HMNS trustees determined that new state-of-the-art facilities, additional space, and renovations to current exhibits were needed because of the increased attendance.

The facility was home to an interactive Dig Pit, where children could excavate a mock Triceratops, a variety of living exhibits, fossils, and minerals.

The Woodlands location closed on September 7, 2009, less than a month before HMNS opened a satellite museum in Sugar Land, Texas.

During that year, the museum offered a multitude of family programs, lectures, free events, and kids' classes as part of the "Fun Hundred" celebration.

[8] In June 2012, HMNS opened a new 230,000-square-foot (21,000 m2) wing to house its paleontology hall, more than doubling the size of the original museum.

Opened in 1994, the center is housed in a three-story glass building filled with tropical plants and butterflies.

The center exhibits a large range of live butterflies, including the migratory monarchs and their tropical cousins.

The Cockrell Butterfly Center was reopened in May 2007 after being overhauled to make the exhibit more interactive; there are now games for children and a live insect zoo in the Brown Hall of Entomology.

The facility is located south of Sugar Land, Texas, at Brazos Bend State Park.