Oakes Museum of Natural History

Catherine Donnelly

What a hidden gem! We stumbled upon the Oakes while exploring the Messiah University campus. Their collection of animals is so well preserved and displayed. We had a great time reading, exploring, and posing with the animals for fun and silly photos. The displays are accessible but not for touching. It might be difficult to take a very active toddler there and prevent them from touching, but if they could be in a stroller or carrier it would be a great experience for them to see all the animals. And this is a gift shop worth visiting as well. High quality educational books and Schleich animals! Hours are limited call ahead.

PSC Daniel Hollenbaugh

But the museum is very small. The displays are very fun and then staff are knowledgeable. There is a great homeschool program if you sign up ahead of time. I'm located inside Masai University and they have a dining facility and lots of outside seating and inside seating. A small gift shop and interactive science experiments if you schedule ahead of time

shayla zalewski

All the Staff was amazing. Linda at the front desk was super friendly and welcoming. The museum was kid friendly and had lots of activities for them to do. Gift shop was nice.

Dean Cameron

Absolutely fantastic!!!!