Make the most of a trip to the Field Museum with kids: Chicago family travel

I’m grateful to the Field Museum for providing one free entry for myself. I’d love for more families to visit the Chicago Field Museum with kids, so I distilled the most important tips to make this enormous museum more manageable. As always, all opinions are entirely my own.

When I was a kid, I visited the Chicago Field Museum a handful of times, since we’d often stay with my relatives who lived nearby. I will never forget the visit when I met Sue—the most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton ever discovered. I watched in awe through windows as experts in the museum painstakingly uncovered the fossils, removing centuries of sediment so the world could see this remarkable dinosaur. My own children had a chance to meet Sue for themselves when we recently visited the Chicago Field Museum.

Just as I remembered, Chicago’s natural history museum is enormous—I could spend all day in there and still only scratch the surface. Of course when you visit the Field Museum with kids, you don’t have the option of all that time: I wouldn’t want to endanger the fossils and other precious specimens with my kids’ volcano-like meltdowns.

I’m pretty sure you’ll run into the same problem when planning Chicago family travel: There’s just so much to see, so how do you make the most of your trip to the Field Museum?

This post answers exactly that. Below, I’ll answer what to see, how to prioritize your time, where to take breaks and much more when you visit the Field Museum with kids.

Say hi to Sue for us!

1. Don’t rush in.

The Field Museum’s grand foyer is one of the most impressive parts of the entire museum. Here, you’ll meet Maximo the Titanosaur (has a better name ever been given to a dinosaur?!) and a pair of breathtaking African elephants.

Overhead, hanging plants make you feel as if you might actually be in a jungle—albeit one made out of marble and fossilized limestone!

My girls didn’t even know what to do with themselves when we first arrived at the Field Museum. I think their brains were trying to process the fact we were walking in the shadow of the biggest dinosaur skeleton ever discovered. The scale of the Field Museum is way beyond anything they’d ever experienced.

(Are your kids as curious as mine were how the museum managed to get such a big dino inside? Then you’ll definitely want to watch this time lapse video of assembling Maximo the Titanosaur.)

2. Pick 3 things.

Either before you get to the Field Museum or when you first arrive, work with your kids to prioritize what you’ll see. Pick just three things you absolutely don’t want to miss.

I know, it’s hard to pick just three highlights in a 480,000 square feet museum. But share what the exhibits are about and ask your kids to each pick what they most want to see.

Dinosaurs were definitely top of our list (obvi). My girls also wanted to see the Egypt area: They’ve been really into ancient Egypt since we read the book Mummies in the Morning, which began our love affair with the Magic Treehouse series (affiliate link).

Anything you see beyond your three priorities is a bonus.

3. Start at the top.

It’s easier to climb the stairs when your kids are energetic and fresh. Start your visit to the Field Museum with kids at the top, then, and work your way down.

4. Interact with the exhibits.

Pushing every single button and watching every single video is not my favorite way of going through a natural history museum, but my kids are sure into it. And who am I to decide what the best way to see the Field Museum is?

Like just about everything in family travel, going at your kids’ pace will make for a much more enjoyable experience—for everyone. So let your kids interact with the exhibits in the way they want.

My girls loved watching the cartoons alongside fossilized dinosaur skeletons. Their favorite interactive aspect of the museum: A bellows that mimics the sound a dinosaur might have made!

5. Hunt for hidden details.

I marvel at the creativity that went into crafting the natural history scenes within the Field Museum—and I’m sure those artisans had a sense of humor, too. Don’t believe me? Then pay close attention to each exhibit—you’re sure to spot some “Easter eggs,” or well hidden bonuses that will make you smile.

My older daughter noticed a salamander-type creature hiding in the forest within the Evolving Planet exhibit. From that point on, she was a detective, hunting for hidden details. The mission made her pay closer attention to the displays and get the whole family excited whenever she found a hidden detail.

6. Pause for snacks.

I don’t know about your kids, but mine get crankier than a T Rex with a toothache when they need to eat. So bring snacks and make your way to the ground level. There’s a picnic area next to the marine mammals exhibit where you can sit, have a drink of water and replenish your blood sugar.

7. Eat a hearty lunch.

I’ve been to a lot of museums in my life, and hands-down, the Explorer Cafe is the best kid-friendly museum food I’ve ever encountered.

We stopped for lunch at the Explorer Cafe, where the macaroni and cheese was a clear favorite: My younger daughter, who is notoriously picky, polished off an entire bowl.

I ate a custom salad and a cup of coconut curry tofu soup. You’ll find usual museum cafe fare here—chicken tenders, burgers, sandwiches—but also a rotating menu of food you’d actually seek out if you were older than 5. On the day we visited, the museum cafe was serving Indian food—yum!

8. Watch for scary exhibits.

Years ago, I visited the Field Museum with my cousins when they were super young. We went to the Underground Adventure, which “shrinks” you to insect-size, so ants are enormous and you feel what it’s like to be bug-sized.

My little cousins hated it.

They were terrified of the horse-sized ants and cried until we whisked them to a different exhibit. So this go-’round to the Field Museum with kids, we skipped this exhibit. Know what your kids typically like (and don’t like) to avoid the parts that could be scary.

9. Pay for what you’ll use.

Like many museums, you can pay for extra features, like 3D movies and ticketed exhibitions. Before you pay extra for these features, realistically consider if they are a good fit for your kids.

We didn’t pay extra for any of the ticketed features of the Field Museum. There was plenty to see—more than we could reasonably explore—within the general admission exhibits.

10. Make connections to your home life.

My kids do this funny thing their teachers taught them in school: Whenever they make a connection to something we’re reading or talking about, they make a Y with their fingers and wiggle their hand back and forth. They were doing the “connection” sign all throughout the Field Museum!

Making connections between natural history and what they know from home or school is a terrific way to make science relevant. For example, in the Evolving Planet exhibit, my older daughter spotted trilobytes—and made the connection to the pill bugs we find in our yard at home. And when we saw a mastodon, my younger daughter said it reminded her of the movie Ice Age!

Finding similarities helps kids create novel neural pathways in their brains. Not coincidentally, the ability to connect two dissimilar things is the basis of creativity, which will serve your children throughout their lives.

11. Explore how science changes.

One video my kids watched dived into how scientists used to think that large dinosaurs (like Maximo the Titanosaurus) were mostly aquatic. But further investigation revealed that these huge animals wouldn’t have been able to breathe with just their heads sticking out of water. What’s more, by examining fossils of teeth, researchers realized that the patterns of wear and tear suggested they ate land plants, not soft water plants.

Visiting a natural history museum like Chicago’s Field Museum is a wonderful way to explore the scientific method. Looking at how scientists come up with a hypothesis, test it, weigh the evidence and reevaluate as needed also shows children that scientists rarely get it right the first time.

Seeing this principle in action demonstrates that persistence, open-mindedness and a willingness to make mistakes is how science advances. It shows kids that it’s ok to goof up.

12. See real scientists.

Science at this level can seem abstract to kids, but the Field Museum offers opportunities to make science more relatable.

Peek through glass windows to see experts working on fossils (like I did with Sue so many years ago!). Clearly, there’s potential for this to make a huge impression on a child, as it did on me.

If you visit the Field Museum on a Friday, make sure to check out the Meet a Scientist Program. Every Friday from 11-1, you can meet a conservationist, paleontologist or other scientist. Ask questions and get hands-on with real specimens from the museum.

Research shows that kids are more likely to consider careers in science and other STEM fields if they understand the wide diversity of jobs in these areas. Meeting a real scientist is a wonderful way to broaden your child’s idea of what is possible.

13. Visit the Play Lab

Unfortunately, the Field Museum’s Play Lab was closed when we visited; it’s open Thursday-Monday. Hands-on activities allow little ones to explore history, science and culture. They can climb into a dinosaur’s nest or play music with instruments from around the world.

If your kids have special needs, you can register for a private time to explore the Play Lab on Tuesdays. That way kids of all abilities and needs can explore through hands-on experiences.

How to save money on Field Museum tickets

Tickets to the Field Museum aren’t cheap; after all, the price of admission contributes to original research, preserving specimens, education outreach and much more beyond what you see in your day at the museum.

I get it, though, that if you’re going to the Field Museum with kids, all those tickets add up! So there are a couple of ways to save money at the Field Museum.

• Bundle museum passes with the Go Chicago Card. If you’re going to see many of the main Chicago attractions—such as the Shedd Aquarium, the Adler Planetarium and the Field Museum—it might be more cost effective to buy the Go Chicago Card. With this bundled pass, you pay one flat rate and you get entry into a whole list of family friendly attractions.
• Show your WIC card. If you receive help with buying food, for example from WIC or EBT, you can get tickets for $3 a person. Simply show your card when you buy entry.
• Show your Chicago address. If you live in Chicago, you can save $5 per ticket at the Field Museum.
• Go on a free admission day. Once or a few times a month, admission to the museum is free. You’ll save a lot of money at the Field Museum—but know it will be much busier than usual.

Enjoy the Field Museum with kids

I’m no psychic—pretty sure the experts at the science museum haven’t proved the existence of reading minds or seeing the future—but I’d bet you’re jazzed about going to the Field Museum in Chicago with kids.

What’s more, you’re ready to make the most of your trip to the Field Museum, now that you know how to prioritize the exhibits, where to get food, how to keep kids engaged and even how to save money on tickets.

Do you have any suggestions on how to go to the Field Museum with kids? Or tips you’ve picked up visiting other natural history museums? Please share them in the comments below!

PS – If you love dinosaurs as much as we do (and how could you not?!), you’ll want to read my posts on the Los Angeles Natural History Museum and the Burke Museum of Natural History in Seattle.