Museum of Natural History — Attraction in Morro Bay

I’ve been coming to this place for years! My family & I love it soo much. It’s a must visit every time we visit Morro bay. My kids love it’s since you know it is designed to be an interactive KIDS museum. However, today 7/22/25 we visited the museum along with our friends and their young kids who’ve never visited before until today. We first walked into the museum with our young children 6,4,3,2. Before we could even speak a worker I believe his name was Ray stopped what he was doing and said “send the kids back so I can hear.” The kids were not being loud like screaming or anything of that sort. I took the kids back to the next area where the telescopes were. My son was excited about otters and was calling for my daughter to come see! “Ray” stopped again what he was doing to come and tell me to tell my kids to be quiet. At that point whole atmosphere felt uneasy. Like we had to walk on egg shells and weren’t fully able enjoy to the museum. But the part that really upset me and I felt like my family was then being targeted by Ray was on our way out of the museum we stopped to look at telescopes again. My son swiveled the telescope so it was the opposite direction. Next thing i see Ray coming and taking it away from us. He then waited for my family to leave to bring it back out! He actually watched us walk out of the door from the back office. There was other small children there enjoying the museum like my kids. Not once where they even acknowledge. This visit made me feel very uneasy, and embarrassed because I talked so highly of this place to my friends only for us to be treated differently than the...

Rates a "plus" and a "minus."

My wife and I took our grandkids (ages 3 and 5) to the museum three days in a row. The kids really liked the interactive exhibits and the puppet theater. The older grandson was thrilled to match the stuffed Black Oystercatcher bird with a photograph of the bird with the puppet version of the bird. He also worked his head around taxidermy as "they're alive but they're not now." The main strength of the museum for kids the age of our grandkids was that they interacted with concepts of nature in a positive way.

Not all was positive, though. On the first day, the kids just had fun. They were supervised by us, but the volunteers at the museum allowed them to interact in a natural way, as kids their age naturally would. On the second and third trips, though, the senior citizen volunteers (one each day) clearly were upset and overwhelmed by their energy and spoke sharply and critically to them. I'm retired myself and do volunteer work, so I applaud those helping out at the museum. However, when the volunteers become so attached to the museum that they can't stand to see kids interacting in the manner the museum was designed for, then that definitely becomes a minus. Otherwise, the museum vibe descends to being a great place for the volunteers and not-so-great for the visitors. We would rate the museum as a five-star experience except for the dampening effect of the two over-controlling volunteers we...

Educational, kids will like the exhibits, a nice view of the morro bay estuary from the window, an even better view of the estuary from the balcony of the Museum of Natural History with supplied binoculars. The nice young ladies working there can answers any questions you may have. Protecting the ecosystem is very important not only for the plants and animals, but for you and I whom enjoy the use of the estuary. After you are done with your walkthrough of the museum and learning about why it must be protected, you can take a walk along the beach of the estuary, put up a beach chair, or take your kayak or paddle board onto the water. There are no big waves but continuous numerous little waves. It took me a moment to get used to it but it's perfect for a calmer experience of such watersports, though surfing is definitely out. Also, if you dont like large crowds like you'd find at Avila or Pismo beach, Morro bay is calmer and more laid back, with fewer people. If you go to the other side of the museum, there are docks for smaller boats, a restaurant, and...