Discovery Place Nature

I haven’t been here in years, but visited with my 3 year old son recently and we had a great time! This is a perfect day activity for little kids, up to ages 6-8 I think would love it.

It is an older museum (established in 1951) so the building looks old, and exhibits aren’t as new as they could be, but we haven’t been to many museums, so this was exciting for us!

You enter through the main room that leads down multiple hallways. We bought tickets at the door, $8 each— they also have senior, military, and AAA discounts, as well as a program to offer $3 tickets if you receive WIC or EBT benefits. I ended up buying a yearly membership at the end of our visit, for both the Nature Museum and Discovery Place Science. It covers 2 parents + any kids in the family, and I chose to add one guest so you can bring someone else for any visits.

We took a brief stop into the wildlife lab, which had an event going on with a class of kids (I think from a visiting summer camp or preschool), and got to touch a snake!

Next is the insect alley and creature cavern. Insect alley has some cool displays with bugs, and had a cute “bug” for the kids to stand behind. My son kept giggling when he saw himself in the mirror!

The creature cavern has live animals like snakes, frogs, and turtles. My kiddo really loved stepping onto the rocks and going “hi turtles!”

Our Big Backyard might have been his favorite room; it has underground tunnels kids can go through, and water features like a little stream, and a water paint wall.

Next, we went to a show in the planetarium. He wanted to walk around at first, but when the show started it kept him pretty mesmerized! The projector showed us the stars you can see in the summer, and explained the different constellations and notable stars.

Peetie’s Place is a play area with some books, toys, and nature-inspired decor— there’s also a little area built into the wall that kids can go into.

There were summer camps going on in the Sunspot and Naturalist Lab rooms, and the Dragonfly Theatre didn’t have any events going on so we didn’t go in. We stopped by the Butterfly Pavilion; it’s covered by glass so there’s lots of natural light, and is basically a courtyard with plants.

There’s a vending machine with snacks and drinks, and $1-2 each (they did actually have vegan fig bars that my son likes, so I got one for him!)

We didn’t venture outside to the Paw Paw Nature Trail or Fort Wild, but definitely will on the next visit. I saw a sign outside saying that they’re working on site improvements in the Fort Wild area, and are accepting public input— the site says it’s in draft mode right now, but I’m looking forward to seeing what they do!

Over all, it was a great trip, and we spent the day from 1:30-4:30 here, and had lots of fun. We actually parked on the street by the entrance to Freedom Park, and ended up walking along the trail to the Nature Museum.

This was a little gem, definitely geared more toward younger kids, but still enough for it to be enjoyable and educational to the older ones. We would have loved to come sooner before they started prepping for their renovation, but we are glad we got to see the “before.”

Attended an after hours event here and had a blast. This museum is located in downtown Charlotte, and it's huge and has lots to offer. We happened to be there during the Marvel traveling exhibit. This is a great place for families with children. Especially loved the makers pace upstairs. Be sure to make it through everything on every floor. Gove yourself a couple of hours to enjoy. And don't forget to stop by their gift shop which had a wide array of logo merchandise, science toys, and more.

Want to have an absolute blast with your kids? You need to go the Discovery Place Nature Museum! They will be so engaged the entire visit, and they will learn so much while having fun:)

Amazing place to bring kids and it's never as crowded as the other discovery place locations.

Awesome place to take the kids. Little on the small side but you can get a few hours out of it easily. There's exhibits inside and a more.. 'natural' play area outside, my boy loved it. If I recall there is a trail you can access from the parking lot that leads to a park / lake. Would 100% go back.

This museum has improved so much over recent years. Our whole family enjoys the planetarium shows, which are included in admission. The nature trails and outdoor play areas are creative spaces. I appreciate being able to have close up viewing of animals at different eye levels, along with different play spaces. The space is definitely designed with young children in mind.

I took my grandchildren to see some wildlife exhibits, visited the planeterium. It was still very much the same ,as I remembered it to be ,when I was a child. I also took my son there , he is now 43yrs. Old. The museum had a leopard, when I used to go, now they do have a butterfly room. Anyway, I hope they utilize the money that is for the Nature Museum and upgrade some more. Like having the walkway above the canopy of trees. Also some new Exhibits.

Such a lovely time! Very affordable way to spend the afternoon. The exhibits were smaller and more manageable than some larger kids museums. We got to get much more up close and personal!

First day of homeschooling field trio! It was wonderful. Watching the bees made my day, and the planetarium was wonderful! Oh, my kids enjoyed it, too! One of my child's favorite is the fossils.

Went here for a Saturday morning and got to enjoy the story time and astronomy show. My niece loved the slide they had in there - she definitely had a nice nap on the way home after going up and down several times.

It was and amazing experience here!!
We never knew we'd enjoy so much with the insects!! And we were there when they let the butterflies out when they're out of there cocoon! It was so fascinating and memorable.. we had so much fun!

This is a wonderful little place to learn and explore! There are so many little spots to enjoy, animals to look at, and areas to climb. The butterfly room was fantastic, with beautiful butterflies fluttering all around us, and even landing on us if we stood really still. We enjoyed a show at the planetarium part, which was really awesome! They have great cushions to lay back on while you watch the show! We were pleasantly surprised to find this little gem hidden away in Charlotte!

I grew up here in the 60s and 70s.. Always loved Freedom Park area. Use to love climbing on the old train and air plane.
Must be careful of the copperheads near and around the creeks. Damn shame all the water fawl is gone.

Great place for a 7 year old. She loved the planetarium. She also enjoyed the play area, which has a small water play section, and tunnels to climb in and out of. I thought we would only be there for an hour, but she was so enraptured that we spent two hours instead.

I wish the museum was better funded. There were fewer toys than there used to be in the other play area. There were also a fair number of empty animal exhibits. And there were no butterflies, and no signs to explain why.

Fantastic experience every time we come here. The staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. This was our first time getting to experience the planetarium and it was cool because it wasn't like others we had been to. It was definitely set up for families and allowed you to sit, lay on mats or share a bean bag with your family/friends. I love how they opened up the play areas with the tunnels again as that is something we didn't experience during Covid times but it was great to have the full experience this visit.

I definitely recommend checking out the outdoor play area and trail that circles it. Something for everyone here.

A nice little nature center. Perfect to bring the kids or to bring out that kid in yourself. Def a cute little spot. Really enjoyed the small butterfly sanctuary.

Fairly good for $8. I wouldn't expect anything extravagant, as there are a lot of summer programs that have booked most of the cool labs. But the exhibits that are open, plus the butterfly room are a good way to keep a young one entertained for about an hour.

This place is nice my son and me we enjoy the star show..✨ and the trail paw my son loves 🍃

My kids had a lot of fun. Ots a small location, but my kids always enjoy going to visit. They really enjoyed seeing the bee hive & the bees.