BE ADVISED: On Sunday March 15, the parking lot at La Brea Tar Pits will be closed at 3 pm. Alternative parking structures are located at the nearby SAG-AFTRA building and the Petersen Automotive Museum. For questions or directions, please call 213.763.3466 or email info@nhm.org.

Family Activities

Little boy in hat crouches on a low rock ledge and looks into the nature gardens pond

Let the crafts and games begin! Take a break, and learn from our artists and educators how to make a dino shadow puppet, read illustrated stories, color outside the lines, and discover the natural wonders where you live.

Jumping spider

#MuseumLikeMe: Spider Moves

Get moving

For Early Learners and Elementary School Students

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Image of ladybug resting on a plant

Marvelous Metamorphosis
Dire Wolf Wall

Make Your Own Fossil Skull Puppet
Small structure made from sticks, leaves, and clay created by students as homes for bugs

Growing Home
Looking down from the balcony into the expansive Dinosaur Hall

Dino Hall Scavenger Hunt
invertebrate paleontology trace fossils

Make Your Own Trace Fossil
P-22 coloring pages inset image

Color Me Wonderful
4 speckled eggs on a table surrounded by spinach, nuts, and cabbage

Dyeing Dino Eggs

Youth with dinosaur puppets against a backdrop

Make Your Own Dinosaur Shadow Puppet and Screen
pregnant plesiosaur in dinosaur hall

Paleontology at NHM

Dig in

For Middle and High School Students

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"It came from the Tar Pits" graphic novel rat illustration

It Came from the Tar Pits
Vaux’s Swifts using communal roosting site in Downtown Los Angeles.

Seeking Swifts in L.A.

For the Nature Lovers