid I collected rocks and I still love them. That Labradorite rock (I think that’s how I saw it spelled) is beautiful!
I love the pictures. It looks like fun!
So cool! I love Geodes, I think they are so interesting and very pretty!
these have always been my favorite part of going to science museums. rocks, formations, gems… so fascinating!
Your posts always have such gorguous pics. My kids love to do anything space and scify. We need ot mark this as a must see!
My husband and girls would DROOL over this exhibit. Hubby loves geology and my girls love the “pretty rocks”. Great pictures, and I love the HUGE geode.
This looks like such a fun place to visit! My kids would go nuts over something like this, and I think I’d have a great time learning new things, as well.
Ok mom of the year, you and your adventures rock … pun intended … lol.
I love this! The boys would love this place too.
This looks like a really great museum! I love that meteorite display that they have. Anything that falls from the sky is so interesting to me. Ok, that sounds weird but I mean falling stars, etc. : )
You are so lucky to have boys (kids) that show an interest in this! I would love to take home the Variscite. My favorite colors!
I’m obsessed with rocks and minerals (used to collect them as a kid), so I’d love to visit a place like this. 🙂
Wow, I’ve really got to visit this museum. I particularly love the 1,600 pound amethyst geode.
Alllll of those are beautiful!! When I was little, I used to love to collect those rocks that looked like they had diamonds in the middle of them. I thought I was rich, haha!
I would really love to visit here! I’m such a nerd – I collected all kinds of gems and geodes when I was a kid! 🙂
What a fun place to visit. That geode is huge.
wow, that amethyse geode is Beautiful! A lot of those rocks and stones are amazing looking. Thank you so much for sharing
I am so jealous! I have always wanted to visit a large Natural History museum like this. It looks like it was an awesome visit!
That geode is amazing! My daughter’s fiance would love to visit here. He loves geology and natural history.
I want an amethyst geode in my house now. I don’t know what I’d do with it, but I want it.
Thank you for taking the time to take all of those pictures! I think they are all very interesting and pretty! Love God’s creation!! 🙂 Thanks for another interesting post!
I loved these types of displays when I was a kid. I used to think I’d find these things in my backyard.
Those are awesome displays of beautiful rocks.We vacationed in Cambridge about 10 years ago and missed this. I would love to go back and go through this museum.
This is a museum I can totally enjoy myself. I love the amethyst!
Wow, this looks like such an interesting museum to visit! The meteorites are awesome, and I’m pretty sure my nephew would be in heaven. I haven’t spent much time in the Boston area but posts like this make me think I should!
Anyone who ever said rocks are boring never saw these!! I love that huge geode.
I could spend hours at a museum like this! I love anything involving geology and beautiful stones. That 1,600 pound amethyse geode is stunning.
I’d spaz out around those rocks! haha! I used to have a rock collection and I still love looking at them!
That’s an amazing collection they have there. I would have to say that I’d love to look at them myself. I use to enjoy going to museums every summer with the kids when we lived in NY and we sure do miss it. I’m thinking of finding a few here in CO for this summer because it sure can get boring around here.
I figured Harvard would have nice things to see but 8 didn’t know they had this.
Wow I had no idea they had such a great collection at that museum.
Okay this museum is awesome!! My boys would have loved the dinosaurs, my daughter would LOVE this part!!
Whata beautiful displace. I bet it was a fun place to visit.
It’s amazing how much beauty comes from our earth. It’s a shame we don’t think to take better care of it sometimes.
I enjoy going to museums but my girls are not that interested. Couple of years back we had gone to the New York Museum of Natural History and my husband and I were the ones who checking out the stuff more than my girls. Maybe some day we will check out the Harvard museum.
Oh WOW! That place looks amazing! The amethyst geode is so gorgeous (my birthstone 😉 I would love to visit the Harvard Museum of Natural History one day.
Those stones are all so gorgeous! I love the giant amethyst!!
That looks so awesome. I’d love to visit there!
Those are neat! I love amethyst but that doesn’t look quite like I thought it would. Looks like a great place to spend a day.
Those are very cool. I love to look at different types of rocks.
Definitely bookmarking this for when we visit Boston with the kids soon. That geode alone is worth the trip! Very cool!
WoW! Those gems are beautiful… I can’t imagine what one of those would cost.
Taking a second look at these great gems… They look so beautiful… such richness in the earth
I’m loving those rocks! They are GORGEOUS. I bet that was a blast for both you and your boys 🙂
SO neat! Lots of great specimens for you guys to check out for sure!
Wow, it’s so nice to see that big amethyst. beautiful!
I love that everything was so colourful!
My teen son would be in heaven there, seeing all the rocks and geodes. He has a small collection.