City: Albuquerque, NM

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (505) 841-2800

Address: 1801 Mountain Road NW

Description: Outer space and dinosaurs—it’s hard to find a better combo for kids. Here they can face off with a 40-foot-long T. rex; find out about dinosaurs unique to New Mexico, including the five-horned Pentaceratops; walk through a rumbling volcano; and ride in the Evolator time machine. Move the camera on a model of the Mars Rover in the “Making Tracks on Mars” area; and explore space exploration in New Mexico in the Space Frontiers exhibit, due to run at least through 2011. The planetarium presents child-friendly shows several times daily, perhaps showing presentations on space exploration or a journey through the solar system. The awesome five-story screen at the Lockheed Martin DynaTheater makes you feel like you’re right inside films on dinosaurs, the natural world, and wild adventures. (Both venues charge separate entrance fees.)Hands-on exhibits in the StartUp gallery on Albuquerque’s place in computer history include a design-your-own-icon exhibit and a clever game to design a computer program—you have to order and pick up a pizza on a mini city map. Kids can also touch fossils; stroke a snake; and see turtles, lungfish, and other critters in the Naturalist Center. There are plenty of science and dinosaur treats in the museum store, and the M Cafe has a children’s menu, plus exhibits inside the fun glass-top tables. Museum entry is free on the second Tuesday in January, second Tuesday in February, September 11, November 11, and Christmas Eve day. Residents of some New Mexico counties enter free in specified months—details at the Web site. There is always free admission for kids under 3. Open seven days but closed on all Mondays in September and January.