I’ve got a confession: I used to think children’s museums were more or less interchangeable. A water table here, a dress-up corner there, maybe a fake grocery store if you were lucky. Good for an afternoon when the weather turned, not exactly a reason to book a flight or spend four hours in the car.
Then we went to the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.
Five floors. Dinosaur fossils you can touch. A space station. An outdoor sports complex the size of a small neighborhood. A Dale Chihuly glass sculpture climbing five stories through the atrium. A 100-year-old carousel. We were there for the better part of the day and still didn’t see everything—and we hadn’t even hit the gift shop.
That trip recalibrated something for me. There’s a tier of children’s museums in this country that are genuinely world-class — places so big, so thoughtfully designed, and so packed with experiences that they aren’t just “something to do while you’re in town.” They are the reason to go.
Here are the ones I’d actually build a trip around.
1. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Indianapolis, Indiana
Website: childrensmuseum.org
Let’s start with the undisputed title holder and my own most recent visit. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is the largest children’s museum in the world—a 481,000-square-foot, five-floor institution that has been around since 1925. It receives more than one million visitors annually.
What makes it stand out: The sheer range is impressive. In a single visit, you can touch a real dinosaur bone in the Dinosphere (which houses some of the rarest fossils in the world, including T. rex, Triceratops, and Gorgosaurus), board a space station in the Beyond Spaceship Earth exhibit, explore a Peruvian village in the immersive Take Me There: Peru gallery, and gaze at the Fireworks of Glass—a five-story Dale Chihuly glass sculpture that stops adults in their tracks just as reliably as it stops kids. Outside, the Riley Children’s Health Sports Legends Experience adds more than 7 acres of hands-on sports that my son LOVED—basketball, soccer, baseball, pedal car racing, golf and more. The museum also runs a daily End of Day Parade, led by Bumper the museum’s beloved dinosaur mascot, that somehow never gets old.
Best for: All ages, but genuinely exceptional for kids 3–12.
Plan for: A full day. Minimum. Wear comfortable shoes.
Insider tip: Admission includes all exhibits and the sports experience. The Centennial Ferris Wheel (added for the museum’s 100th birthday in 2025) requires an extra ticket but offers a stunning aerial view of the campus and Indianapolis skyline — worth it for the photos alone.
Address: 3000 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46208
Hours: Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; extended summer hours apply
2. The Strong National Museum of Play
Rochester, New York
Website: museumofplay.org
There is exactly one museum in the world devoted entirely to the history, culture and science of play. It’s in Rochester, New York, and it will ruin every other children’s museum for you… in the best possible way.
What makes it stand out: The Strong is technically a history museum. It houses the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of materials related to play, but it has the hands-on energy of the very best children’s museums. Permanent highlights include the World Video Game Hall of Fame, the National Toy Hall of Fame, the eGameRevolution exhibit, a Sesame Street immersive environment that manages to be genuinely emotional for the adults in the room, and the Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden, the largest indoor butterfly garden in New York state. The museum spans nearly 150,000 square feet across multiple floors of themed worlds, and visitors consistently report that they ran out of time before they ran out of things to do — often across multiple days.
Best for: Kids of all ages, including older kids and teens who will gravitate toward the gaming exhibits. Also deeply enjoyable for adults visiting without children, not that we’re endorsing that.
Plan for: A full day.
Insider tip: The butterfly garden requires a separate add-on ticket. Buy it when you arrive; it sells out. Also, the museum is open Friday and Saturday until 8pm, making it easy to pair with dinner in downtown Rochester.
Address: One Manhattan Square Dr., Rochester, NY 14607
Hours: Mon–Thu 10am–5pm; Fri–Sat 10am–8pm; Sun 12pm–5pm
3. Museum of Science and Industry (Griffin MSI)
Chicago, Illinois
Website: msichicago.org
The Museum of Science and Industry is the largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere, and it has a talent for making complex things feel physical and real in a way that stays with kids (and adults) long after they leave.
What makes it stand out: The headliners are exactly as impressive as they sound. The U-505 is a real German submarine captured during World War II—not a model or a replica, but the actual vessel—and the guided tour that descends into it is genuinely unforgettable. The coal mine simulation drops visitors into a recreated underground mine with a working elevator. The Henry Crown Space Center traces the history of human spaceflight. And the 40,000-square-foot miniature railroad, the Giant Dome Theater, and a mirror maze round out a museum that has mastered the art of making science feel like an adventure. The building itself is a landmark: the only surviving structure from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, set in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood.
Best for: Kids 5 and up; especially great for science-curious kids in the 8–14 range.
Plan for: 4–6 hours minimum. Many families return for a second day.
Insider tip: Hyde Park is a great neighborhood to base yourself for a Chicago trip with kids — it’s walkable, lower-key than the Loop, and the University of Chicago campus is beautiful.
Address: 5700 S. DuSable Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, IL 60637
Hours: Daily 9:30am–5:30pm (check website for seasonal variations)
4. The Exploratorium
San Francisco, California
Website: exploratorium.edu
The Exploratorium doesn’t feel like a museum. It feels like a playground where all the equipment is secretly teaching you physics, and nobody tells you that until after you’re already having fun.
What makes it stand out: Founded in 1969, the Exploratorium pioneered the idea of hands-on, inquiry-based science learning and it still does it better than almost anywhere else. Six galleries spread across Pier 15 on San Francisco Bay cover the living world, light and color, sound and music, engineering, human perception, and the geography and geology of the Bay Area. The exhibits are all interactive and most are open-ended: there’s no right answer, no button that plays a recording, just materials and phenomena and curious hands. A darkened tactile maze you navigate entirely by touch. A fog bridge over the Bay (seasonal, and incredible). And a location that puts you steps from the Ferry Building, Fisherman’s Wharf, and one of the world’s great waterfronts.
Best for: Kids 5 and up; adults are equally engaged. Particularly great for science-curious and creative kids.
Plan for: 3–5 hours, depending on how deep your kids go into each exhibit.
Insider tip: The Exploratorium hosts adult-only evenings on select Thursdays if you happen to have a free night. The after-dark vibe on the Bay is worth knowing about.
Address: Pier 15, Embarcadero at Green St., San Francisco, CA 94111
Hours: Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; Thurs 10am–8pm (check for adult-only evenings)
5. Boston Children’s Museum
Boston, Massachusetts
Website: bostonchildrensmuseum.org
One of the oldest children’s museums in the country (founded in 1913) and still one of the most thoughtfully designed. Boston Children’s Museum has a knack for blending cultural awareness, scientific curiosity, and pure hands-on play in a way that feels intentional rather than thrown together.
What makes it stand out: The museum’s four floors include exhibits on STEM, global cultures, physical movement, and the arts, with dedicated programming for toddlers and infants as well as older kids. The Arthur and Friends exhibit (based on the beloved PBS show) is a perennial favorite. The New Balance Climb, a three-story climbing structure, is reliably the thing kids talk about afterward. The museum was also Boston’s first LEED-certified green building, which makes it a natural conversation-starter for families who want to talk to their kids about sustainability. And the location—on Fort Point Channel, a short walk from the South Boston waterfront—means you’re positioned to explore one of the city’s most vibrant and accessible neighborhoods.
Best for: Toddlers through age 10; particularly strong for the under-6 crowd.
Plan for: 3–4 hours.
Insider tip: Every Friday from 5–9pm, admission drops to $1 per person, one of the best deals in family travel, full stop. Check the schedule before you visit.
Address: 308 Congress St., Boston, MA 02210
Hours: Sat–Thu 10am–5pm; Fri 10am–9pm
6. Please Touch Museum
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Website: pleasetouchmuseum.org
The name is a philosophy, and the museum delivers on it completely. The Please Touch Museum is one of the country’s best destinations for families with young children—a place that was purpose-built to let kids do exactly what they’ve always been told not to do.
What makes it stand out: Located in Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park—a stunning Beaux-Arts building that is itself worth seeing—Please Touch is organized around immersive play worlds: Roadside Attractions (build and race cars), River Adventures (float boats and redirect water through pipes), the Rocket Room (launch and investigate), and Imagination Playground (open-ended building and construction). The Wonderland exhibit lets children literally step into Alice’s world: hedge maze, hall of mirrors, croquet with flamingos, and the Fairytale Garden is a beautifully designed space for toddlers and infants. And before you leave, ride the 100-year-old Woodside Park Dentzel Carousel, a genuine piece of American history that has been delighting children for over a century.
Best for: Primarily ages 0–7, though older kids find plenty to engage with in the more complex exhibits.
Plan for: 3–4 hours.
Insider tip: The building alone is worth a moment of appreciation before you go inside. Memorial Hall was built for the 1876 Centennial Exhibition and is one of the most beautiful spaces a children’s museum has ever occupied. Take a lap of the exterior before you head in.
Address: 4231 Avenue of the Republic, Philadelphia, PA 19131
Hours: Mon–Tue & Thu–Sat 9am–5pm; Wed 10am–5pm; Sun 11am–5pm
A Few Practical Notes Before You Go
Memberships pay off fast. Most of these museums have reciprocal membership programs, a membership at one often gets you free or discounted admission at others. If you’re planning to visit more than one, look into the Association of Children’s Museums reciprocal network before you buy.
Arrive early, especially on weekends. All of these museums get genuinely busy, and the best exhibits have lines by mid-morning. Getting there at opening makes a real difference.
Budget a full day, not a half. Every museum on this list is bigger than it looks. The families who leave disappointed are almost always the ones who gave it two hours.
Bring snacks. Museum cafeterias are notoriously overpriced and sometimes with wonky hours. A bag of snacks in your backpack will save everyone’s mood around 2pm.
A Final Note: Travel with kids is no easy feat! We’ve taken a baby and a toddler around the world (literally), and these are our tried-and-true favorites among kids travel gear.
