Permanent Exhibitions

Located on Second Floor

The Discovery Zone is a space for our youngest guests to explore what science means to them. Guests 0–8 years old and their grown-ups are invited to engage, play, and do what scientists do! This space is a great way for kids to lead their learning while you support and watch them grow! 

• Climb on our friendly Parasaurolophus. 
• Splish and splash in the Colorado-themed Water Way. 
• Stretch your brain with each thing you build in the Construction Corner. 
• Experiment in the Science Kitchen. 
• Hide out, crawl, and explore in the Big Backyard—a space for guests under 4. 

When You Visit 

For the enjoyment of all guests, please:

• Eat snacks prior to visiting or outside the gallery. 
• Only bring drinks with lids. 
• Keep your shoes on to keep tiny toes safe. 
• Consider bringing a change of clothes to avoid soggy clothes when you explore the rest of the Museum. 
• Explore together! This space is designed to be adult supported, and we ask that our guests are always accompanied by their adults. 

Cleaning Schedule 

The "Discovery Zone" will close at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesdays for cleaning and maintenance on the Water Way. 

The "Discovery Zone" is closed for 20-minute cleanings at the following times each day: 

• 10:40–11:00 a.m. 
• 12:40–1:00 p.m. 
• 2:40–3:00 p.m. 

More Activities for Your Young Scientist 

Our youngest guests also enjoy these areas of the Museum: 

• Tykes Peak, "Expedition Health" ®, Level 2: Get moving and play on a climbing log and slide. 
• Wildlife Halls, Levels 2 & 3: Count baby animals, hunt for colors, and get up close to kid-sized statues of black bear cubs and a fur seal pup in Bears and Sea Mammals Hall. 
• "Space Odyssey", Level 1: Budding space enthusiasts will love exploring our interactive Astro Tots section of "Space Odyssey"!  
• Scavenger Hunt, search for elves, animals, and more throughout the Museum! 

Located on Third Floor

Unwrap the stories of two ancient Egyptian women, whose mummified remains have shed new light on the practice of mummification.

Through an interactive touch table, uncover learnings from CT scans, radiocarbon dating, isotope analysis, and other tests performed by Museum scientist Michele Koons and other specialists around the country.

Discover new theories about life and death in ancient Egypt through the mummified remains, a reconstruction of one woman’s skull, tomb artifacts, a model of an Egyptian temple, and animal mummies. 

Located on Second Floor

Genes, lifestyle, and environment all play a role in what makes you you. Explore how these factors influence your body’s development throughout your life. 

• Explore vision, color and shadow at the Summit Science Stage.  
• View your very own veins and learn about blood flow.  
• Test your movement and coordination in “Pop, Flip, Flop.” 
• Challenge a friend to “Control Your Brainwaves.”  
• “Follow Your Heart” in a race to the finish.  

Peek into The Genomics Lab to see the Zoology and Health Sciences scientists work on their research projects. View procedures like DNA extraction and quantification, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gel electrophoresis that help scientists answer important questions about people and animals. 

Located on First Floor

Wander into a mysterious mine shaft to see more than one thousand dazzling minerals and iconic specimens from Colorado and around the world. 

• Touch spectacular specimens as you get familiar with the world of minerals. 
• See a cavern of glistening white aragonite crystals from Mexico. 
• Discover a wall of red rhodochrosite crystals and see the renowned “Alma King” in Colorado’s Sweet Home Mine. 
• Gaze at a giant topaz once owned by artist Salvador Dali. 
• Meet “Tom’s Baby,” a 13-pound piece of gold from Breckenridge, Colorado. 
• Experience the largest pocket of aquamarine in North America. 

Located on Third Floor

See the only Vasily Konovalenko gem sculptures on public display outside of Moscow, Russia.

Vasily Konovalenko (koh-noh-vuh-len-koh) was born in 1929 in Petrivka, Ukraine (just north of the Black Sea). After earning a degree in art and architecture, he became a stage designer for the Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theatre. He worked on productions of Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, and other classic operas and ballets.  In 1957, while working at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Konovalenko produced sets for the ballet Stone Flower, in which the protagonist is a stonecutter. Konovalenko's gem carvings for the ballet earned rave reviews, and he became smitten with the art form.

Konovalenko continued to make gem sculptures throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Around 1974, American businessman Armand Hammer saw the sculptures on display and offered Konovalenko a house in the United States, machinery, and minerals with which to work. In pursuit of freedom, Konovalenko and his family quickly emigrated. In the early 1980s, Museum trustee Alvin Cohen purchased 20 of the Konovalenko sculptures and made them available to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, where they have been on display ever since. 

Located on Third Floor

Travel through time to witness the evolution of life on Earth, from single-celled organisms to unimaginable dinosaurs to the inhabitants of today's world.  

• Wander prehistoric habitats as the Earth transforms and bursts with life. 
• Measure up to a giant dragonfly. 
• See Allosaurus and Stegosaurus battle, with the 80-foot-long Diplodocus towering in the distance. 
• Take a selfie with a giant T. rex skull 
• Pick up fossil teeth to get a closer look. 
• Witness the rise of mammals and the dawn of the human family. 
• Observe scientists as they study and prepare fossils using modern technology to decipher the past. 

Earth Sciences Lab 

Situated at the end of the award-winning Prehistoric Journey exhibition, the Schlessman Family Laboratory of Earth Sciences opened in April 1990. About 75 percent of the fossils that have been on display, or are currently on display at the Museum, have come through the lab. This volume of fossil preparation is high for a museum and is possible only through the dedication of our volunteers. More than 125 men and women work in the lab, donating their time, energy and passion 364 days out of the year. 

Located on First Floor

The new "Space Odyssey" is all about answering the how, catapulting you into a place where you can touch, see, hear, and, yes, even smell what it’s like to be “out there.” You determine how to engage with the world beyond us, in a wildly creative environment that encourages free-range space science and no-boundaries adventure. 

• Traverse the Sensory Spacewalk in the new Fantasy Spaceship with over 11,000 “stars." 
• Feel the rumble of rockets and speed through the atmosphere in the launch simulator. 
• Hear traditional and living indigenous knowledge of the night sky and Earth origins. 
• Have your own body warp spacetime. 
• Take in the scents of the great beyond. 
• Make your own gorgeous “Hubble” images of nebulae and galaxies.  
• Crash a projectile into a planetary surface to see how your crater measures up. 
• Find the hidden disco ball. (Hint: try the light-up game.) 

Space Odyssey was made possible with support from many donors, including The Anschutz Foundation, Mark & Martha Freeman, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Lockheed Martin, Blair & Kristin Richardson, and M. Patrick & Jo Ann Swingle. 

Located on Second and Third Floors

Animals big and small come to life in exquisitely detailed dioramas that transport you around the world. 
 
From Alaska to Argentina, Africa to Australia, more than 90 wildlife and habitat scenes illustrate our planet's amazing diversity. Like three-dimensional "postcards" from places near and far, they capture moments in time, showcasing the world's wondrous animals and the delicate ecosystems in which they live. 

• Leap like an impala or run like a cheetah in a game of predator and prey.  
• Build your own bird nest from oversized twigs, leaves, grass or rocks.  
• See like a lion in an augmented reality experience.  
• Size up to Australian cassowaries as a digital waterfall rushes behind the scene.  
• Take a photo “wearing” the antlers of the world’s largest deer—the moose.