STEM careers are the fastest growing in the world, which might be why you’re seeing things like computer programming on your five-year-old’s class schedule. But learning science and math isn’t limited to the classroom. Museums across the country are teaching kids about these subjects through hands-on, life-sized, interactive experiments and experiences. What better way to learn about the circulatory system than by walking through a giant heart? Is there a better lesson on dinosaurs than visiting their prehistoric skeletons in real life? We don’t think so, which is why we picked the 20 best science and natural history museums for kids in the United States. These museums are sure to get your little one interested in the worlds of biology, math, technology, physics and more.
1. Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, PA
The Franklin Institute
Where: 222 North 20th Street, Philadelphia, PA
Kids cannot get enough of the hands-on exhibits at this Philly science museum. Whether it’s the science of sports or the human body that interests you most, you can get an interactive and kid-friendly approach to it at the Franklin Institute. Do the 18-foot-high neural climb in The Brain exhibit or race against virtual pros in the SportsZone. Of course, don’t miss walking through the Giant Heart! Read our full guide to the Franklin Institute here.
2. Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, TX
Visit Houston/Julie Soefer
Where: 5555 Hermann Park Drive, Houston, TX
With 60 major skeleton mounts, The Morian Hall of Paleontology is enough to impress any dinosaur loving kid. But don’t skip the Cockrell Butterfly Center either. There are so many permanent exhibits to choose from, but no visit is complete until you see the mummies in the Hall of Ancient Egypt. HMNS is also fantastic at bringing in and curating new special exhibits, from a Chronicles of Narnia exhibit to the science of amusement parks. Read our guide to the Houston museum before your visit.
3. New York Hall of Science, Queens, NY
New York Hall of Science
Where: 47-01 111th St, Corona, NY
Explore more than 450 hands-on exhibits at the New York Hall of Science. With three massive levels to explore, the hall is home to the interactive Connected Worlds exhibit, STEM interactive activities, a 3-D theater as well as the famous science playground and Rocket Park Mini Golf. On the main level you’ll also find Preschool Place, a hand-on learning room especially for younger children. The lower level is home to the Learning Lab area where children can design and build their own projects. Read our guide to the NYSCI here.
4. Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA
Pier 15
Where: San Francisco, CA
You’ll likely lose track of time experimenting and exploring this San Francisco art and science space at Pier 15. The museum is organized by types of science from Electricity & Magnetism and Time & Motion to Living Systems and Seeing & Listening. The most popular attractions that kids flock to are: the Soap Film Painting (where a long bar pulls up a wall of soap solution), the Colored Shadows (pictured above), the Anti-Gravity Mirror (where it looks like you are floating) and the Bernoulli Blower (where a ball hovers in the air). Check out our guide to the Exploratorium here
5. Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Denver, CO
Evan Simon/Visit Denver
Where: 2001 Colorado Blvd, Denver, CO
You may want to spend all your time outdoors in Colorado, but a stop inside Denver’s premiere science museum is absolutely a must. Dinosaurs, gems and minerals, the human body, and galaxies far far away are all touched on in the exhibits here. The new Discovery Zone takes a tot-friendly approach to health, fossils, outer space and water. And does any kid get tired of seeing dinosaur bones? We think not!
6. Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL
J.B. Spector/Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
Where: 5700 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL
One of Chicago’s biggest draws, the Museum of Science and Industry dates all the way back to the famous World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. You could easily spend an entire day at this Hyde Park destination and still not experience everything it offers. Control a 40-foot tornado, go inside a real WWII German submarine the size of a city block, test toy truck speeds on differently sized roads in the Idea Factory, and don’t skip a walk through a mirrored maze with a hidden room in the Numbers in Nature exhibit. Read our family guide to the Chicago favorite here.
7. Exploration Place, Wichita, KS
Exploration Place
Where: 300 North McLean Boulevard, Wichita, KS
Wichita’s science museum includes a three-story medieval castle full of math and science lessons, an 18-hole outdoor mini golf course along the Arkansas River and playground, a miniature model of Kansas and a brand new 5,100-square-foot aviation exhibit, Design Build Fly, in partnership with Spirit. In this exhibit you can test landing gear, develop a cargo plane, plot a flight path. and pretend to be a movie star on an executive jet.
8. Science Museum of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN
Science Museum of Minnesota
Where: 120 Kellogg Boulevard West, Saint Paul, MN
Saint Paul’s science museum along the Mississippi River has five permanent galleries and 10 acres of outdoor exhibit space. Create tornados and control waves in the Experiment Gallery, visit the bones of prehistoric creatures, learn from movement-based math activities and captain a tugboat in The Mississippi River exhibit. Don’t skip Big Back Yard mini golf or a photo op with the museum’s iconic giant astronaut.
9. Discovery World, Milwaukee, WI
Discovery World
Where: 500 N Harbor Dr, Milwaukee, WI
Kids can captain a 19th century sailing vessel, lay on a bed of nails or test their driving skills in the road race simulator at this lakefront museum. Explore places you never dreamed of in the new virtual reality exhibit. Or get in touch with the natural world (literally!) at Reiman Aquarium, which houses creatures from the Great Lakes, Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and includes a touch tank. Discovery World will soon open new space for large traveling exhibits and a permanent exhibit exploring health and medicine.
10. Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, NJ
Liberty Science Center
Where: 222 Jersey City Boulevard, Jersey City, NJ
Science gets physical in Jersey City at this museum. The infinity climber is hands-down one of the most popular stops for adventurous kiddos. But the PixelPalooza game, and a pitch black tunnel you can try and escape using your other senses are a few other popular stops. You can also see honeybees (and learn their science, of course), climb a rock wall and pop soap bubbles. Plus, a brand-new planetarium—the largest in the Western Hemisphere—recently opened.
11. Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, OR
OMSI
Where: 1945 SE Water Ave
Portland, OR
No visit to Portland is complete without a stop at Oregon Museum of Science and Industry—almost always known as OMSI—and if you live in PDX, having a membership is a must. The 219,000-square-foot museum is packed with five enormous halls bringing science to life through interactive exhibits and displays. The teeniest scientists can tackle the Science Playground (infant to age 6) with its 7,000-square-feet of water play, sandbox digging, and an extra soft infant area. Older kids will love touching fossils, insects and animals in the Life Science Hall, experiencing an earthquake in the Earthquake House and running plenty of experiments in design, chemistry and physics labs.
12. Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, Miami, FL
World Red Eye
Where: 1101 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL
As of 2017, curious Miami families can explore floors of STEM activities and interactive exhibits at the reopened Frost Museum of Science. The museum is built around a three-level indoor and outdoor aquarium that takes visitors from the surface to the depths of South Florida’s aquatic ecosystems. The top level includes a stingray touch tank, as well as sharks swimming about, and by the time you get to the bottom level, you can look up through an oculus lens to the creatures swimming above. Plus, there’s the whole rest of the museum to explore, including a planetarium and an amazingly interactive River of Grass exhibit, which includes a hi-tech, indoor virtual Everglades. Read our kid-friendly guide to the science museum here.
13. Natural History Museum of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
NHMU/Tom Smart
Where: 301 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, UT
You’ll explore “billions of years of awesome” at this natural history museum in Salt Lake City, which is both an architectural marvel for adults and scientific playground for kids. Introduce the youngest visitors to natural history in Our Backyard, looking at insects, crawling, and splashing in the pond play area. Older kids will love the dinosaur bones and playing paleontologist in the dino dig. Explore topics like weather and astronomy in the Sky exhibit, which has an adjacent rooftop terrace; or explore one of the museum’s special exhibits which have covered everything from birds of paradise and vikings to natural disasters.
14. Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta, GA
Joleen Pete
Where: 767 Clifton Road Northeast, Atlanta, GA
A visit to the Fernbank is like traveling in a time machine to another time or place. From viewing prehistoric dinosaurs fossils to eating in a dining room that offers a view of a 65-acre hardwood forest, there’s something for everyone. Be sure to check out NatureQuest, a multi-level clubhouse providing immersive hands-on experiences for little ones, and the new 75-acre Fernbank Forest, where kids can walk among the treetops and visit wildlife. Take advantage of drop-in programs in the education pavilion and educator-led nature walks. Fernbank Museum also has a Giant Screen Theatre that offers movies in 2D and 3D if you need a break. Check out our guide to Fernbank before your visit.
15. Perot Museum of Nature & Science, Dallas, TX
JerSean Golatt/Perot Museum
Where: 2201 N Field St, Dallas, TX
Digging for fossils, touching a tornado, racing a pro athlete—it’s all in a day’s work at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. Located north of downtown Dallas, the 180,000-square-foot campus opened its doors in 2012 and gave the city’s STEM-based learning a spectacular upshot. The museum covers a wide range of topics in its 11 permanent exhibits and shows how science, sports, nature and history are all connected to one another. And inside this giant of a museum is the Moody Family Children’s Museum, just for the five and under set. It’s got an indoor nature hike, pint-sized campsite, water play tables, an art lab, dino dig and baby/toddler park. Read our guide to Perot here.
16. American Museum of Natural History, New York City, NY
Flickr/Chris Ford
Where: 200 Central Park W, New York, NY
AMNH, one of our favorite places to explore with kids, never gets boring thanks to five floors and 45 museum halls plus the Rose Center for Earth and Space. You can enjoy a Night at the Museum tour (or even spend the night yourself and watch your favorite movie come to life), see life-size dinosaur fossils (including the massive T. Rex and recently added Titanosaur!), watch real butterflies flutter and land on you, and even gaze up at the stars inside the Hayden Planetarium.
17. COSI, Columbus, OH
Robb McCormick Photography
Where: 333 West Broad Street
Columbus, OH
The Center for Science and Innovation is another Midwestern gem. Visitors will find a dinosaur gallery created in partnership with AMNH, an ocean exhibit with a mini submarine and plenty of opportunities to get wet. The outdoor Big Science Park is where you can lift up a car and peek inside a POD home. And Little Kidspace is for toddler-sized fun at a farm and treehouse. There is also a planetarium, theater and ever-changing traveling exhibits to visit here.
18. Museum of Science, Boston, MA
Nicolaus Czarnecki
Where: 1 Science Park, Boston, MA
Make a to-do list before visiting this riverside museum. With hundreds of interactive exhibits to choose from, there’s almost no way to see it all in one day. Each exhibit touches on a new topic whether it’s outer space, animal science or the physics of light. You can’t miss “The Discovery Center” which has a playground for toddlers, the Dinosaur exhibit which includes a huge T. Rex and the “Theater of Electricity” where lightning bolts strike indoors. Read our complete guide to the museum here.
19. California Science Center, Los Angeles, CA
California Science Center
Where: 700 Exposition Park Drive, Los Angeles, CA
This enormous hands-on learning center appeals to visitors of all ages—oh, and the permanent exhibits are free. Kids love Tess—the 50-foot body simulator that you can see right through as she explains bodily functions. Interactive ecosystems introduce little ones to the natural world of rivers, forests, islands and extreme environments. And no visit to the Science Center is complete without seeing the popular Space Shuttle Endeavour. (It’s not every day you can get so close to something that’s orbited the Earth!) Read our complete guide to the science center here.
20. The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose, CA
Tech Museum of San Jose
Where: 201 South Market Street, San Jose, CA
Interactive exhibits teach kids—in a fun and interesting way—about robotics, biotechnology and math at this downtown San Jose museum. Have spontaneous jam sessions with other museum-goers at the mutli-player ConnecTable or try a laser harp, where you pluck the air and make music. Whether watching the IMAX movie, riding a simulated bobsled or creating your own robot movements, adults can also have just as much fun as the kids here. Read our complete guide to the California museum here.
