Visiting museums is one of my favorite bonding activities with my son. My boy has diverse interests, and it’s such a joy to see his mind blown by fascinating exhibits about anything — space, history, wildlife, pop culture, you name it. Out of dozens of destinations nationwide, here are the most memorable kid-friendly museums we’ve visited.
Exploratorium — San Francisco
The Exploratorium has over 700 exhibits about science, art and human perception. The Tactile Dome is a magical place of textures, challenging kids to navigate a pitch-black maze using touch.
Some of the more exciting exhibits are Adventures in AI, a cluster of interactive exhibits that let kids engage with computers creatively and critically. Your young technologists can take a closer look at video game chips and mechanical neural networks. They can learn how algorithms work, experiment with generative AI, and witness how this emerging technology has increased electricity demand, powered job automation, and impacted real life in other ways.
At the museum’s Tinkering Studio, your children can see how the Exploratorium develops and tests ideas. They can also meet the educators, artists and scientists behind the projects in this R&D laboratory.
Treehouse Museum — Ogden, Utah
The Treehouse Museum’s name comes from the 30-foot faux tree at its center. This structure has themed galleries designed to pique interest in STEM subjects, flora and fauna, culture, history, geography, and the arts to get higher grades.
Your little museumgoers can enjoy various imaginative play spaces inspired by local diners and police and fire stations. They can make colorful masterpieces inspired by famous children’s book illustrators and traditional arts around the world.
What’s special about Treehouse Museum is the Simmons Storybook Theater. It features original adaptations of folk and fairy tales performed by fellow kids. Watching actors perform impressively on stage as young as they are may inspire them to pursue theater.
Dinosaur Ridge — Morrison, Colorado
Dinosaur Ridge is a child-friendly museum that gives your tots a taste of paleontology, especially if they love movies and games portraying dinosaurs more realistically, such as the Jurassic Park franchise and The Lost Wild.
This destination has over 250 fossil tracks — footprints of the prehistoric giants that once roamed the earth. It lets your children see the site where geologist Arthur Lakes unearthed fossilized Stegosaurus bones in 1877 — a four-legged armored herbivore that lived in the Late Jurassic.
This museum offers simulated dinosaur dig areas. These sandy environments allow young visitors to experience what it feels like to be paleontologists. They can learn how experts search for evidence of a dinosaur skeleton, interpret the findings and identify the creature from the bones in real dig sites. Near the Dinosaur Ridge is the Triceratops Trail. This 1.5-mile gravel hiking trail boasts different dinosaur tracks and traces. It has yielded fossils as old as 68 million years.
Volo Museum — Volo, Illinois
The Volo Museum is the main attraction of the 75-acre VoloFun. It houses the rarest and most bizarre mechanical marvels, including impressive rotating selections of classic and modern automobiles. Its Hollywood collection includes the Ghostbusters Ecto-1, 2005 Batmobile, DeLorean DMC-12, Mach 5, Herbie, and many other iconic wheels that have graced the silver and small screens.
The museum also exhibits motorized cycles, flashy motorcycles and scooters, nostalgic pedal cars, and antique trains. Your little gearheads can find vintage campers, outlandish snowmobiles, sporty finned boats, old-world tractors, and historic aircraft, too.
Volo Museum’s collection of Disney parade cars is the largest outside the House of Mouse. Its Disney gallery has dioramas of Ariel, Aladdin, Belle, Peter Pan, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and many other beloved Disney characters. This attraction also has coin-operated vintage kiddie rides, letting your children experience what it would have been like to grow up in the ‘50s.
International Spy Museum — Washington, D.C.
The International Spy Museum offers a glimpse into the deceitful world of espionage best suited for fourth graders and older. Your little ones’ mission begins at the Briefing Center, where they will receive their cover identity and an RFID-enabled badge.
From then on, your double agents will go undercover, meet spies and gadget makers from the past and present, and see hundreds of ingenious inventors designed for stealing secrets. They can attempt to crack codes, solve problems like analysts and use intelligence like real-world decision-makers.
This kid-friendly museum explains how leaders secretly influence events overseas, spy agencies protect against threats at home, and spying has shaped the world — from the American Revolution to the 21st century. Your young secret agents will learn what happens when spies keep or reveal secrets and many covert mission failures and successes.
Plimoth Patuxet Museums — Plymouth, Massachusetts
Plimoth Patuxet is a must-visit museum that teaches kids about the beginnings of American society and the ideals that have helped shape the present-day United States. This historically significant site recounts the early lessons in intercultural diplomacy and resilience. This trip can prepare your young learners for classroom discussions about the stories of the Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving.
This museum complex has expanded over the decades, adding one vital amenity after another. Plimoth Patuxet features a full-scale replica of the Mayflower. The English Village and Plimoth Grist Mill demonstrate how Plymouth colony survived in the 17th century. The Historic Patuxet Homesite shows the way of life of the Wampanoag — the native tribe that has lived in modern-day Massachusetts and Eastern Rhode Island for over 12,000 years.
Outside the Craft Center are the Humoral Gardens, which represent the prevailing medical theory the Pilgrims brought from England to the Plymouth colony. Inside, the Apothecary Exhibit features reproductions of historic items made in different parts of Europe in the 17th century. Your kids can see skilled artisans at work and buy their masterpieces as souvenirs.
Make These Kid-Friendly Museums Part of Your Family’s Bucket List
Each museum offers unique experiences. It may take several trips to visit them all, but your family will be closer after you cross each destination off your list.