What to See at the Burpee Natural History Museum in Rockford, IL.
When traveling through the American Midwest during the summer, we made a stop in Rockford, IL. and the Burpee Museum of Natural History. We had spent a few days in South Dakota beforehand, but we wanted to find yet another dinosaur exhibit that would show us something extraordinary, and it had to have a Tyrannosaurus Rex!
The Burpee Museum proved to be one of our top things to do in Rockford and one of the best ways to spend time in Illinois!
Because we are actually from northern Illinois, we had been to the Burpee Museum of Natural History before, but it had been so long ago, I wasn’t sure my boys would remember it. They had loved their first visit and fondly referred to it as “the dinosaur museum”. I was eager to check out some new exhibits and get more added information with a private tour.
Let me take you back to where we first discovered the dinosaurs and how the Burpee Museum in Rockford, Illinois would amaze us all over again!
This is a sponsored post! We would like to thank the Burpee Museum for our admission and the tour of the museum. This post may also contain affiliate links. See the disclaimer page for details.
Parking and Entering the Burpee Museum
Though the parking lot of the Burpee Museum was a bit on the small side, we arrived early enough to find a spot. A larger parking lot was connected to the Discovery Center Children’s Museum which was in the next building, and a convenient tunnel went from the Burpee Museum to the Discovery Center.
I highly recommend visiting both places on the same day!
The building of this natural history museum looked really neat. It wasn’t a boring museum on the outside, by any means. The look reminded me of some type of mansion from Scooby Doo. It really got the boys excited to see what was inside!
The entryway of the building was also quite impressive. A rather large woolly mammoth skeleton greeted us as we walked in, and there were other animals waiting above the door as we walked farther into the building.
We were happy to be the sponsored guests of the museum for the day, and we were also looking forward to seeing their temporary exhibit as well as the paleontology lab, two things that were completely new to me!! Our excitement levels were at an all-time high! We were about to be reminded why the Burpee Museum is one of the best places to visit in Illinois.
10 Best Things at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, Illinois!
1. Jane the T-Rex at the Burpee Museum
When you visit the Burpee Museum, you will get to see Jane, one of the most complete, juvenile T-Rex dinosaurs ever discovered. This means that the majority of the bones that we saw on display were real.
The boys were very impressed with Jane, and I was happy to see how much interest they gave this young dino. They read through all the signs and watched the video on what scientists felt might have happened to Jane long ago.
My boys were normally overly energetic at all times, so to see them focused and asking our guide questions was a nice, proud-mom moment. Thank you, Alex for giving such a great, private tour! 🙂
Are you sure this isn’t Jurassic Park?
One part that seriously freaked me out a bit was the recreated head. To me, it seemed that at any moment, the eye would move, and it would come to life. I don’t know how a head in a box could really pose as any threat, but just the thought of it happening was enough to keep me walking away from that head.
I understand why it was there, though. The museum wanted to give visitors an idea of what Jane may have looked like, so they created a replica of her head. This was the one area where my oldest said, “hey, I remember this dinosaur!”
My youngest, however, was in diapers at that time, so this was all a new thrill for him. I am very glad we decided to make a return to the Burpee Museum. Ages 9 and 6 turned out to be really good ages for my boys to experience the museum, but I have to say that I was having fun too in this interesting Illinois attraction! 🙂
I say “her”, since Jane is mostly a female name, but the funny thing about this dinosaur is that they didn’t really know if it was a girl or a boy. Apparently, whoever finds the dinosaur gets to name it. We were quiet intrigued by this little bit of dinosaur information.
2. Homer the Triceratops at the Burpee Museum
If we thought it was hard to pull the boys away from the Tyrannosaurus Rex, it was because we hadn’t gotten to the next dinosaur yet. Homer, the triceratops was equally as impressive as Jane, the T-Rex.
Homer was considered to be one of the most complete, sub-adult triceratops ever discovered. We couldn’t believe the look of him. What an amazing find!!
However, the real head of the dinosaur was actually off to the side of the display, among many other types of triceratopses. It was too fragile to put on the top of the skeleton body. I quite liked that it was lower to the ground, because it made it much easier to see the details.
A Heard of Triceratopses
The boys loved that there were bones to touch in this section as well. They lingered and asked just about as many questions here as they did with Jane. My boys were really loving all the dinosaur history.
We seriously hit the dinosaur jackpot with this museum, and we were so glad for it, considering we almost didn’t add the Burpee Museum to our list.
We considered going to the Field Museum in Chicago instead, but since we were short of time and had so much we wanted to see and do during our visit to Chicago, we decided to check out the Burpee Museum while in Rockford, Illinois instead.
Hungry in Rockford, IL? Try the yummy Pig Minds Vegan Restaurant and Microbrewery!!
This proved to be such a smart decision for our trip. We were so impressed with the dinosaurs at Burpee, and we couldn’t wait to see what else awaited.
3. Reptiles and Amphibians: Temporary Exhibit at the Burpee Museum
Not being a big snake fan, I have to admit that the Reptiles and Ampibians exhibit was not something that I went into willingly. However, being a mom often means being brave!
Now, I should mention that this part of the museum is temporary. They change what is seen in this section of the museum, so you may want to plan ahead to see what will be there during your visit.
When we got to the snake section, it wasn’t so bad. The snakes were many different colors, so they were really pretty to look at.
That was until Alex, our guide, took one out of the case to let my boys pet it. One was up for the challenge. Yikes!!
“Don’t mind me! I’ll just be looking at this lizard…in a case.”
4. Our Private Tour of the Paleontology Lab
We then made our way down the basement of the building, I was so excited for our private tour of the Paleontology Lab!! I wouldn’t say that I was the world’s biggest dinosaur fan, but it felt very cool to be in on the “secret” of dinosaur discovery.
Yes, I know that there is no secret, but the lab was still cool. Even if you don’t get a private tour, you still can peek inside through the observation windows.
Dinosaur Treasures
Once we were inside, I was amazed at how many dinosaur bones we saw that weren’t even cleaned yet. It really put into perspective just how long it took them to find, dig up and clean bones, because they had so many that were still in the protective wrapping from when they found them out in southeastern Montana.
My boys were like kids in a candy shop. Their little eyes were so big, and you could just tell that they wanted to touch everything. Luckily for everyone, they were miraculously easy to tame. This experience could only be compared to actually discovering a dinosaur fossil in the ground.
Okay. Maybe that is a bit dramatic, but I have to say that I was very excited to see it all!!
5. Fossil Lake: Uncovering a Lost World
Our tour ended at the lab, and we were free to explore the rest of the museum. Since we were already downstairs, we thought we would check out the Fossil Lake: Uncovering a Lost World exhibit. Apparently, the Rockford area used to be a lake a very long period of time, and this exhibit talked about what they found in the ground to prove this theory.
This exhibit was completely new to me. The lab and Fossil Lake exhibits seemed to be perfectly placed in the basement of the building.
It gave you the feeling that you were going “literally” below the ground to discover cool things about history. Well done, Burpee Museum! I completely got your unstated metaphor! 🙂
6. Gems and Mining
After all the excitement on the tour of the main floor and basement level of the Burpee Museum, we headed upstairs to see the gems that are common for that part of the country. The boys and I also really liked how they had a section on mining, which had a mining car, miner and a diagram of just how far the miners would have to work to find things in the ground.
We were amazed! My boys would never given up a chance to look for pretty stones whenever we were in a natural setting, so to see REALLY pretty stones of pink and purple and other bright colors at the Burpee Museum was something that interested them.
7. SPROUTS Learning Lab
The SPROUTS Learning Lab was also an area I had never seen before, and the boys loved it. The dead animals that were hanging all around didn’t freak them out one bit, which is always a plus.
I sometimes felt reminiscent of my aunt and uncle’s house that was filled with deer heads. Those always scared me, but I guess kids are made of tougher stuff these days.
This area of the Burpee Museum also had some fun costumes so that the boys could pretend to be different animals. There were so many different things to explore in this section by seeing and touching. It allowed children to feel like real scientists.
Digging Area
A “digging area” let them be junior paleontologists searching for bones under the dirt. I love it when museums take the time to create play areas for kids, so the little ones can have fun and learn at the same time.
As a mom and a teacher, I know how important it is for kids, especially mine, to enjoy themselves when it comes to learning about history. I think it makes them want to learn more!
8. The First People Display
Every since my days as a high-school, English teacher, and probably before, I have loved to learn about the different Native American cultures. Though these tribes and people are still very much alive throughout the US, the ways that they once lived is now a part of history.
This is much like those Europeans who traveled across the Great Plains in covered wagons. Learning about cultures intrigues me. Perhaps, that is why I was so eager to move to another country!
Learn all about My New Danish Life for this American wife and mom on my sister blog!
The Burpee Museum does a great job in feeding your Native American curiosity by showing you different homes of not one region of the US but many. You get to see a tipi, wigwam and an adobe all decked out to look as if it is lived in NOW. I love that kind of stuff! The boys also thought it was really interesting!
9. Windows to the Wilderness Animal Display
On the same floor as the First People Display and the SPROUTS Learning Lab was the Window to Wilderness display. This was also a neat section because it was filled with different animals.
If you know anything about our family, you know we LOVE animals. Though these animals weren’t alive, we still enjoyed learning about them in this way.
Each animal had a description and information about them, and there were even some display cases that had them posed in a setting that was like their natural habitat. It was neat to see which animals lived together in similar surroundings. We were also big bear fans, and loved their polar bear!
10. Summer Camps and Volunteering at the Burpee Museum
Summer Camp at the Burpee Museum
When my oldest son was 4 years old, I put him in summer camp at the Burpee Museum to learn about lions. He was obsessed with lions and tigers at that age, and I was eager to get him into some type of learning program before he actually started school.
Putting him in a camp at the Burpee Museum was so great for him. It was a way for him to learn more about something that interested him, and he got to be around other little kids his age. He also wasn’t big into sports, but liked books and animals. Summer camp at Burpee was perfect for him.
When you think of summer camp, you might think of going away from your parents for a long period of time. This was only for a couple of days and about an hours each time, so it was a great thing for my little guy!
Be a Volunteer!
Another way to do more at the Burpee Museum is to become a volunteer. I was so surprised to see all the volunteers handling the dinosaur bones or the reptiles. We could tell that they really enjoyed being at the museum, and took pride in sharing information with us.
It was so neat to know that locals who had an interest in science, animals, and/or history could take part in what the museum was doing. It made me wish we lived closer! 😉
Overall Impressions of the Burpee Museum
If the fact that we returned to a museum that we visited before is not enough of a hint of how we felt about the Burpee Museum, the fact that we had more fun during this visit than any other should give you an idea. We love the Burpee Museum.
It isn’t a large museum that will take you an entire day to explore, but it has enough diversity to keep you interested. As I mentioned before, my boys asked so many questions during our private tour that it felt that we would be there all day! They wanted to know as much as possible about the dinosaurs.
Amazing Combination of Play While Learning
When you take children to a place that is so thoughtfully designed with such interesting fossils and displays, you hope that they find something to interest them. We never had a dull moment during our stay, and that proves just how special the Burpee Museum is.
If you plan a visit to Chicago and have an extra day to spare, you should consider spending some time in Rockford, Illinois and visiting the Burpee Museum. You will be glad that you did! We were glad that we decided to revisit it when our boys were older and be able to make memories that they were more likely to remember when they got older.
Getting In Touch With the Burpee Museum of Natural History
If you would like to get in touch with the Burpee Museum of Natural History, here is their information.
Website: /http://www.burpee.org
Address: 737 North Main Street, Rockford, IL. 61103 (USA)
Telephone: +1 815-965-3433
Email: Click here for the staff directory!
Information for the Burpee Museum
Information on admission, hours, and directions to the Burpee Museum, click here!
Click here to learn more about donating to the Burpee Museum!
Learn more about summer camps, click here!
Click here to learn more about volunteering at the Burpee Museum.
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