Houston Museum of Natural Science at Sugar Land

The Museum of Natural Science at Sugar Land is a cute mini version of it's big sister in downtown Houston. We visited on a Saturday at opening during winter break, and there was almost nobody there, except a few toddlers and parents. If you want a quiet and small museum experience, this seems to be the place! They have a nice display of dinosaur bones upstairs to walk through, and different hands-on stations for learning. It was free entrance for us since we are members at the larger location, and I highly recommend going this route to save money. It also gives you a discount on other experiences that the museum offers that cost extra. My kids favorite part was the dino ride at the entrance. We spent maybe an hour here and saw everything, vs spending almost 6 at the other, so that kind of tells you the size comparison between the two!

This is a cozy neighborhood but surprisingly immersive museum with displays of dinosaurs and fossils (extensive collection of trilobites) as well as interactive displays to learn concepts in physics and chemistry. I'm glad it is walking distance from my home. Nice treat to just walk to and take in a bit of history. Plenty of parking and beautiful neighborhood.

I finally visited this museum in Sugarland, Tx. What's really interesting is that it's in a building that was formerly used to house prison farm workers until 1969. All of the original structure was kept in tact. The exhibits are very informative about dinosaurs, rocks, salt dunes and the Texas oil and gas industry. It is perfect for elementary aged children and has many interactive exhibits. There is a small snack bar area. There are picnic tables, a walking tail and a volleyball area outside. I highly recommend this venue as a fun place to take your kids.

We loved this museum! It was really nice (small), very interactive for kids, but still interesting for adults. Thoughtfully displayed. It is an extension of the Houston Museum of Natural Science - just a smaller display of items. There was no gift shop (not even magnets) & that was a bummer. My favorite was the Periodic Table. It had samples &/or examples if an every day item - like Copper had a sample of copper + a small coil of copper wire. This should be in every chemistry class as a great visual tool. The museum building was once a prison. They kept as much of the interior brick as they could and it is a gentle reminder of its past. Oh, if those walls could talk. It is very wheelchair friendly. It is a bit of walking, so be mindful of your mobility limits. The elevator is centrally located & there are a few benches throughout the exhibit.

I took my mother to 80’s Night at the Museum (21+) and it was fantastic!! The vibe was amazing and the music was phenomenal! Not to mention, I got to explore the museum without my children lol I will definitely be back again for another AMAZING night.

Small museum, but very efficient by having the dinosaur dig site and activities for kids that alone is a 20-30 minute activity , key points are present such as dinosaurs .

My husband and I held our wedding reception at the Sugarland location in November, and y'all, it was the perfect venue and we had a blast! Really a dream come true. Kavita and her team were amazing, and they went above and beyond to help us have the perfect event. It was incredibly affordable and we were even able to bring in outside entertainment to preform. The space looks amazing, and they had decorated for the holidays, so we had free decorations! Our guests all gasped when they walked in and saw the huge T-Rex skeleton on the lower floor, the triceratops upstairs, and all the interactive displays. The pictures were amazing, and the staff was helpful throughout the event. We catered the event with Safari Texas and the food was perfect. Seriously, host an event here. It's amazing!

We are members of the Houston Museum of Natural Science and were visiting the Sugar Land location for the first time as a family. At the front desk, we made it clear it was our first visit. The staff member told us about the small kids’ area upstairs since our son is too young for the dig site and explicitly said we were “good to go.” There was no mention that it required separate tickets, and there was no signage indicating an extra cost. The communication strongly implied it was included. We went upstairs together and were stopped by the staff member at the entrance who told us we needed tickets. My wife calmly explained that the front desk had not mentioned that. There was no argument. We immediately went downstairs, purchased the tickets, and returned. Our 2-year old son is on the spectrum and was very excited to go in, so redirecting him unexpectedly was already challenging. We complied without hesitation and were focused on getting back upstairs quickly. Later, while I was playing with our son, my wife overheard that same staff member complaining about her to a coworker. He said she was “expecting a free ride” and “didn’t want to pay,” which is completely untrue. She never refused to pay and was not rude. When she addressed it, they tried to say they were talking about “another mom,” which was clearly not the case. He even suggested she should have apologized to him after confirming “he was right”, despite the confusion stemming from unclear communication at the front desk. He turned a non-issue into an ego-driven power trip which was completely unnecessary. We are paying members who were simply trying to enjoy a family visit. My wife was respectful throughout the entire interaction. Being spoken about inaccurately and treated with that level of disrespect was unnecessary and unprofessional. A simple clarification would have sufficed. Instead, it became an uncomfortable experience because of one staff member’s attitude.

This is a very small museum great for keeping small children busy for about an hour if you are local to the area. However, they offer exhibits that come at an additional cost in an already small museum. If these exhibits were in the big museum in Houston I can see the benefit of adding that extra cost. This museum is very small and only keeps kids entertained for about an hour. If you want to visit the museum of natural science I recommend making the drive to the one in Houston. The one in Houston will provide you with more worth for your money. Staff was very friendly and professional. Over all the kids had a great time

This SL location was definitely a lot smaller than we thought it'd be. Free parking. We went for a special "block" party exhibit that turned out to have various block building areas and was quite a small area for a special ticketed event and you weren't allowed to go back in the area once you walk out which we didn't know. They had an area with science interactive areas that was free and an area with dinosaur history. I'd recommend if you want a bigger full experience to check out the main location one in the museum district as this SL one is quite small.

The good: great for younger kids because it's not huge, convenient if you live in or near Sugar Land, free parking and shopping and places to eat nearby. The bad: added costs for exhibits. We already pay so much for our membership (which covers both the one in Museum District and this one). It is not cool to have to pay more to for example play in the building blocks section. Side note on event experience: A recent event we attended, the Fossil Wash was underwhelming and poorly managed. No detail about a schedule for the event was given in advance. When we showed up on time (and we had paid weeks in advance), there were already so many people that they had to break us up into three groups with one hour staggered entry times. They clearly overbooked. They did not check to see we actually had tickets and gave us wristbands for the last entry. Some volunteers admitted the museum had allowed way too many people to register until the day before. The actual experience disappointed my kids. To be fair I have attended an event at the main location and that was underwhelming too (it was hyped as a gardening class with a focus on native plants and methods good for that, I showed up ready to get dirt on my hands and was placed in a conference room to watch a two hour PowerPoint on plants).

This museum definitely has a place for me. It's not as big as the main campus but still has plenty to explore, especially if kids are younger. I like that there were less crowds too, but that could be because I came at the end of the day. Parking is a breeze here and it's in a nice setting that's relatively convenient if you're in the area. My favorite parts are the interactive science elements which I felt are missing from the museum district location. We had a blast playing with everything and really getting to explore, sort of like a more sciency version of the children's museum with a lot more physics sprinkled in. Probably wouldn't be able to spend a full day here but certainly a couple hours if not a bit more.

This is a satellite campus for the main HMNS; much easier location in terms of parking (free!), especially if you live out in this area. Good option for an A/C activity in the hot summer months, although I think you may find it difficult to spend more than a couple of hours here since the exhibits are pretty basic. Cheaper than the main HMNS (ref back to comment on exhibits) and members get in free.

A great museum. We've been members off and on for many years. The paleontology hall, curated by Robert Bakker, is one of the best. I often come to just spend time in it, and I always learn something new. Some of the reviews seem to be talking about the Sugar Land branch, perhaps. I can't believe the one that said it was a small budget museum! They definitely weren't talking about HMNS!

Was this museum as great as the one in the museum district? Not for me. BUT my toddler loved it and parking was easier so it was a win for him. It was just enough stuff to keep him entertained. He loved the dinosaur tv screen and all of the interactive items.

Location: easy to find, plenty of parking Museum: entry fee was 13ish per adult They advertise 3 floors but it's more like 2. They have some live reptiles but it's only 1 per cage or environment and very hard to find. They have some extra fee kids activities like digging for bones. There is no more gift shop or food. Only vending machine. Very disappointing as you travel for a souvenir and can't buy one... the floors have several interactive stations to keep the tour exciting and interesting. You get to learn a lot and it'll take about 1-1.5 hours to go through everything. Staff is lacking with about 3-4 crew members seen. Overall, 2.5/5 experience.. pictures below.

Entertaining . Small but very nice. Dinosaurs were great. The digging pit was great too.

Super expensive nothing much to see excitement and then you have to pay extra for other attractions also after you already pay $25 which is really disappointing I won't refer to anyone there are many places you can go which are less expensive and more fun.

Beautiful inside and out, a nice place to bring you kids to run around and see some cool stuff. My only issue is that quite a few things were either closed or oos.

Very informative. Most of the bones or real or casted models. Big were scary but cool.

It was okay for the price. Got us out of the house anyway lol. A lot of the manual displays did not work. My wife was upset that there was nothing in the gift shop.. that's right nothing in the gift shop. We always collect refrigerator magnets from wherever we go. Like I said it was okay. The kids would love it because of the dinosaurs I think

Only cool for really tiny children. Many of the exhibits were out of order. Just seems like a place for children honestly for the price.

We had a great time - all the interactive exhibits were working when we were there. We homeschool and were in town for a week, this was a great day to learn some science. My husband loves physics and chemistry, he enjoyed the periodic table part and got to show the kids some things. I was surprised how much the kids liked that part (not my deal, lol). My dad came too, he was an engineer, part of the time at NASA, and he liked showing the kids the exhibits upstairs. Some good space and light and motion displays. The cave is really fun, we watched the movie a few times. You can definitely spend a few hours here, it's a good size for a day trip, you don't feel like you're missing anything.

Was happy to return after a few years. Some of the displays were broken though. I didn't see a gift shop. Was it taken away or did I miss it?

Smaller branch of the main museum location but still worth a visit! My brother enjoyed the paleontology section

This place is pretty awesome! They are OPEN during Covid! I've been meaning to come here with my kids and i kept missing out because it was closed or i got the times wrong! Although, there is a portion that closed due to Covid, I mean I do get it!!!! But we were able to see dinosaurs and read about them! They have section you can see ( it's extra $$) but worth it you can learn about ROBOTS. Which my 9 year old was into! It was perfect some interactive games as well. They had another section that they gave you gloves for ancient artifacts. They were actual items that people made back in the day or just items that were so cool! You can touch them and open drawers of new findings!!!! Downstairs they had a section regarding rocks and energy and how it works! They gave some information about our own city Sugar Land! What a way to make it interesting to the kiddos. My 9 yo is learning about this in school so it gave it a different perspective since we are in home learning!!!!! Pretty awesome if you ask me! Covid rules: wearing a mask through out, of course! They have sanitizing stations literally everywhere you go since a lot of these areas are interactive! I was a little nervous about going here especially with Covid and all the touching . Honestly i felt comfortable that my kids had bathrooms and sanitize stations to wash hands or sanitize frequently! The workers there were extremely helpful so thank you to them!

Get there early and get your stuff completed online. Parking is a little away from the facility. Great family atmosphere, good experience. Wish they had more handicap spaces.

Cute little place for a quick stop. Went on a week day in the morning and was pretty quiet. If you're looking for over the top this isn't it but it has a lot to offer. You can ride a Dino 3+ and dig site. For something quick, convenient, not over crowded this place can be fun. It's not an all day thing, we spent 1 hour and were able to go through everything twice.

Visited 10am right when they opened on a Saturday. Every staff member I encountered was very helpful and gave us great customer service. We join the dig site near the lobby and had so much fun helping my daughter dig from fossils. There are interactive activities all around. There are different science subjects and I learned a lot. There is much to do here I definitely will be coming here primarily instead of the main downtown location. I enjoyed that it was not that busy I perhaps saw 20 people in the early mornings. This is how I prefer so that there's plenty of time to learn and explain. I am a member so I will be coming back to enjoy as much as possible. Dig site $5/20 min. #blacksalsanista #homeschool #blackhomeschoolers #Houstonblackhomeschoolers

This is a great museum especially if you have small kids. There are plenty of activities for them. We went with two eleven year old girls. One of them a dinosaur lover. We were there for about an hour and that was enough to go through everything, except the separate exhibit area they have where you have to pay extra. We did enjoy our visit. They also have a good collection of geodes.

I came here without kids so I can't comment on how great of a time it is for children, but for adults it was definitely awesome. Drayton is one of the museum guides & he's extremely knowledgeable & obviously cares about science. He's one of those people you talk to & think "yeah, this person has found their calling." The upstairs guide was also great but I unfortunately cannot remember his name. The exhibits are cool & interactive. Everything from chemistry to marine life to physics to dinos. This location tries to cover what the main one does within a smaller, two story space. $13 entry on a Sunday is not bad. Overall a pleasant experience that caters more towards Sugar Land and Richmond/Rosenberg residents.

I was excited to visit this museum and see all the exhibits it has to offer. And while what we could visit with our ticket was interesting I was disappointed that I felt as though they nickel and dimed visitors for everything. The cost was $51.00 for an admission pass or five people, which I feel is a higher price point. Additionally, there were areas in which we had to pay again to enter. For the museums small size, it made no sense to have theses additional fees. Especially considering the cost. However there are some fun and interesting exhibits and going on a Friday may be your best bet. There was only one or two families there which made it a very enjoyable visit. We went into every area allowed and there are some really fun interactive exhibits that engage little ones. Overall it was a good experience but be prepared to pay more to do more.

This location is a satellite location of the much bigger museum in Houston. It has a good amount of things that would keep you and your child engaged for maybe 1 1/2 to 2 hours. We have a toddler and two teenagers, and there are things there for all of them. The dig pit has been closed, and some of the hands on exhibits are slowly coming back. The employees are where I have to hone in on. They are fantastic here. So friendly and engaging and seem like they WANT to be there. VASTLY different from the experiences we've had at the downtown Houston location each time we've gone. They're refreshing. Overall, a good place to spend a few hours. Their programs are great too. Our teenagers really enjoyed them, but I do feel I need to say that they've been homeschooled their whole lives, so these kinds of programs they naturally enjoy and gravitate too. I don't know if it'd be the same for public school kids.

I cannot say enough about HMNS. I contacted them regarding a large group that I lead regarding special accommodations for a field trip. They were amazing- easy to work with, kind, and went above and beyond to make sure our members felt safe and comfortable during our visit. They opened outside of regular opening hours for our field trip but still had employees available to interact with and answer kids questions. Everyone was just so kind and friendly. My group had an amazing time with no issues at all. I highly recommend HMNS for a fun visit but especially for schools or large groups looking for a fun, educational and accommodating field trip. We couldn't have been happier!

Great experience. We enjoyed it, and our 2.5 year old loved it and enjoyed seeing the dinosaurs most of all. It's interactive in many areas, so it's easy for everyone to feel included in learning about the different areas displayed. Definitely worth it and highly recommend.

Not bad for a small budget museum. They do nickel and dime you even if you are a membership holder. They behave as if they are Nazis in this museum and only allow kids to have snacks in the snack area. There's no flexibility from this place. Don't waste your time making the drive here. Go to the one in the Houston area where there's more flexibility. With all the things going on in this world, it left a really bad taste in my mouth that they acted like Nazis.

This is such a great place to visit with the whole family including young children/ toddlers! The space isn't huge which is perfect for kiddos to explore and run around without being unmanageable and, the history of the building was cool for the adults.

Interesting place. We went here for a work event. It was an interesting setting, but it was hard to socialize around all the exhibits. Some of the exhibits were interesting, and we easily saw it all in about an hour. Several of us were eyeing the dig pit, but it was closed during our event. If your looking for a unique venue in Sugarland for an event, give this place a look. Me, I'm going to request we go back for our work social networking event and this time we have the dig pit included.

This place is HUGE. My advice, don't buy any extra exhibit passes until you've seen what's already included. We spent three hours on the first floor! We peeked at the third floor, but ran out of time for the 2nd and 4th floors. You could spend four days here and do a floor a day, and then maybe see the exhibits. This place is expensive. The girl at the desk hooked us up with a $45 year-long senior membership for my 62+ yr old mother-in-law, which meant the rest of us got in for $8 and parking went down to $5! We were very appreciative of her suggestion, and now my mother in law can come back with her Houstonian grandkids whenever she's in town. Win-win! We overheard someone giving a tour say that the more metal you saw along the skeleton bodies of the dinosaurs, the more real bones there were. That made looking at all of the dinosaurs even more fun. I also discovered the wyrex - a bobtailed t-rex. How could he balance enough to walk?!

Updating this review to reflect that they took away Block Party and the dinosaur digging pit is closed indefinitely. I don't know if it's because they want to cut down on germs spreading due to the coronavirus outbreak or what but this made for a less than fun trip for my 5 year old. The exhibits are fine and the chemistry area is cute but we won't be back for a while.

Really enjoyed our visit today. There were a couple areas that were closed, but it was fun regardless. We had a pleasant conversation with Drayton who shared some knowledgeable information about the exhibits. Between the interactive elements and detailed displays, there's fun for the whole family! 10/10

Definitely a great spot to avoid the crowds and paring from the the main location. You need to know this is satellite location and with any satellite location, they are much smaller, but for kids this was great! We didn't have to deal with the excessive tiredness of our 10 and 6 year old, they were still able to interact with some of the exhibits and the education on the salt mines was fascinating! We would definitely come back as the open ore areas up (a lot closed due to Covid), but it was will worth the $35 we paid fora family of 4!

Our family of 4 had a great time at the museum today. We went to the sugar land location because my husband had never been and we had a late start to the day so much time. It has changed so much in the 2 years since I had been for a field trip. Lots more to see and really cool interactive exhibits. We loved the scavenger hunt and seeing an up close tarantula out of it's cafe was really cool. My kids are 11 and 14 and were entertained throughout the museum. My husband really liked the exhibit on fossil fuels as well.

For a smaller budgeted muesum, they do very well, only draw back was they weren't allowed to play in the digging area, that was an additional ticket

Fun place for the family! The dinosaur movie was fun to watch and with interesting facts. Lots of things to mess with and fun. Fossils brought me here and wow they were huge and interesting! There is a small park for the children to play in a nice area. The building is well kept and a good size not so crowded. The young lady in the front was very sweet and had a bubbly attitude which I liked. My girls and I had fun and I will definitely come back to visit again.

For $12/adult & Kids over 3yo $9 it was expensive bc the exhibits are small. 2 stories but very little to see. The dig site is extra $5. Not packed on a Sunday around 2pm. Just rocks and dinosaurs to sum it up. Butterfly exhibit is just a tiny patio garden. Nothing too exciting. Nice gift shop though. We were in and out in a little over an hour. Not worth coming back

Charge extra for everything from gravel pit to different sections and their ball pit even when completely empty Cons- ball pit and gravel for kids is extra even for full price tickets and members. Nothing compared to the down town museum Pros- great small museum for the neighborhood.

Well it may be the closest museum to my house, but it's definitely not my favorite and not even one that I would visit frequently, even if I was a member (though I'm considering it for the museum district one). My family and I came to show my uncle (who came from overseas) to check out the place as one of our museum trips and to see this museum since I hadn't seen it since it opened. Pricing: Ouch! What kind of pricing is this?!? 12$ for an adult ticket with this little exhibits to see??? Yikes!! There's a dig pit for kids too, but that costs extra also! Exhibits: Mmm. The exhibits in my opinion ranged from somewhat interesting to flat out unimpressed. But then again, my party of four were adults, so that's not too surprising, I'm sure if we had brought kids it might have been a little more exciting to comb through each exhibit. The aquariums were my favorite since it was fun to search for frogs (yeah we weird like that, we always have competitions for spying to find objects). The domed theatre seemed interesting as well, though the videos were a little boring. Everything else we just blew through and it took less than an hour to finish. Gift shop: Pretty decent selection I guess. Yeah that's pretty much all I have to say about it. Parking: Relatively easy! At least that was great! The place doesn't seem like a place that would too busy in my opinion, so parking should be easy! And it's free too! Overall we all felt the museum was missing things that would make it more unique than the one in the district, but that doesn't mean this is a bad museum either, there could still be room for an improvement. This place seems to be more suited for kids who want to learn more about science and the wonders of it all so this place might be worth checking out if you have kids. However the somewhat high pricing and the lack of exhibits will prevent me from making this a frequent venture.

Sunday afternoon visit- they open at 12 and we were probably the 5th car in the lot. That part was cool. However, the admission prices are STEEP but if you're a member of the downtown museum it's worth a visit. The dig pit and LEGO building area are separate and expensive tickets. Again probably only worth it if you're already a member. My 4yo is a Dino nut so we had fun but super expensive for non-members. Did I mention it's expensive?

Hi friend, Great!! The place is well worth the trek. Soak in the amazing art. Bring a camera ! High recommend. A

The Sugar Land location is a great place for kids and if you have couple of hours to kill. Tons of interesting facts about rocks and a great collection of dinosaur casts which is amazing for any child to see. We has 2 of them and they had a great time here. The movie that we watched in their digital dome (which is an inflatable dome) had to do with how the weather changes and how hurricanes and tornadoes are created. It was a pretty informative show. Other attractions are their amphibians (mainly frogs and toads) and a small dig pit that you have to pay additional charge to use (which we chose not to pay).

Nice museum but don't expect much very basic. Saw everything within an hour. Good place for 6yr and under

How have I not discovered this museum before now?!? I have always loved the main museum downtown but this is a much more kid friendly version and is very interactive.

This is a very cool museum with one of the best dinosaur exhibits. The rest of the permanent exhibits are pretty nice as well. The planetarium is really cool and so is the imax. This is a go to spot to bring people to that are visiting from out of town.

When I first heard that the Houston Museum of Natural Science was building a location in Sugar Land, I was ecstatic! I'm a pretty big fan of science and I think that the Houston location has some amazing exhibits so this made me pretty intrigued to see how they would bring this to the Sugar Land location. The sad part, however, is that this location is just way too small! The prices are similar to what you would pay at the Houston location so you might expect the same amount of detail to the exhibits, however, the exhibits here just barely give you a glimpse of what the Houston location offers. Granted, the location is still somewhat new and they are still expanding. Needless to say, I think that my experience here was rather disappointing. They essentially offer the same exhibits that you would find at the main location but don't provide as much variety. There are a few dinosaur bones on display, some gems to looks at, and a couple of frogs and fish. The best thing they offer is the domed theater (a video projected onto a domed-shaped projector) which plays a video on topics ranging from space to dinosaurs. They also offer a special exhibit but the tickets are sold separately and cost just as much. Overall, if you're looking for a museum to take the kids or to spend a day at, I'd recommend avoiding this location and instead making the trip to the Houston location. For just a few more dollars you'll get to experience a much larger selection of all things science. I'd say that this location still has some growing up to do before I make another trip here.

The younger sister of Houston's main Museum of Natural Science, located in Sugar Land, may be a smaller venue but that doesn't mean there isn't much to do. There are always cool and educational activities to be experienced for all ages. HMNS offers membership on different levels and it is good for both this and the downtown area location. If you have a museum membership, which I can promise you is well worth it if you take advantage of it, there are plenty of events going on to keep some free time occupied. Recently we partook of the Masters of the Night event featuring bats. I love animals and enjoy learning even more about them. Not to mention I think bats are just adorably cute. You'll find the permanent exhibits like the salt water aquarium, space science, discovery works, paleontology, children's art gallery and much more. There's usually a Friday Family Fun night with various themes. Most events have food and beverage on hand. When we went to the above mentioned event we were expecting food in the form of light bites. We were surprised. They were serving carved roast beef, potatoes, salads, vegetables, fruits and an array of desserts and beverages. All was included with admission. I'm not sure of this holds the same for every special event but if so it's a winner of plan. The food was actually very good to boot. They for certain didn't skimp on quality. As mentioned there are many activities centered around children. It's the perfect opportunity to let your child gain knowledge in science and history while having fun at the same time. Some of the most popular experiences include reading night, summer camps, classes and various science labs. There are also activities offered for school field trips and organizations. Areas of the museum are also available to rent for birthday parties and other events. This branch of HMNS is well worth checking out. The downtown area is bigger and has more exhibits but that doesn't mean good things can't come in small packages. Check out HMNS.org, click on the Sugar Land tab, and see what's happening.

Surprised at the exhibits and the professionalism of the staff, with three kids in tow, the interactive section was their fav and the dinosaurs were limited in my scope but kids liked it tremendously. A cool place to be on a hot day, lucky we scoped out a Groupon coupon.