We are regular visitors since we live in downtown area. It is cool to have children’s museum in the area but it is kinda hard to say I recommend this museum 100%. Parking is not cheap, tickets are not cheap for all family members. It is always crowded no matter what. I personally get tired of being around so many people so when I find a chance to leave, we leave. No Snacks No Drinksfor kids. Mask policy for kids is harsh. I get it there is whole Pandemic going on but my kid just turned 2 and he is still struggling with all those policies. My son had hard time without putting anything in his mouth. There is snack area but it’s not easy to go to the area in the middle of play time. Staffs walked up to me every 3 mins in every rooms and asked me to cover the whole face for my kid. I even feel like being harassed. Like super. They are doing their jobs but they need to be little easy on toddlers. That’s why I don’t plan on going to Children’s museum in the near future. Maybe after pandemic. Therefore, overall, I am not sure if everything is worth that much money.

This is not so much a "museum" as it is a giant playground. They have a seemingly infinite number of ways to engage children in play. There are bits to climb and explore. There are dinosaurs. There are places to build out of nuts and bolts and water play areas. It's a seriously cool place. The only downside to this place is the parking. It's sort of a nightmare to find a place to park, and if you do find parking, it's expensive.

Great place for kids of all ages. Plenty to see and do.

Initially felt like nothing much to do from outside. But totally worth with. Our 18 month had a great time here. He almost played for 3-4 hours before finally getting exhausted. They have lots of things to do for every kid, different ages. Our toddler enjoyed zoom room with cars, water city, dinosaur expedition. Especially water city in top floor, I see lots of kids loved this room. You can bring your own food and there are plenty of dining areas with high chairs to serve food. There is no cafe inside the museum.

Great for kids under the age of 10; there was a variety of rooms and activities for both of our children (currently aged 2 and 7), including climbing structures, pretend play, water play, quiet time, etc. We spent a good 3 hours there, and our eldest probably would have wanted to stay longer if we didn't need to leave for lunch! Admission is currently $21 per person (aged 1 and older), which is not that pricey given how much there is to do and compared to the cost of other major attractions nowadays. They give you a wristband upon entering so that you have in-and-out privileges that day, which is great if you need to take a lunch break or do activities at the Navy Pier in between. We went on a Tuesday, so it wasn't super packed, and the kids didn't have to wait a long time to get a turn for whatever activity they were doing. If you can swing a weekday, I'd really recommend it, just to avoid big crowds and the associated noise/chaos. They had employees stationed around the museum to ensure the safety of various activities and to assist families, which was great (we've been to other children's museums, and that oversight isn't always there).

We had so much fun here, Us adults, and so as our 3 year old nephew, and 6 year old niece! There are tons of safe super fun games from cognitive development games, physical interactive games, and mind development games that your kids (and adults) will surely enjoy! There's also tons of calming comfortable chair for the adults to sit on. I saw 3 to 5 people fell asleep here while watching their kids. Lol. The staff were all polite and nice. There are sanitizers every corner. Staff will remind you to sanitize your hands before you go inside of each play room. Entrance fee was less than $20.00 dollars and totally worth it! I suggest to get tickets in advance.

Located at the Navy Pier. They have plenty of activities for kids. If you're a veteran don't forget to bring your ID and make sure you have your parking ticket with you when you're buying your ticket. They will give you a awesome discount. 👌

Our kids love the children's museum, as there are so many different areas for them to explore and play in. I suggest going to the top level and start all the way in back first, as there is a lot back there that we seem to always run out of time for and the kids enjoy the most. Food and drink is not allowed while viewing the exhibits, but there are a couple of snack areas where you can eat a lunch you pack.

Perfect place to spend an afternoon with kids! So many fun activities to do and keep kids away from screens. Also every exhibit has some new things for the kids to learn and explore! Loved the whole experience!

Great family fun. So many interactive displays and things for kids to explore and make. Absolutely recommend.

I'm shocked I never did a review for Chicago Children Museum. This was my go to place every every weekend. Also on Thursday it was Target Family Day not sure if they still have it but please take your babies to Navy Pier Children's Museum. There are tonssss of activities to keep your children entertained and full of energy. It's 3 level of fun and learning. Staff is very attentive which I love. visit the website for free museum days and the calendar will show you any upcoming events to look forward too. I'm also a parent to a gifted child with Autism and this is truly a go to place when your child is small. Helps them develop better social skills. Check the website for early access Saturday. Parents with gifted children can arrive one hour early so the kids can enjoy the space when it's less crowded. My son is 16 now and he loves all museums. He enjoy seeing new exhibits. I'm beyond grateful for The Children's Museum.

My kids could play in here for hours! It is so fun and interactive that we will be going back monthly! The location is perfect because once you get those little ones good and tired you can walk out and there are plenty of food options, by the time you get to the parking garage they are out for nap/bedtime. <3

Our almost 2 year old loved it! So many things to do that we could have spent more hours there but we needed to get home for nap time. There is even an attended room for under 5 year olds with busy board kind activities.

LOVE this place! It’s an amazing indoor place for kids. Specially on winter when the outdoor playgrounds it’s not an option. This place is perfect for the kids. It’s like a little town. It’s giant, has tons of activities, games and things to do. Also, the staff people is always friendly, nice and helpful. We always have a great time there with the kids.

This place is amazing!! I wish I could fit into some of the activity areas! We stopped by on a Friday afternoon and the museum wasn't that busy. It is very clean and organized and all the staff is very friendly and helpful. They encouraged kids to keep trying different activities without pushing them too much and were enthusiastic. We enjoyed every exhibit and loved all the hands on activities, for a variety of ages. Some of our favorites of the day were the firetruck, the water tables, and the construction zone. There were so many other areas for any interest, you could spend all day here. Once you get your wristband, you can come in and out throughout the day, so stepping out for a break for food is easy. It's a must visit when in Chicago with kids and great to spend those rainy or colder days in.

Plenty of seating for parents, we went on a Thursday so they closed early so we went back the next day because we barely made it through the exhibits. We spent hours there again the next day just on the third floor alone! Water town is great but the poncho provided did not stop my son from leaving soaking wet 🤣 there’s also a changing room in there which is so neat. I love that they had tinker town where my kids enjoyed building something. They had something for everyone to love. We really enjoyed it.

I highly recommend this children’s museum! At first it seemed like there was not much to do but if you go to the very top floor and go around each corner there is SO MUCH MORE than meets the eye! There are so many different areas to play in and so many different themes! There is something for every age, even the parents (if you choose to participate)! We easily spent all day here! The fire station area had some great lessons for the kids and it was a great conversation starter; God forbid we ever have to be in a fire situation. There were so many areas that I had not seen in a Children’s museum before! The “zoom room”, “cloud city” and “water city” were all popular with my kids. There was an area called “story hub” that I thought was so cool! It makes time for you and your littles to sit down with each other and talk about what your favorite part of the day was and it records it for you. Then you are able to send the video to your email and keep it as a treasured momento! I hope you and your family enjoy this museum as much as we have!

We had the best time here! The exhibits were all so engaging. My 5yr old said it was "the best ever!". Shout out to the amazing staff who took the time to help us have an awesome experience in the tinker lab!!!!

I have not been to this Museum since my daughters were little. Over almost 25 yrs. Now being a grandma and taking my baby for her visit we were amazed at all the changes and upgrades. We went on a Family Free day and had so much fun!

The museum itself is excellent, it is very interesting for children there and every child will find what he likes: climbing, building, studying, twisting, dancing, searching, etc. As for the price - tickets and parking are expensive, a trip with the whole family will not be cheap. Masks for everyone over 2 years old - unpleasant, but this is temporary, I hope.

Amazing place for kids of all ages. Car room has lots of young kids. Fire truck attracts lots of kids too. Engineering play area is actually advanced. Totally great for bigger kids. Water play provides ponchos of different sizes and has a dedicated change room. Almost wanted an annual membership even though we are just visiting.

We loved this museum and all the rooms. Our kids are getting on the older side but they enjoyed it on a rainy day. Definitely go check it out. Their favorite was the water room.

There are some really wonderful aspects of this children's museum and there are some things that are big letdowns. Starting with the disappointing things: many of the exhibits are old, run down and in need of repair or redesign. It's a children's museum, so I understand that things get a lot of abuse, but it seems like poor planning to put in place an exhibit that you can't maintain. The water table is awful and needs to be ripped out and redone. There is almost no playability or educational value in it. The mini museum is a waste of space and almost always devoid of children. The positives are many: the employees are wonderful and almost all of them seem happy to be at work. The rotating exhibit is usually really good. The pirate ship and Cloudbuster are awesome climbing areas. The construction area (while usually packed) is fun. The entrance fee is reasonable and the location on the pier is great. We had a two year membership and have come to the museum frequently. Overall it is a really good children's museum and I strongly recommend a visit.

Parking is a bit costly if you don’t eat and valet ( as they validate with $25-$50+ meal) or if you are a member ( as they offer discounted and free parking) so spot hero or another app is a must. We have a code if you need @thechicagomom , It’s a 4-6 hour max visit for me although you can easily make it a full day with all the fun stuff at the pier, but it will cost you a bit ( although it’s truly a great bang for the buck and really well suited for kids 2-10 IMO) plus, ez drop off right in front of navy pier or park at the 1st lot after ya turn. So many fun play areas, with new exhibits coming up all the time and yes a water play area is there as well. There is a enclosed Gated area for lil littles and less open areas as well, sensory friendly, plus Thursday late play is a deal and 1 free monthly dates are reoccurring, they also participate in museums for all and free passes. An be can be check out your local Chicago public library.

An awesome place to bring kids. If you are in Chicago and have a 1-8 year old, absolutely make a trip here. It's a little pricey, but I found we got our money's worth with a whole day of fun. When I first arrived, I was a little worried because I saw a few school groups and worried it would be crowded, but I hardly noticed once we got in. There are so many different spaces and each themed space has a variety of developmental areas (large motor, fine motor, dramatic play, sensory play, cognitive development, language, etc). Whatever your child's interests, you will find places for them to work on any of the skills they need. They even have an area especially for babies and toddlers that is great for when things get a little crazy around the bigger kids. I also saw an art area that had really involved and new creative activities (not your typical coloring pages and glue sticks), which we didn't go to because my kids are little, but that older children would gain so much from.

A great learning experience for kids and families. One can spend a good 4 hours.

Don't know better place in Chicago to keep children busy and happy for hours. They're a lot of different activities to choose from, Besides, the place is clean, safe and friendly. Highly recommend!

A perfect place for kids to know about different professions and experience how they work, through playful means. Also, as it is located in Navy pier, you have the chance to know about this historic place. After all the fun, don’t forget to eat Giordano’s famous pizza(Located in Navy Pier), food signature of Chicago.

We Love this place!!! Definitely recommend if you have children. Alot of good learning experience It was even interesting and fun for us adults.

This is a very good children's museum that offers a lot of variety of activities for kids of all ages. Worth the money to engage kids for a long duration of time. No food and drink allowed. However we were not stopped to bring in water bottles. They did refuse to allow lemonade from the food court. Entrance/exit next to the gift store like any other kids place.

Closer to 4.5 than 4 mostly because the price was not good despite a half day of activities. We've gone to a children's museums a dozen or so times, this is more play (as compared to more science-y children's museums) and has much more for toddlers which was a plus for us. We all had to pay ~$21/each including parents and children over 1 (non Chicago residents) and we did spend 3 hours between the exhibits. It was pretty packed Saturday morning and some lines on the activities. The exhibits were nice overall and had good variety. Not too stroller friendly but they do have 1 elevator for each floor. I would put this at 5 stars if the price were ~$16 or less/per person. Or just don't charge the parents, mostly just pushing a stroller around as the dad anyways...

Great place for kids to enjoy and spend hours. Lot of activities as well to keep kids busy.

My 12 yr old and I stopped in, we both still love to discover and play! It's a great little museum!! We enjoyed playing with all the hot wheel ramps. The tree house room was fun. And of course we both had to get in the cloud gate climbing structure and get our workout done for the day.

Our kids loved this place. Every stop was so much fun, the zoom room, the cloud climb, the dinosaur expedition and especially the room where they get to build a skyscrapers or whatever they wanted with all the pieces provided. Great experience, great price. Parking is expensive and not fun, but still worth it.

Good place for kids. My kids enjoyed it.

AMAZING facility ! My family has a WIC card , we all got in for FREE ! we will definitely be returning . They have activities for ALL ages .** some of the exhibits are not open but the rest of it makes up for it !

Awesome place to take your young child. Tons of activities that will keep them engaged. My 2 year old highly recommends it!

Very good and well organized. Parking is quite tricky since the navy pier is such a hot spot. But I would recommend here. There are ton of restaurants right there. You can literally spend the whole day very easy.

Great museum!! My kids love the cloud climbing area and climbing up the boat rope path. Definitely would recommend!!!

Great place for kids. A lot of activities that also are interesting for adults. It's not very big but sure has a lot of activities for the youngest.

A pretty good experience. We are a military family that came from out of town with our 6 year old to visit for the day. Oscar was in the tinker lab and he was fantastic! Got down on my son's level and asked about the project he made and seemed genuinely interested. He was helpful and attentive. Great job Oscar! Awesome staff!! The experience held his attention but only for about an hour and a half (expensive if we would have had to pay to get in). It was neat to experience something new. They definitely have enough staff, very pleased to see that part. However, I am not sure we would visit again as a planned trip. Overall a good experience. The staff was amazing, we got in free for military families, and they still required vaccine records and masks (thank you!) Thank you for supporting military families like mine.

So much fun for my 5 year old. So many activities to do with the kids my two favorite were the video message you can make at the booth by the dinasour fossil digging station and obviously the dinasour fossil station. My son seriously could of stayed here for hours but we were only in town for a bit and only stayed for about 1.5 hours. Also super bonus is that it's free for a active duty military foe up to 4 tickets. The normal price is $19 for one adult and child. Take your kids here they will love it.

Very cool place for the kids to see. We went on a Thursday and it was steady. Kids could enjoy it without any problems. You can easily spend 3-4 hours visiting all the different fun spots within. Price is great for all the activities going on. All staff was fantastic and had great personalities. Only negative is the adults felt it was super warm the whole time inside. Still 5 star in our eyes though.

First I have read all the reviews and was curious to go. Some people said it’s boring for elders to play.. my 11 years old son loved it. Many things to do, and nice area to walk around, many places to have nice lunch. Definitely must go!💝 also don’t forget to ask museum representatives to validate your parking, 10% off

We enjoyed ourselves..love it

Highly recommend. It could be all day hands in play for curious toddlers. We had so much fun playing for over 4 hours

Absolutely a great place for our young child (4yr old). The first floor was kinda ok, but the we could have been on the second floor ALL DAY! Playing, exploring, building! So much to do! Definitely recommend checking it out!

Friendly staff, some great exhibits and great price.

Tons of things to do here for kids - prepare to be here all day for a complete exploration of all of the activities. There is a small water play area - bring a change of clothes to be prepared. Plenty of restrooms, there's an array of good food options on Navy Pier that are more than McDonald's for lunch. Overall, a great way to spend a rainy or super hot day. Will definitely return!

Nice place

I haven’t been here since I was little but I had a lot of fun there.

Can’t say enough good things about this museum. Ideal for children ages 1 through 6 years. Parking at navy pier can be quite expensive, so plan accordingly.

Great

Had a Blast! Huge variety of Food/Drink choices!!!

Hope they open soon, my kids love this place!

Good place for children.

Great place to go

Spent good amount of time with kids

My grandkids love going there, we spend over 4 hours each time we go, I love building with them, AMAZING PLACE 🏩

Very well

Yesterday was our second visit here and we were not disappointed. The cloud burst climbing area suspended over the Navy Pier atrium was exciting and a favorite of my son. There are several themed areas for kids to explore and there is something for kids of every age. There is even an area dedicated to infants and non- walkers. If you buy tickets online, you get a $1 discount and they offer a discounted parking rate. We have been to several different children's museums and this is one of the best.

Such a fun hands on place. Very creative, look forward to coming back. I was truly impressed with all the different things for kids to do. Worth the money!

Nice museum. Dinosaur, fire station, and water areas where our favorite. Right outside of the museum their is a water area that kids can play in as long as weather permits.

I had heard about this place for years, and I finally got around to going. I’m so glad I did. This place was amazing! There was so much to do, we ran out of time. My son was 2 at the time, and was able to do almost everything. He loved having everything at his level. The only thing we had a problem with, was there was not enough employees to keep things under control. This just turns into parents letting their kids run wild and ruining it for the other kids. I couldn’t believe how many times my son was pushed out of the way, told he could touch something, had things taken out of his hand, and was just cut in front of if he was waiting in line for something. It got old really fast.

We had a great time. Lots of hands on things to do. If you are parked at Navy Pier they also validate your ticket and you get parking discounted.

My daughter loves this place. It is perfect for small children and the accommodations for parents are state of the art.

The space is currently closed but when they reopen we will be the first in line. We have been going here for a long time and their exhibits are well maintained and fun for all ages.

Wonderful to go for a run around this area!

Really cool and fun place for friends.

(Translated by Google) Very good my girl had a lot of fun (Original) Muy bueno mi niña se divirtió mucho

AWESOME PLACE!!! My whole family was excited with the museum, we were all quite intrigued as we progressed to the next room. It was really an unforgettable and funny experience, completely recommended for both children and adults.

We had an amazing time here! This place is perfect for little ones who love to explore using all five of their senses. It tired out our little one until she ended up napping for hours after. And I love how they handle hyperventilating helicopter types like Fire Marshal Mary, who seemed to panic at the thought that maybe there were too many kids in the Children's Museum...😆. Instead of letting one person spoil the fun, they let her have her say and gently reassured her that all was well. Yay for playtime!

Really nice place for kids and family we enjoy a lot

(Translated by Google) The museum is very fun for children. And they learn art (Original) El museo está muy divertido para los niños. Y aprenden arte

Kids can have good time

Super fun and clean!

The Best

Great place for parents and kids to have fun and learn. The new structure was challenging and quite a workout. My 2 yr old didn't want to get out of this place.

It’s a great space to have your child run and play with other children but it’s a bit dated and slightly disappointing.

What a great place. They used every bit of it and no matter what age you are you can't help but learn something. If you chance to read about the artistic collection of benches, play with water pressure, or just touch a fire hose you will realize you just learned something. The kids could not be bothered and played with learning. We are hoping to become members for sure.

It was a last minute stop for us as visitors from Ohio for the day. They had reciprocity with our local children's museum and we're very helpful getting tickets. The museum is super fun and was very engaging for my active 4.5 year old. We spent 4 hours there and definitely could have been there longer. Masks were enforced in a positive way and I saw staff cleaning constantly. I'd highly recommend!

Nothing but a good time my family had a blast

Best museum for kids to learn and play

Cool children’s museum. Fun climbers, and the woodworking/craft area is great.

A really great space for kids from 2 - 8 yrs of age. If you are local this is a wonderful winter destination to engage in creative and active play. Some of the permanent exhibits are: 1. the mini city great for younger kids that includes a bus, car wash, grocery store, etc. 2. The outdoor adventure area also great for little kids that has play fishing, camping and climbing 3. A simulated archaeological dig where kids clear the simulated dirt (rubber) from the fossilized remains of a dinosaur and 4. a building space where kids can hone their engineering skills, the last two for slightly older kids. There are also lots of opportunities to climb. A permanent pirate ship crow's nest and and currently a newer aerial climbing adventure inspired by particle acceleration at Fermi Labs. Tucked away in the corner of one floor is a fantastic water table area that is quite popular as well.

Great place for the kids and adults love it

(Translated by Google) Very good recreational place families abound and it is very nice (Original) Muy buen lugar recreativo abundan las familias y es muy agradable

My daughter had a blast! If you can grab a pass from a library, it's free!

We came as a family and enjoyed ourselves. My son loved it here and seemed to have learned a lot from the activities. We will definitely be returning.

It was okay. Not worth the money. My son was bored very quickly.

Bring money but it's worth it