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As concerned parents, at Red Tricycle we are making every effort to provide you with the most accurate information. However, at this time wide-spread closures are occuring at the last minute due to the spread (or prevention of the spread) of Covid-19. For more on what parents need to know about the Coronavirus outbreak, click here. For current info about the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and La Brea Tar Pits check their Facebook page or call ahead before heading to the museum.

Ready to blow your kids’ minds by taking them back in time? The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and La Brea Tar Pits are offering a new series of self-guided tours that elevate the historical museum outing to an epic adventure. Your family can hear a dinosaur roar, come face-to-face with a saber-toothed cat, meet and greet snakes and tortoises, see the only Tyrannosaurus rex growth series in the world and so much more. Read on to learn how to have this unforgettable experience with your family.

Self-Guided Tours Transform the Museum Stroll Into an Adrenaline Rush

Up the ante on the casual museum stroll by opting for a self-guided tour that will get your heart pumping! The museums’ fantastic selection of tours can be accessed on any mobile device during your visit. Here are some of our favorite tour options for families:

La Brea Tar Pits Tours

The Kid at Heart Tour will have the whole family feeling playful. From the Ice Age Encounters show featuring a life-size adult Saber-toothed Cat puppet, a live performance and film projections that bring Ice Age L.A. to life, to tapping into that curious inner child to ask a scientist your most burning questions, top this tour off with a giggle inducing roll down the grassy hills outside the museum.

The Selfie Tour will even have your smartphone obsessed, hard to impress tween on board with this educational excursion. They’ll get to pose in front of envy-inducing backdrops like a wall of Dire Wolf skulls or next to a roaring saber-toothed cat.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Tours

Junior Jurassic fanatics will dig right in to the Eat/Drink/Breathe Dinosaurs Tour. They won’t believe their eyes when they witness the Tyrannosaurus rex growth series, featuring a baby, juvenile, and sub-adult T. rex. It’s the only series of its kind in the entire world! Your pint-sized paleontologists will also relish the chance to enjoy the interactive Dinosaur Encounters featuring NHM’s life-size dinosaur puppets. They can even peek behind the scenes of the museum’s Dino Lab to witness scientists working on real fossils brought back to the Dinosaur Institute from out in the field.

Take your wild child on the Wild L.A. Tour to learn about some of life’s wonders thriving in their very own backyard. From getting a closer look at insects and greeting snakes and tortoises to watching busy bees at work or enjoying some peaceful birdwatching, this tour will give your kids a greater understanding and appreciation of the creatures around them.

Test your fam’s collective courage by banding together and bonding during the Fears and Phobias Tour. Hear a dinosaur’s bellowing roar, discover more about Frankenstein’s creepy Creature, watch black and brown widows crawl over miniature dioramas and weave their webs at the Nature Lab and learn how a rattlesnake “sees” you via a heat-sensing mirror. Beware! This tour is not for the faint at heart!

Enter the #MindBlownLA Contest When You Visit!

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and La Brea Tar Pits want to know what amazing things you discover on their self-guided tours that really blow your mind. Share your experiences with the world via your social media accounts with the hashtag #MindBlownLA and the museum location––and each time you post, you’ll be entered into a monthly contest to win awesome prizes from museum memberships, to events, to museum inspired gifts. You’d already be posting a photo of your kids in front of the mammoth filled iconic Lake Pit at the La Brea Tar Pits or pretending to flee the T.Rex at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and now you can be rewarded for sharing your pics!

Plan your mind-blowing trip to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County or La Brea Tar Pits today!

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
900 Exposition Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90007
213-763-3466
Online: nhm.org

La Brea Tar Pits
5801 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
213-763-3499
Online: tarpits.org

––Beth Shea

Finding brilliant life hacks to make things easier is awesome. But, what about the hacks that don’t always go as planned? We’ve compiled an epic list of some of the most ridiculous hacks out there, all of them designed to give every parent a good laugh. From the time consuming to the downright dangerous, scroll down to see 18 life hacks you’ll never use.

Baby Mop

Amazon

Whether you have a specialized mop-onesie for your kiddo or just a Swiffer attached to a normal onesie, this hack is pretty wacky. We promise, using an actual Swiffer will clean your floors so much better!

Laundry Basket Sled

Larry Koester via flickr

Just because you use it to cart your kids (and dirty laundry) up and down the stairs, doesn’t mean your laundry basket should double as a sled on a snowy day. Especially when a simple saucer sled works ten times better than a clunky plastic basket ever will.

Swing on a String

Skitterphoto via Pexels

Every parent knows swings are a childhood fave. But trying to get out of your play duties by attaching a string or rope to the swing and using it to push (really pull) your child is bonkers.

Crib Turned Desk

Jennifer Morris

We’re calling the bluff on this ambitious DIY project that involves transforming your crib into a cute workstation/desk for your kids. Hey, putting it together in the first place was complicated enough!

Vacuum Ponytail

Jon Rawlinson via flickr

We have to admit, this hack sounds really cool. Using the suction of a vacuum to gather your little one's hair seems quick and easy. But do you really want to get all of the dust, dirt and crumbs in your vacuum all over your kiddo’s hair?

Toilet Paper Roll Hack

Allison Sutcliffe

Sure, your tots love to roll the toilet paper out onto the floor at every chance they get. But, we’re not persuaded that securing it with a rubber band is any easier than closing the door to mitigate the mess.

Cardboard Box Slide

The Contemplative Creative

Dangerous life hack alert! We can see how kiddies might think this is a good idea, but any form of a makeshift slide is a recipe for a trip to the hospital.

Dental Floss Cutting

Sean T Evans via flickr

We’re putting money on the fact that if you’ve got cake, you’ve got a knife to cut it with. And since knives seem to make quick work slicing up that birthday cake you made to celebrate your kid’s big day, why fix it if it ain’t broke?

Rattlesnake Venom Wrinkle Repair

Adam Baker via Flickr

We know wrinkles are annoying, but getting bit by a rattlesnake and risking paralysis or death in the name of smooth skin is definitely not the answer.

Iron to Heat Your Crockpot

Your Best Digs via flickr

We honestly can’t think of a time where you would have a crockpot and electricity but decided to place a hot iron under the crockpot to heat your food instead of the appliance itself.

Batter in Ketchup Bottle

wikiHow

The trouble with using a small ketchup bottle to pour pancake batter is that the transfer process takes forever. Plus, there's always a chance that you might end up with an extra dash of condiment in your breakfast. But if you’re up to the challenge, check out this how-to on wikiHow.

Marshmallow Ice Pack

Bryan Ochalla via flickr

We’re not saying this hack won’t work, but why would you waste all of those scrumptious marshmallows just to make an ice pack?

Easy Peanut Butter Spreading

Katherine Hitt via flickr

If you count “torn bread” as a legit parent concern, then this peanut butter hack dreamed up by food blogger Bev Weidner is for you. But if other worries top your list, we invite you to chuckle alongside thousands of parents in the Twitterverse, as they grapple with the necessity of this questionable time saver.

Keyboard Coat Hanger

Marco Antonio Islas Cruz via flickr

All we have to say is, no! If you have extra keyboards laying around, wrapping the cord around your closet rung and using the keyboard as a hanger is beyond a ridiculous idea.

Nail Wine Opener

Anders Illum via flickr

What parent doesn’t want a glass of wine at the end of a long day? If you don’t have a wine opener and are planning to use a hammer and nail instead, just think of how sad you’ll be if you accidentally break the bottle or hurt yourself with a rouge hammer.

Plastic Egg Sucker Saver

Jay Weidenbach via flickr

We’re not convinced saving a dime store sucker is worth the time it takes to make this hack happen. It requires parents to drill a hole in a leftover plastic egg, and then keep it handy for those moments when your kids decide to cast off their half-eaten sucker.

Tape Roll Cup Holder

HireAHelper via flickr

We swear, holding your drink in your hand or leaving it behind is a much better choice than using a roll of tape as a cup holder. Taping the end of the roll to your dashboard is almost guaranteed to end in a major slip.

Cling Film Bib

Family Chic

Having to wash clothes for your little artists is a pain, but we’re not so sure adding cling film to the equation is the best idea. If you want to try this hack for yourself, visit Family Chic for all the details.

—Natasha Davis & Allison Sutcliffe

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