The Activity Center is a hands-on class room and lab setting where participants attend workshops, seminars, lectures, slide show presentations, movies and special events such as private Birthday Parties.

The following workshops are currently being offered:

The Coral Reef Workshop

The Coral Reef Workshop is approximately a 90 minute hands-on workshop conducted in the Museum’s Activity Center at the Missouri Institute of Natural Science.  We can conduct this workshop during our normal hours for groups of 10 or more with at least 2 days notice. Call us today at 417-883-0594 and ask to set up the Coral Reef Workshop for your group!  For more information on the Coral Reef Workshop, click here.

Indoor Fossil Hunting

Our Activity Center allows kids to get their hands dirty and ‘hunt’ for fossils in indoors.   Kids can look for real fossils in special wooden trays and learn more about the fossils in a fun and entertaining way.  To learn how kids can become amateur 'paleontologists', click here.

Lectures

The Missouri Institute of Natural Science offers a variety of lectures at the Museum.  Admission is free to the public, except when noted otherwise.  These lectures offer insight and information into a wide range of natural history subjects, and are tailored to the interest level of the audience. To learn more about these lectures, click here.

Outdoor Fossil Collecting

You don’t have to be a certified paleontologist to hunt for fossils!  Behind the Institute is  hilly terrain that is a good location for finding fossils.  Visit the Museum and for a fee of $5 per person, you get permission valid for one exciting day of fossil hunting!  The best part of it is that you get to keep all the fossils you find! To learn how you can hunt for real fossils outdoors on the Museum's property, click here.

Birthday Parties at the Museum!

Have a birthday blast at the Museum for your child aged 5-14.  The Activity Center at the Museum can accommodate up to 25 children.  If you plan on inviting more than 25, please let us know in advance and we will try and accommodate you.  To learn how you can host your next Birthday Party at the Museum, click here.

Museum Shop

The Museum Shop has an exciting collection of rocks, fossils, posters, cool T-shirts with the Museum’s logo, books, jewelry and other items for sale at very modest prices.  You can get something fun as a souvenir of your visit to the Museum for as little as $1!  To learn how you can shop for inexpensive and fun natural history souvenirs, click here.