Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center — Attraction in Sioux City

Between the indoor and outdoor activities, you could easily spend half a day with the kids here. There is a lot to see, especially for the little ones. We discovered the Raptor House this visit. I'm unsure how long it has been an exhibit, but I have been to the Nature Center a handful of times over the last 10 years, and never noticed it somehow. It has a live Owl and a live Hawk you can see. There are plenty of hiking trails too, some not too bad for kids.

As far as things that could be improved, I would say operating hours for sure. They are closed Sundays and Mondays (online only said they are closed Mondays, but the sign had papers over it when we arrived---possibly a Covid change?), and only open until 4:00 when open. It would also be nice to see more interactive displays inside. There are a handful, but most things are to see/read. Or an option to play audio for kids. On this visit, I had my almost six year old along. He is in the early stages of reading still, so I had to read a lot to him. Most displays had long paragraphs. Don't get me wrong, the information is wonderful, it just gets to be a lot of reading aloud.

Overall, we will be back when we have more time. We only had about an hour and a half this visit, so we didn't get to wander much outside. The facility is nicely air-conditioned (it was 90+ degrees when we visited), very clean, and kept modern. The staff that we encountered were very pleasant and full of...

The nature center does a brilliant job of both educating and entertaining without being either overly stimulating or dry and uninteresting like some nature centers are. The place is packed with educational plaques of course but also interactive and informational exhibits about the history and geology of the area. Highly recommend for kids, teenagers, adults, and seniors!

Then, there's a gorgeous water feature/rock garden/pond, tons of bird feeders for extensive birdwatching, multiple trails of varying degrees of difficulty, a nature exploration playground (!!!), a bird of prey house, a few native live animals, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

I HIGHLY recommend the nature center, Elk Point Overlook, and Stone State Park as a destination for any...

Beautiful area! The trails were awesome and it was just a beautiful setting. We had quite the adventure yesterday on a school field trip. Apparently we exited the Nature trails at some point and ended up lost in the Stone State Park that is adjacent. We didn't have a map of Stone State Park, only the Dorothy Pecaut hiking trails. Luckily, Ranger Tyler came to our rescue and lead the way back to the Nature Center. He was awesome! The kids loved him and he gave them a nature education on the way back!! I would love to see signs up indicating that you are leaving the Dorothy Pecaut Nature trails and entering Stone State park. That way others won't make the same...