The Complete Guide to Children’s Museums

When it was just my husband and me, we loved to travel around the world.  Now that we’ve got 2 kids under 6, our priorities have changed and it is just easier to travel in the US.  Plus, we are focused on parenting the kids, so we’ve combined our love of travel with parenting and the result is…

The Complete Guide to Children’s Museums

We have been to a lot of children’s museums and science centers across the county.  If you are planning to travel and visit children’s museums, you MUST get the ASTC Travel Passport.  Usually you belong to your local children’s museum or science center, so you can go all the time locally.  Then, when you travel, you get access to any of their participating children’s museums!  Not all of them have free membership, so I would definitely double check with the museum before you go.

We also had membership to the Association of Children’s Museums, but their reciprocity wasn’t as good.  Usually, you only get 50% off admission (as opposed to free admission).  Some of the museum memberships are part of both, so you could take advantage of both programs.

For each children’s museum, I intend to write a review of each one and how my kids liked it.  Here is a list of the ones we have been too.  Feel free to email me at peggy.raisingthebest at gmail if you want any advice or recommendations on any of these museums!

  • Pittsburgh Children’s Museum (Pittsburgh, PA)
  • North Carolina Zoo (Ashboro, NC)
  • Marbles Kids Museum (Raleigh, NC)
  • The Adler Planetarium (Chicago, IL)
  • Discovery Center Museum (Rockford, IL)
  • The Field Museum (Chicago, IL)
  • Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago, IL)
  • The Works (Bloomington, MN)
  • The Bakken Library and Museum (Minneapolis, MN)
  • Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum (New York, NY)
  • Greensboro Science Center (Greensboro, NC)
  • Marbles Kids Museum (Raleigh, NC)
  • Museum of Life and Science (Durham, NC)
  • COSI (Columbus, OH)
  • Imagination Station (Toledo, OH)
  • Carnegie Science Center (Pittsburgh, PA)
  • Children’s Museum of Virginia (Richmond, VA)
  • Discovery World (Milwaukee, WI)
  • The Building for Kids (Appleton, WI)

 

Please check back to this page since we visit several every year!  Also check out my post on 5 Tips to Survive Visiting a Children’s Museum.