I feel like every little girl grows up wanting to be one of two things, either a princess or a cowgirl. I was one of those cowgirl gals! So my childhood consisted of cowgirl boots, horse movies, and any sort of ranching book there was. One of my favorite childhood western book series was Hank the Cowdog!
Hank wasn’t like your average dog, he lived the life of adventure on his ranch. He had dealings with rattlesnakes, the coyote brothers, pesky buzzards, and of course an ongoing feud with Pete the Barncat. His stories fed my love for ranch life and dreams of being a cowgirl. Hank the Cowdog was a huge part of my childhood.
So you can imagine my giddiness when I heard that they just opened the Hank the Cowdog Experience at the Texas Tech Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, Texas! They spent about 8 million dollars adding this experience to the Ranching Heritage Center for the purpose of teaching kids about ranching. It is an interactive and educational experience that brings fun to learning!
What Is The Texas Tech Ranching Heritage Center?
I first moved to Texas about 12 years ago. 12 years ago I visited this museum and thought it was nice and never really thought about going back. Well here I am 12 years later already planning on going back! This museum is a western/ranching museum to honor and educate about cowfolk and the hard work of ranching.
The museum has several exhibits of saddles, spurs, cowboy art, brand collections, and the history of the oil field. Outdoors is a large area that you can walk around to old buildings and structures. Each structure has a story to it and a different activity involving. Whether you are just looking through a window, walking through, or reading the story behind the structure.
Is The Ranching Heritage Center for kids?
I will say that the museum is not very kid oriented and I spent the majority of the time telling my kids ‘don’t touch’ and ‘stay away from that.’ It is mostly art and articles to read, so a little uninteresting for toddlers that can’t read.
The outdoor experience is not really exciting to kids either. My kids loved being outside, but they didn’t enjoy the long walk and that there wasn’t anything to do other than look at each of the structures. They had more fun jumping rocks and rolling down the small hills, then actually going to the different structures.
The Hank the Cowdog experience though was made fore kids!! The entire exhibit indoors and outdoors is built to be touched, played with, and interact with. It is extremely interactive and built for all ages of kids. The indoor area is mostly geared towards older kids that can read and even teenagers, whereas the outdoors is mostly objects to play with and physical activities that smaller kids and toddlers will enjoy.
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Sneak Peek Of The Hank The Cowdog Experience
Well old Hank the Cowdog has evolved from pages in a book to a ranching educational experience that is fun for all ages! Let me give you the official tour of the Hank The Cowdog experience!
Gift Shop
The entrance to the Hank the Cowdog Experience is through the gift shop that is located right next to the double doors that take you to the outdoor structure trail. This gift shop has tons of Hank the Cowdog books with the original yellow book covers and art! If you are not a Hank The Cowdog fan you probably don’t understand the significance of this, but it’s a pretty big deal!
Indoor Education Exhibit
The first half of the Hank the Cowdog experience is indoor. The indoor area isn’t super toddler friendly due to most of the activities require the ability to read, but it is a fun exhibit for older kids. The most fun part of this exhibit for kids was sitting on the saddle.
There is a small theater and a library looking room. But the majority of the indoor exhibit is interactive and full of movies and screens. There are quite a few screens with different types of simulations to make you think and make choices like a rancher.
Our favorite one was where you had to see if you could financially profit as a rancher by making a series of choices such as how many windmills you will build and what type of feed you will invest in. Lets just say we wouldn’t make the best of ranchers. Haha! It was really educational though.
Outdoor Village
At the end of the indoor exhibit you will see doors to take you outside and this is where the really fun stuff is. As soon as you walk out you will find Hank waiting for you in front of Slim’s big red truck! My boys loved sitting in this truck and pretending to drive, pushing all of the buttons, and dancing to the music that came on.
Behind the truck is a small village of buildings. In each building is a separate activity. In the first house you will find a play kitchen complete with all the gadgets to make a play home cooked meal. My boys had a blast gettin in an apron and pretending to make me a feast. It was fun to play house!
The next barn has a hologram video of a cowboy and his horse teaching about the importance of taking care of animals and the life of a cowboy.
The last barn is filled with feed. This is a hands on section for kids to feel the feed and learn about what is needed to feed animals on a ranch. All throughout this town be sure to keep an eye out for Hank and his pals!
Also there are tons of play trucks and trailers for kids to practice and puzzle fitting livestock and horses into trailers to haul! My littlest kiddos really loved this area!
Amphitheater
Before you go be sure to look at the Ranching Heritage schedule to see what shows and presentations they have throughout the week. Outdoors they have a small amphitheater where they do these presentations and a lot of times they involve animals; particularly livestock. There is toddler story time, cattle talks, wildlife presentations, and more!
Outdoor Irrigation Area
On the opposite side of the play town is an irrigation area. In this section kids learn about windmills, pumps, dirt, and the roll of water in the life of a rancher. Forewarning you now, if you have little kids, they will probably leave this exhibit wet! Yes, I am speaking from experience.
Kids can hand pump water to fill ditches and then release the water to the creek running through the area. There is also a giant windmill pump that pumps water as well. It is cool to see it in action! This whole area is covered in rocks and logs for kids to play and climb on. It is a fun place to play!
Plan Your Visit
Hours: everyday 10am-5pm
Admission: FREE
Location: 3121 4th St, Lubbock, TX 79409
Tips For Visiting
- Prepare to get wet! If you have little kids I assure you they will get wet either playing with the pumps or playing by the creek.
- Bring a stroller. The Hank the Cowdog experience portion of the Ranching Heritage Museum isn’t that big and there are so many activities your kids won’t want to be in a stroller, but if you do the outdoor walk around the historic buildings that stroller will come in real handy! It’s just a little farther than those little legs are gonna wanna walk.
- Prepare your kids before you go. This museum just recently opened up a kids section, so the majority of the museum is for adults. That means lots of art and lots of things kids should not be touching. Before going in just explain to your kiddo the concept of ‘look, but don’t touch.’ At least no touching until you see Hank the Cowdog, then they can touch everything!
- Go to the restroom before you go outside. There is a restroom in the red barn on the outdoor historic walk, but other than that you gotta be inside. Save yourself the pain of running back indoors and just go before going outside.
- Go during a weekday. This museum doesn’t get super busy, but if you really want the place to yourself go on a weekday.
- Check the schedule before you go. Throughout the week are several different shows and presentations, be sure you plan accordingly and get tickets beforehand if needed.
Other fun things to do in Lubbock for free:
Watch Out For Dinosaurs at The Museum Of Texas Tech University
Smell The Roses At Helen Hodges Rose Garden
Get Up Close and watch Prairie Dogs At Prairie Dog Town
Walk By An Active Archeological Site At Lubbock Lake Historic Landmark
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