By Casey Kelly Barton

As a native Texan mama, I want my kids to have a sense of place and a decent knowledge of regional plants and wildlife. One way to approach that is to start, if not at the beginning, then as close as we can get. With that in mind, I took the hub and both sons to UT's Texas Memorial Museum today, over nine-year old Rocketboy's grumblings that he couldn't possibly learn anything new because he's already been there twice. Upon arrival I handed him my iPod with the museum's audio tour on it, escorted him downstairs to a roomful of Texan fossils, and watched him start eating his words with gusto.

My boys learned there have been long-horned critters in Texas for a very long time,

Pleistocene-vintage Giant Buffalo (Bison Alaskensis) skull from Stonewall County

along with some armadillo-like animals that look like they could turn a car into roadkill rather than the other way around.

Glyptodont, relative of modern armadillos

Before there was the Lone Star, there were starfish in abundance. Four-year old Hurricanehead was surprised to learn that much of Texas has spent time underwater.

Starfish (Crateraster mccarteri) from the Cretaceous, found in Travis County

And, of course, we saw dinosaurs. Local dinosaurs.

The Onion Creek Mosasaur

There's more at the museum, including modern wildlife displays, an enormous pterosaur suspended from the ceiling of the second-floor gallery, gemstones and an evolution exhibit on the fourth floor that held my kids spellbound with its videos of fungus-farming ants. As a natural history outing, it's hard to beat. And I think that, even though he won't come out and say so, my nine-year old learned something about ancient Texas.

Explore More: 

 Texas Memorial Museum visitor information is here. Admission is free, although donations are welcomed.

Image credit: author's private collection

Casey Kelly Barton writes, gardens and wrangles critters in Austin. She blogs and podcasts at Redneck Mother.