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Top 10 kid-friendly museums
Let your kids do some serious learning under the guise of childish fun
 | The American Museum of Natural History is the world’s largest in both size and scope bursts at the seams with family-friendly exhibitions, hands-on stations, and cosmos-centric shows guaranteed to fascinate young and old alike. |
Roderick Mickens / AP file |
You know the scene: It’s summertime (or yet another school break) and the brood's all at home, playing video games or whining about how bored they are. Good news: There are excellent kid-friendly museums across the United States that will stimulate your young Einsteins or Picassos — whether you're on a family vacation or just looking for something fun to do at home. And you won't have to shush your little ones at these venerable institutions either. In fact, each of our editors' top family museums provide educational outings under the guise of child-like fun, with hands-on exhibits, scavenger hunts, DJ sessions, and more, that are bound to keep the adults entertained, too.
1. American Museum of Natural History
This natural-science museum, the world’s largest in both size and scope, bursts at the seams with massive dinosaur skeletons, cool rocks (including a 34-ton meteorite), life-size dioramas, and even a gigantic 94-foot model of a blue whale, all bound to leave your little one feeling positively wee in comparison. Family-friendly special exhibitions, hands-on stations in the Discovery Room, and superb cosmos-centric shows in the Hayden Planetarium are just some of the additional offerings guaranteed to fascinate young and old alike.
2. The Art Institute of Chicago
Rarely does a serious art establishment “get” kids to the extent the Art Institute of Chicago does. Its impressive "adult" collection of masters like Monet, O'Keeffe, and Warhol aside, the organization also caters to children’s artistic tendencies through its Kraft Education Center. This dedicated gallery-cum-workshop space holds art classes; a "Touch Gallery" that teaches form, scale, and texture (by letting kids feel sculptures with their hands); and organizes special interactive treasure hunts that make museum-going fun. Tip: The center’s Family Room makes a good rest stop for frazzled parents, too.
3. Charles M. Schulz Museum
The Peanuts gang, first syndicated in comic strip form in 1950, takes on new dimensions at the Charles M. Shulz Museum, set in the cartoonist’s onetime Santa Rosa, California, home. Though the younger set may not fully appreciate some of the exhibits (like artist Christo’s delightful Wrapped Snoopy House), other diversions in the 27,384-square-foot space will definitely appeal. Parents can count on a labyrinth shaped like Snoopy’s head, a recreation of Schulz's studio, craft/cartooning sessions, and a theater screening documentaries and cartoons starring none other than Charlie Brown.
4. The Children's Museum of Indiana
The only museum on our list to officially focus on children’s interests, this massive facility ranks as the largest institution of its kind in the world and boasts scads of exhibits spanning physical and natural sciences, history, world cultures, and the arts. Tykes tour the land of the dinosaurs in the "Dinosphere," explore ancient Egypt in the "What If …?" gallery, and admire the stars in the planetarium. The museum's popularity (over one million visitors annually) proves that, when the atmosphere is right, kids really do love to learn.
5. Experience Music Project
Would-be rock stars (or kids who just like to make noise) should make a beeline for Seattle’s Frank Gehry-designed Experience Music Project for fantasy jam sessions and the like in a first-rate sound studio. Indeed, in the Sound Lab, youngsters can learn to DJ or play an instrument — and even record a CD to take home with them — while the On Stage experience lets them emulate starring in a live show and review their performance after the fact on a closed-circuit television. Other exhibits showcase musical history through memorabilia and recorded interviews with greats like Pearl Jam member Mike McCready.
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