Best Children's Museums in Illinois

Illinois has 7 children's museums we would happily take our own kids to. Chicago Children's Museum is the one most families start with. Build, experiment, and play across hands-on exhibits perched right on Chicago's Navy Pier. Children's Discovery Museum is the other name that comes up again and again. Play-based, interactive exhibits give kids room to explore, experiment, and imagine. Discovery Center Museum rounds out the pick of the bunch. Rockford's hands-on museum where kids build, splash, and play, anchored by the foam-block Imagination Playground. Also worth your time: Discovery Depot Children’s Museum, DuPage Children's Museum, Kidzeum of Health and Science and Kohl Children's Museum.

Published prices run from $12 at Discovery Center Museum up to $20 at Kohl Children's Museum. 3 of the 7 listed here quote a starting price. The others vary by season or by what you add on, so check before you travel. Age guidance is worth reading first at Chicago Children's Museum (ages 2-10) and Discovery Depot Children’s Museum (ages 1-12).

The children's museums on this page are spread across Chicago (1), Normal (1), Rockford (1) and Galesburg (1), so it is easy to pair two into one trip.