The Museum's mission is to create a community where play and learning connect. Its primary audience is children up through the fifth grade and their families. Fifteen permanent exhibits and programming spaces provide innovative learning experiences for children.
Categories
Museums:
Children's Museums
Other Details
Parking:
paid parking lot
Pricing Notes:
Members FREE
View Website for pricing & free admission days.
This is a nice museum. A little on the pricey side, and it gets super crowded with school or day care groups. With a toddler or preschooler, there might be too much to see on one visit. It's also very expensive to park there, so take public transportation if possible.
I have to agree with the other reviewer. This museum is crowded and for the money you pay to get in really not impressive. I also found my 2 yr old was being trampled the entire time by older kids. Even in the exhibits geared towards kids 5 and under there was no staff to speak of. So those areas were filled with older kids. Plus the way the exhibits were set up it created huge bottlenecks making it impossible to get through. We live in the Chicago area but will not be going back. I'm hoping the Dupage Childrens Museum has more to offer. Overall we were just very disappointed.
THis museum is o.k. For the money you have to pay just to park, not to mention the admission prices and the hassle of getting there from the suburbs, this kids museum just doesn't compare favorably to others in the area. We went on a weekend and it was quite crowded. THe small-sized grocery, kitchen, etc. were very cute, but nothing spectacular. I guess I much prefer the museums with something you can't play with at home, exhibits that teach something while not seeming to. My daughter did enjoy the dinosaur dig area. That was unique to this museum. All in all, I think your money is better spent (and less of it) visiting the DuPage children's museum.
We went here with my sister and her 3 boys. We had so much fun and there is even stuff to do for my daughter who is only 2. I took 77 pictures in only like 3 hours and they had so much fun in the accual museum that my sister's boys who are 3, 5, 6 did not wanna go out and see the lake or ride the ferris wheel even. We will be going back really soon....
My daughter loves this museum but I do have to agree with everyone the parking fee is awful. They do keep the place very clean and the art center is always a fun place to explore. I would recommended bringing a change of clothes too if you plan on letting your kids go in the water area because the aprons either won't fit or is pointless when they are splashing water. I also recommend going during the week because it isn't crowded at all!
I'm giving the Children's Museum only three winks because after going to the Kohl's Childrens Museum, I liked it better than this one. I did like how it had areas for the younger children, because Alison was not walking at the time. Our friend's son loved the dinosaur area where you could dig for fossils in the rubber "dirt". The cost was reasonable because my work has a contract with them, so we get in free. It was right before Easter so Ali and daddy painted a wooden egg... that was nice... it seemed like they had a lot of hands on stuff and also there was a kids troup doing a dance recital. All in all it was good, I just think Kohl's is maybe newer?
This museum was an added bonus to our membership at Kohls- and we loved it! Suprisingly not to crowded because the rooms are3 spaced out over two floors and in a large section- our favorite things were the big drums and mics along with the fantastic climbing area-
I love most Children's Museums and this is no exception. My kids enjoy going to all the different areas. My only compaint is the parking. I don't go as often because I hate paying all the money for parking at Navy Pier. I am going to take public transportation next time and the trolley and make it a full day of going!
We popped into this museum while down at Navy Pier free of charge because we are members at Kohl's. I was quite impressed with the variety of exhibits and the number of rooms with activities. Perhaps it is because we go to Kohl's so often, but I think it might beat Kohl's in terms of ingenuity.
I like all of the children's museums in Chicago. This is the smallest one but it is great to have it at Navy Pier. If you have a Kohl's reciprocal membership you can go here for free or look for the Target free days. My daughter favorite thing was to pretend to make pizzas and food at one of their exhibits.
This is a great museum and you can make a day of it by visiting the rest of the pier. They have free Thursday night admission. My daughter loves the water works area and digging for fossils.
