The BYU Museum of Peoples and Cultures has been on our list for a long time. It is a small museum at BYU and they have moved to a new location at 2201 N Canyon Rd. When we visited it was still under construction on the outside. This small museum houses exhibit about ancient peoples and cultures throughout the world.
Inside there is a small office and classroom to the side as you walk in, but as you head straight forward you will enter the museum. The museum houses different artifacts representing different cultures throughout the world.
We walked through the museum in about 20 minutes. It doesn’t take too long, but we saw some interesting displays of pottery, fishing tools, and Kachina dolls. Our boys were really interested in a large tablet carving from Mexico. They have different exhibits that come and go, as well as their permanent collection. The current exhibit focuses on the history of the Museum.
The section of the museum that our boys really liked was the wall of blocks. Here they allow museum visitors to decorate a section of the wall to represent them and their families. Our boys thought this was very fun and they each thought of something to draw. We also enjoyed reading what others had written.
I also noticed some other children working on a Cub Scout/Girl Scout patch page. So I got a booklet for our oldest, and he worked on completing the requirements. One of the requirements was to read a story and answer a few questions. You can request a copy of the book at the front office. After completing the paper, he earned a patch to put on his uniform. Unfortunately they were out, but they are going to mail us one soon. For the younger crowd, they had a page where they could make an exhibit about themselves. Our 5 year old had a lot of fun doing this! So make sure to ask for these at the office and you can also request a tour.
This museum is FREE and it’s small so it’s a great one to take small children to for their first experience of visiting the museum. The museum also has lots of fun activities including FHEs (these require a fee) and during the summer they have Morning at the Museums. BYU has 5 other museums that are great to pair with a stop at the BYU Museum of Peoples and Cultures. We also love grabbing ice cream at the BYU Creamery.
