This article first appeared on jillbjarvis.com. Click here to view the article in its original format.
In this Houston field trip, learn all about the oil and gas industry while being aboard a retired jack-up drilling rig at the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig Museum. This Galveston oil museum is perfect for students!
Recommended Videos
Look below for resources to read before your trip, details on each stop and parking/driving instructions.
Resources:
- Ocean Star STREAM Packets (Hands-on activities and lessons correlated directly to the Museum Guidebook, Grades K-8)
- Knowledge Box for Teachers (Free traveling classroom exhibit for students in grades 6-12)
- US Energy Information Administration Kids Page (Website)
Explore the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig Museum:
Right by the popular Stand Street in Galveston is the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig Museum. You can learn all about the oil and gas industry while being aboard a retired jack-up drilling rig!
This retired rig operated in the Gulf of Mexico from 1969 to 1984 and drilled over 200 wells. In 1995, it was purchased and refurbished to be the Ocean Star Museum.
At this Galveston oil museum, you can watch an informative video and take a self guided tour. There are three floors of exhibits including film presentations, video kiosks, interactive displays, examples of equipment like drill bits and ROVs, scale models of the different kinds of rigs used to explore and produce and more.
Kids can pick up a passport at the start and answer the questions along the tour.
The museum is open with some new guidelines in place. Most of the exhibits remain the same… just some things like the kids dress-up corner have temporarily closed.
You can really learn a lot about the oil industry at this Galveston oil museum… and you get to do it on an offshore drilling rig!
Drive/Park at Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig Museum:
This Galveston Oil museum is on the water, next to the Tall Ship ELISSA, right behind the popular Strand Street. You can pay to park in the lots right in front of the museum or you can pay for metered parking around Strand Street. If you will only be there for a couple hours, and you are up for a short walk, there is free street parking close to the Railroad Museum. Just check the signs before you leave your car!
The Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig Museum:
Address: 2002 Wharf Rd, Galveston, TX 77550
More Houston Field Trips:
Watch an enormous bat colony emerge from Waugh Drive Bridge each night
Fun for the family: Pet and shower elephants at The Preserve’s Elephant Experience
Get Up-Close to Alligators, Crocodiles and Tortoises… at Crocodile Encounter!
Explore Texas history firsthand with your kids at the San Jacinto Monument
Explore the Cockrell Butterfly Center and plant your own garden
Searching for more family-friendly activities in and around Houston? Visit our Things To Do page.