These fascinating museums house the university's collections of items and artifacts related to the natural world. The world-famous academic resource offers interdisciplinary programs and exhibitions that tie in elements of all the associated fields. You'll certainly find something interesting here, be it a dinosaur skeleton, a hunk of meteorite, a Native American artifact, or the Glass Flowers.

The Glass Flowers are 3,000 models of more than 840 plant species devised between 1887 and 1936 by the German father-and-son team of Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka. You might have heard about them, and you might be skeptical, but it's true: They look real. The flowers are the centerpiece of the Botanical Museum. Children love the Museum of Comparative Zoology, where the dinosaurs share space with preserved and stuffed insects and animals that range in size from butterflies to giraffes. The Mineralogical Museum is the most specialized but can be just as interesting as the others, especially if gemstones hold your interest. The Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology boasts the Hall of the North American Indian, where 500 artifacts representing 10 cultures are on display.