We made an impromptu detour to the Indiana Dinosaur Museum during a weekend road trip, and it ended up being one of the highlights of our trip! X-Man absolutely loved it. From the moment we walked in, he was completely engaged -- asking questions, reading the displays, and carefully studying every fossil and replica. The exhibits were well laid out and easy for kids to navigate without feeling overwhelming. It struck a great balance between educational and genuinely fun. The staff was friendly and welcoming, and the space felt clean and thoughtfully curated. You can tell a lot of care went into creating an experience that sparks curiosity in young dinosaur lovers. If you're traveling through the area with kids (or have a budding paleontologist in your family), this is absolutely worth the stop. We didn't plan it -- and honestly, that made it even better. Sometimes the best adventures are the unexpected ones. Would definitely recommend! read more

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This is a nice, small museum. A bit overpriced but worth doing once, and it is next to the chocolate shop and factory. We did not do the outdoor parts. It was a nice stop. read more

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It was recommended we come here by a lovely lady at the visitor's center at Notre Dame. We are so glad we went! My kiddo loves dinosaurs so she was very much engaged with all the information and displays. Her favorite part was digging for fossils. I have to admit, that was my favorite part as well. The staff were very helpful and enthusiastic about the information they spoke about. It was a nice addition to our trip. read more

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We stopped by the Indiana Dinosaur Museum a few days before Christmas so that we could meet up with some friends while in the area. To start off with this is Julian unassuming because we were not expecting to be as good as it was, however, every part of this museum is so much fun and so interactive When you get there they have a cute video introducing you to the Dinosaur Museum and giving you a little history lesson. Next, you walk through the back door and you are met with teammates who are walking you through the exhibits and to meet snakes, turtles, and chicks. There is a big sand pit to dig for dinosaurs and a back room where you can find your own fossils to take home. All in all, this is such a cool place to bring kids and spend the afternoon! read more

This was a cool museum in the most random Indiana city. In addition to the museum, they had a beautiful nature trail that is free to the public out in the back, a burger restaurant being built (not yet opened), and The South Bend Chocolate factory. They have a cafe area in the atrium of the museum equipped to serve patrons light bites, and refreshments. Lots of amazing chocolates to choose from that are made fresh from the chocolate factory. The individuals who work here were the nicest people! They were very engaging and loved when you asked questions! This is a cool place for dinosaur enthusiasts. Ticket prices were a tad high in my opinion: $25 per adult. I think the museum would be cool for science/dinosaur enthusiasts and older kids. There are so cool activities for younger kids where they can dig for their own dinosaur bones. read more

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Way way way over priced for what it offers. Some kinda cool stuff. The female working the counter was super fun. Best part was feeding the goats. The Public House- we walked in were seated and abruptly left. The place was filthy, stuff and trash on floor, tables not bused and it wasn't very busy. To me the entire complex felt very commercial and not customer friendly but more profit profit profit. The other off putting was the shrine like to the owner. He loves himself as much as he loves profit. read more

Explored this gem with our granddaughters during spring break. The girls had a blast! Very interactive for kids of all ages, and not so large you're crazy tired at the end, also several opportunities for those in our " grand" era to sit for a few minutes. As someone who has mobility issues I appreciated that! Fortunately, the museum is also connected by South Bend Chocolate Company (tour availability), and a fantastic restaurant, Howard Park Public House! Shout out to Elle our waitress who went so far to help us, especially because leading up to our adventure had been a rocky day. Hearing that, she paid us lots of attention which was wonderful. And the food was all Fantastic! read more

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Chocolate maker made a shrine to his love of dinosaurs! Loved it. Impressive dinosaurs (primarily casts, but that's Ok). Beautiful design. Lots of helpful staff. Well thought out and presented. Mark came out to say hello after the introductory film. Props and costumes from Jurassic Park movies. Loved the Spinosaurus. Missed some signage--I didn't see anything identifying which T-rex the cast was of. That would be helpful. Overall, amazing! I don't get the negative reviews. I thought the price was fine (and I also did the chocolate tour). The kids I saw were engaged. Of course it presented evolution!!! If you want the cheese antiscientific creationist stuff you know there's a place in another state. And some complain about a gift shop? What museum doesn't have one? Though, Mark, you could get some better dinosaur toys. (Check out webpage for Happy Hen Toys in Indianapolis.) read more

This place is not worth the price. Charging a family of four $90+ is a total sham. There are so many problems, I don't even know where to begin... so I guess I'll just walk you through the problems as you go through the tour. Introduction Video You begin the "tour" in a makeshift movie theater watching a short film that is two things: an advertisement for the South Bend Chocolate Factory and Public House... apparently, the Public House is "changing the game on burgers!" and then a five minute video praising the museum's founder, Mark Tarner. (Did I mention Tarner also owns the Chocolate Factory and Public House... that's probably unrelated, right?) The entire video was about how incredible Tarner is, and how great he is at finding dinosaur fossils! The only question left unanswered was what flavor the koolaid was going to be when we finished the museum. Seriously, I think cults would feel this was a bit too obvious of a recruiting video. First Part of Tour Once you finish the recruitment, err, introduction video, you step into a large room with some bones. The tour guide is using a microphone/speaker combo that sounds like they purchased it at Dollar Tree. You can barely hear it, and when you do hear it, the sound is so muffled you don't understand. (For as much as they charge families, they could afford some better technology!) They share a few things to hype up the museum, and then we were freed to discover the museum (in all its disappointment) on our own. The Museum We entered the museum and 90% of it is just (fake) dinosaur bones with signs that are walls of text. That's fine for teenagers and adults, but it's not great for young kids who aren't reading at advanced levels. There's very little "experiential" exhibits for the kid. You basically have the following: -A sand-dig where you can find toy shark teeth (no, you can't keep them) -A sand-dig where you can find toy dinosaurs (you also can't keep them) -A dirt-pit where you can use a paint brush to brush dirt off of fake bones. -A table where you can color on coloring pages printed off of Google. There is a "fossil" dig experience. But it's not free. They charge you $10 to go into a large room with dirt and rocks. They give you a shovel and bowl. If you're lucky enough to find something that isn't a rock, congratulations! Take that to the lady at the counter, she'll tell you it's an ammonite shell, put it in a bag like a fish at Petco and it'll be the most expensive pea-sized shell you'll ever find! (They won't confirm that the "fossils" are fake.) On each exhibit, they have a "Do Not Touch" sign, which makes sense. But then they put string at ankle level as the only protection. I saw many kids and adults nearly trip on it just trying to get around. Good thing they charge enough to cover that inevitible lawsuit! They have some live reptiles: a bearded dragon, a boa, some tortoises and a cayman. They do a cool little show and you can touch the animals. My kids loved that. They don't explain or disclose how they animals are cared for or any sort of ethical treatment, so yeah, that's a bit concerning. But we move on from the only interesting part of the tour. We conclude at the Jurassic Park Movie Prop exhibit, which I was excited about because they were my favorite movies as a kid. Then it dawned on me: the irony of a dinosaur museum celebrating an obviously fake movie about dinosaurs is a bit too on the nose at this moment. Aside from the live animals we just saw, none of this seemed real at all. It all felt very fake and very much hyped up for cheap (I mean, expensive) entertainment. We saw a few of the guns and stuff from the movie, a picture with a very obvious lithograph from Chris Pratt (what's up with all the fake stuff?!?!?!), and we move on. We decide to call it after just 40 minutes in the museum. Exit Through the Gift Shop As if this wasn't already teetering upon agitating and ridiculous, as you enter the gift shop, there's a big sign up top that says something to the effect of "Buy or Die" and tells us that if we don't buy their merchandise, they can't fund this place... as though the NINETY DOLLARS (plus $20 for digging in dirt) wasn't enough. It was the most pathetic thing I've ever seen. Literally. To be honest, this isn't just a crummy waste of over $100, it feels like a scam to fund some local business owner's dinosaur hobby. He already made off like a bandit with the city forgiving a $2.7 million loan. Now, he's ripping off local families by charging them obscene prices for what feels like it'd be a cool exhibit. Kids love dinosaurs, and South Bend lacks a lot of cool stuff, so naturally, families will gravitate here, only to find their money go extinct faster than a velociraptor. read more

As soon as we walked in the chocolate company was to the right of dinosaur museum We walked over to the circle registration thingy The employees made me feel uncomfortable But we waited in line for a bit until a girl said "hopefully the raptors didn't get in here" which was way to corny and no one laughed and then we sat down and watched a short movie which explained nothing and walked into a big room with small Dino's and big alike with a bunch of bones and animals but the only really cool things were the two Trex recreations. In one of the reviews someone said they got to hold and pet turtles which they were in a tank along with the baby alligators. We walked on the path to the buffalos which was way overrated the path was way to long and hilly. One time go read more

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Love the chocolate, but hate the Dino's! I've been a big fan of South Bend Chocolate products for many years (love their ice cream and coffee too) but I'm so incredibly disappointed by the dinosaur museum! It was overpriced, cheesy, and rewrites history from an evolutionary view - even referencing primordial soup and talking about the origin of life. I just can't recommend it and would never take children to the museum. Still love the chocolate, though! read more

Great educational experience for my girls who are homeschooled. They had a blast in both the dinosaur exhibit as well as the on the chocolate factory tour read more

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We drive two hours to see this and worth every mile. The dinosaur portion was impressive. The staff and everyone that works here is awesome. The founder greats you when you arrive and you will see him helping the staff bus tables at lunch. We were all adults and enjoyed the tour. Impressive collection and even more impressive when you realize this is a private collection. The founder and his family have found many of the bones. Neat Jurassic Park memorabilia. They have many staff members showing you their work. read more

Indiana Dinosaur Museum - Very small portion of displays - Children's Museums Near Me - South Bend, Indiana

My family has been to the Dinosaur Museum MULTIPLE times and loves it each time! We got the membership for $300, and it includes a ton of benefits. Including discounts on chocolate! This is my first review, but I can not compliment this place enough. The staff are welcoming and knowledgeable, and my son tries to hug each one We haven't done the U-Dig yet, but that's next! And only $10 per kiddo, and they get to keep a legit fossil! read more

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Thoroughly enjoyed our time at this new attraction in South Bend. It's great to see such an investment like this into the community that you grew up in. The aestetic inside is bright and modern (love the Sinclair area haha) and the outdoor attractions and views are beautiful as well. Some may say it's expensive by a few bucks but that's relative. I felt it was a good value and saved from a long drive out to Chicago or Indy and our 11 year old son enjoyed his time there. Great spit when you're looking for something to do and want to stay local. read more

Nice, but largely underwhelming experience. 1) THE most expensive museum within 100 miles 2) The area designated for kids to dig up fossils is just a random sand pit filled with rocks 3) Visitors are forced to exit via a giftshop with some the cheapest made yet most expensively priced children's toys, all placed at a height designed to be grabbed by toddlers 4) One of the "exhibits" features replicas of props from the Jurrasic Park movies (What?!?!?) Love the idea but the execution needs a lot of improvement (and a lot less greedy merchandising ploys) read more

Is it huge? No. Is it the Smithsonian? No. But it's a wonderful day trip with a 10yr old! You get to touch and dig for fossils. And what is shocking for Indiana is that it talks about evolution and Darwin which is amazing. The museum is clean and bright, the 90 acres are easy to access and the Bison were a highlight. We grabbed hot coco from the attached South Bend Chocolate Shop for our walk! Another highlight is the staff! They are kind and take time to answer questions or help an indecisive child pick a Meg tooth. read more

So much fun! I will specifically be going back to talk to Jeremiah the lab guy! He's not only extremely knowledgeable but also passionate and fun to talk with! read more

Just went to the dinosaur with my family! My young children (5 and 2) were overwhelmed with excitement as soon as we stepped through the door. Employees instantly welcomed us and offered samples of chocolates. The line to get tickets and get into the museum were quick so the kids didn't get squirmy at all. Watched a quick and informative introduction video before being ushered into the museum. The selection of models and bones we very diverse. The story tellers were nice and informative as well. We were able to hold the small turtles and see the baby alligators. So cute! Udig was so much fun! The hands on experience was great for the kids. Not an ordinary museum but the best I've been to! read more

we had a child's b-day party here. we had a great time, the employees at the dinosaur museum were cheerfully interactive. We did the tractor ride to see the animals, nice short ride through the woods . of course the chocolate was excellent. we went to the restaurant the food was also really good, we had a large crowd, the service lacked, we overwhelmed them. They worked to fix it, but it was just rough. Definitely will go again. If it were not for the fact that the service in the restaurant was poor, remember, the food was really good, I would have given this experience a 5 star rating! read more

What a fantastic addition to the South Bend, Indiana area! Indiana Dinosaur Museum, South Bend Chocolate Company Factory and Cafe, South Bend Farms, South Bend Public House, tails, bison. So much to do and see. Great staff and wonderful chocolate! read more

This was an awesome museum which is great for the whole family. A must see when coming through South Bend or going to a Notre Dame football weekend! read more

We love this place! The dinosaur museum has several fascinating exhibits, and the chocolate museum has lots of history I never would have thought about. We've also enjoyed the hiking trails and looking forward to the seasonal events. I'm glad we bought the annual membership because the kids want to come back every week. read more

The Indiana Dino Museum was amazing and very educational. They even have a paleontologist on the staff and she took the info to a new level. Excellent!! read more

What a great idea! I was very impressed with the overall design, friendly and knowledgeable staff, dinosaur exhibits, and live animals working farm outside. Perfect for all ages and very accommodating for group tours, field trips, and individual families due to the variety of options. Ending the visit with a dinosaur souvenir and South Bend Chocolate gourmet crunch and coffee! I will definitely be back and have already recommended to both family and friends! read more

Truly a gem for south bend! Mark and his team did a remarkable job making it inviting for all age groups.