Activities for Kids

Secret Attractions at Your Favorite Museums

Skip the crowded exhibit halls and dig deeper into our fair city. These hidden gem finds (at places you already love!) will excite the entire family.

By Taryn Bickley August 21, 2014

If your weekend routine is starting to resemble a tourist checklist — belugas at the Shedd, U-505 sub at the MSI, Sue at The Field — then it’s time to dig deeper into our fair city. There’s nothing like a hidden gem to excite a field trip. Click through our album of uncrowded, secret spots tucked in your favorite places and let the fun begin.

Light-Up Surprises at The Field Museum

If you’re walking into the Field Museum you may not notice that there are hundreds of imbedded fossils underfoot. Dating back to the time when Illinois was a shallow sea, the limestone squares feature impressions of tiny indigenous sea creatures (Archimedes, willowy crinoids or sea lilies, coral and trilobites) and offer plenty of chances to “treasure hunt.” And if you enter the museum from the back, you could unintentionally miss the first-floor family play lab, which houses an Illinois Woodlands mini play space, where kids can press buttons and see hidden boxes light up, revealing everything from a faux fox to a squirrel to a skunk.

Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.
1400 S. Lake Shore Dr., Museum Campus
312-922-9410
Online: fieldmuseum.org

Photo: ©The Field Museum

Do you know any museum secrets? Share them with us in the Comments below!

— Taryn Bickley