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Best Children's Museum

By Readers' Choice On 1/30/25 at 12:07 PM EST

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Need ideas for a school field trip, a birthday party or a rainy-day activity for the kids? Children's museums combine the best of play and learning, giving your little ones a way to expand their minds—while jumping, climbing and shaking out all that cooped-up energy. We've gathered the top children's museums from around the country to help you and your family explore science, art and history in the most creative and dynamic settings.

These 10 children's museums were selected by our featured panelists and contributors and voted on by readers as the best of the best.

1. Impression 5 Science Center | Lansing, MI

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How can you make science more fun? Make it bigger! That's what Impression 5 Science Center has done with its giant interactive light wall, two-story water geyser and collection of air-powered catapults that'll launch any imagination sky high. While many exhibits are geared toward older children, you'll find plenty for littles as well—a soap bubble lab, an indoor nature walk and a huge set of teeth they can brush.

2. Jasmine Moran Children's Museum | Seminole, OK

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From outdoor train rides to an indoor airplane that kids can pilot, the Jasmine Moran Children's Museum provides plenty of opportunities to hop on board the fun. Your family will love the dinosaur dig area, the multi-story climbing maze, and the kid-size veterinarian clinic and automotive shop. Be sure to say hi to Maggie, the museum's therapy dog, who's frequently found riding the train.

3. The Children's Museum of Indianapolis | Indianapolis, IN

Little girl and archaeology activity

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Lose yourself—in a good way—inside the largest children's museum in the world. Kids and adults alike love looking up at the Jurassic giants in the Dinosphere, gazing at the colossal glass tower created by artist Dale Chihuly and watching the stars in the Schaefer Planetarium. Apollo-mission artifacts from NASA, an Indy 500–style race with pedal cars and full-production plays will have you coming back no matter your age.

4. Museum of Discovery and Science | Fort Lauderdale, FL

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Experience STEM on a whole new level at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale, which features the area's only IMAX theater along with a dinosaur dig site and hands-on aquarium. The museum also lets kids become a meteorologist for a day, get dirty in the edible garden and blast off for a NASA mission. For a unique souvenir, purchase a painting made by the resident river otter.

5. Children's Museum of Phoenix | Phoenix, AZ

Children's Museum of Phoenix

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The Children's Museum of Phoenix invites you to touch everything—from the costumes on the DramaRama stage to the hundreds of pool noodles suspended in the Noodle Forest. For families with both older and younger children, the museum's baby zones in each exhibit allow your entire group to play in the same space. If your kids get overstimulated easily, take a break with story time in the quiet Book Loft.

6. Museum of Discovery | Little Rock, AR

Museum of Discovery

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Science comes alive—and is sometimes hair-raising—at Little Rock's Museum of Discovery. Kids can explore the worlds of electricity and sound in the Science Lab before feeling the flow of air in the popular Whoosh exhibit. The museum is home to adorable animal ambassadors, including ferrets, hedgehogs and bearded dragons, as well as the award-winning musical Tesla coil, which arcs with electricity as it plays songs.

7. The Strong National Museum of Play | Rochester, NY

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One of the world's largest museums dedicated to the history of play, the Strong is part interactive space, part archive that's home to the National Toy Hall of Fame. After admiring hall-of-famers like My Little Pony and Transformers, head to Infinity Arcade to play your way through the history of video games. Then tell your kids how to get to Sesame Street, where they can interact with their favorite characters.

8. Please Touch Museum | Philadelphia, PA

Please Touch Museum

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It's in the name: the Please Touch Museum in Philly invites children to investigate the world through touch. A kid-size restaurant kitchen, an interactive treehouse, a fairy-tale garden complete with pirate ship and labyrinth—there are so many creative spaces for little hands and minds to explore. The museum's Please Touch Garden grows food for the on-site restaurant, adding sustainability to the list of things your kids will learn here.

9. Bay Area Discovery Museum | Sausalito, CA

Bay Area Discovery Museum

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At the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge you'll find another kind of gateway: a passage to wonder at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Geared toward young children, the museum lets your littles mix up mud pies, hop aboard a real fishing boat and create patterns on a drawing wall. The outdoor Discovery Beach gives them fun in the sand while you relax and watch the fog roll over the Bay.

10. City Museum | St. Louis, MO

City Museum, St. Louis, MO

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Why throw away old airplanes, trains and Ferris wheels when you can turn them into a children's museum? That's exactly what the founders of the City Museum did: they repurposed St. Louis's scraps into a one-of-a-kind play space. You and your kids can scamper through underground tunnels, pet the fish in the Artquarium and study thousands of artifacts found in outhouses—it might be the quirkiest museum you ever visit.

About Newsweek Readers' Choice Awards

Our nominees are editorially driven with contributions from a panel of travel experts. The final list is determined by Newsweek editors. Readers can vote once per category, per day. For more details, read our terms and conditions. For any questions, please see our FAQs or email us at readerschoice@newsweek.com.

Our Featured Panelists

Elaine Warner headshot square

In pursuit of her stories, Elaine Warner has flown in helicopters, hot-air balloons, and even a glider. She has eaten her way through St. Louis (and a number of other places) and descended at night to the bottom of a canyon to see dismalites—tiny, glowing larvae of fungus gnats. She draws the line at bungee jumping and hang gliding and her idea of roughing it is a Holiday Inn without a Holidome. Learn more about Elaine's adventures at okietravel.com or follow her on Instagram.

Gretchen Pahia

With more than 20 years in journalism and content creation, Gretchen Pahia is a wife and mother of two teenage boys. With articles published in several publications, she is a recognized writer covering a variety of different topics including travel, dining, lifestyle, family and entertainment. You can follow along on Instagram @gpahia.

Amy Piper

Amy Piper is a freelance travel writer, blogger, photographer and author specializing in luxury and multigenerational travel. She is a native Michigander who travels through the lens of a food lover and has been to 45 states and 41 countries around the world. From getting chased by bomb-sniffing dogs in the middle of the night in Bogotá to being boarding on her plane from Buenos Aires to Paraguay due to the wrong visa, Amy always has an exciting adventure to tell her readers and community of travel enthusiasts. Learn more at followthepiper.com.