Our kids love museums, and we often visit natural history museums while we travel, particularly those that participate in the ASTC Travel Passport Program, which provides members of participating museums free reciprocal admission to hundreds of natural history, science and children’s museums. Natural history museums are a great way to extend classroom learning. We asked our fellow family travel bloggers for their favorites and came up with this list of the best natural history museums in the world (asterisked museums are participants in the ASTC Travel Passport Program):
Best Natural History Museums With Kids
#1: American Museum of Natural History With Kids* (New York City, New York)
The American Museum of Natural History is the largest Natural History museum in the world and is housed in a beautiful building in New York’s Upper West Side, right outside Central Park. It’s crammed full of artifacts from land, sea and space and is super family friendly for visitors with kids. Our favourite section (and I think the favourite for the majority of visitors) is the Hall of Ornithischian Dinosaurs, which contains a huge selection of dinosaur fossils. There is a T-Rex, a stegosaurus, a triceratops and loads more for any dino fans. But it’s not only dinosaurs, the Museum also has a fantastic oceans exhibit – home to the amazing 94 foot long blue whale model, halls featuring birds and reptiles halls (watch out for the 25 foot python!), exhibits about human origins and cultural diversity and a fantastic section about space. All around the museum are interactive touch screens with more information, and don’t all kids love a touch screen?! General admission for adults costs $23 and $13 for children. The Museum opens daily at 10 am, which is the best time to visit to avoid the crowds.
Recommended by Karen from Are We There Yet Kids.
#2: Denver Museum of Nature and Science With Kids* (Denver, Colorado)
We are privileged to have a world-class nature and science museum in Colorado. The Denver Museum of Nature and Science has something for everyone with an interest in natural science. The Museum has an IMAX Theater and planetarium with various shows. Traveling exhibits include such divergent topics as Vikings, bioluminescent animals, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The permanent exhibits showcase outer space, animals from around the world, the intricacies of our bodies, Egyptian mummies, and prehistoric dinosaurs.
But we love bling, so our favorite museum exhibit is the gems and mineral showcase. As self-professed rock hounds, we love to see the awe-inspiring collection of minerals and gemstones. Indigenous Colorado gemstones include aquamarine, amazonite, and the very rare rhodochrosite. The largest gold nugget found in Colorado is also on display. We always learn new things about the gemstones and minerals during our visits.
Recommended by Lance Hale from Family Well Traveled.
#3: Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa With Kids (Wellington, New Zealand)
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (commonly referred to as “Te Papa”) is mind-blowing and an unmissable stop on a New Zealand itinerary. Perched on the waterfront in Wellington, this 6 story building is stuffed with awe-inspiring exhibitions on Aotearoa/New Zealand’s history, it’s natural world and cultural treasures. Te Papa Tongarewa (meaning ‘container of treasures”) is literally packed with hands on, interactive exhibits, which our kids, ages 6 and 3 loved. Far from dragging them around the museum, they ran from exhibit to exhibit excited and totally engaged. The five main collections are Arts, History, Taonga Māori, Pacific Cultures, and Natural History. From impressive native species such as the pygmy blue whale skeleton and the world’s largest specimen of the rare colossal squid (weighing 496 kg!) to more light-hearted exhibits such as Peter Jackson replicas of Orcs to more sobering inclusions such as the current Gallipoli exhibition, Te Papa is, in our opinion, one of the greatest museums in the world. FREE ENTRY apart from specific touring exhibitions. Allow a full day!
Recommended by Mags Nixon from The Family Freestylers.
#4: National Museum of Natural History and Science With Kids* (Tokyo, Japan)
The best museum in Ueno Park for families with kids is the National Museum of Natural History and Science. This is the huge building with a concrete blue whale on one side and a locomotive on the other. That basically sums up what the museum is about – the encounter of people with nature, which in Japanese culture is a continuum rather than a disruption.
The Museum tells the story of how people came to Japan (via Okinawa), and how the islands looked before they came. That part of the museum is pretty conventional, although English explanations are limited. Audio guides are also available.
The coolest part of the museum is the “global gallery”, which goes down three levels into the ground, with dinosaurs in the middle. The cartoon movie explanation of evolution one floor below is also very interesting, a bit tongue in cheek, although everyone looks like an American cartoon from the 1950s. We were entertained by the exhibit representing the smart phone as the peak of evolution.
The upper floors of the global gallery contain exhibits about technology, Japanese technology of course. The upper floors are where kids will get their most lasting memory of their visit in ComPASS, the space for children’s play and communication. It was recently opened after a renovation and is really fun for the kids. It is so popular that visitors have to get a queue ticket at the information desk at the first floor.
Especially on rainy days, the museum can be crowded. Bring a packed lunch and eat it in the lunch space on the basement floor of the old building (the “honkan”). There are two restaurants, but the wait could be as long as several hours to be seated. Except for the dinosaurs, children do need adult explanation of the exhibits but absolutely love exploring this fact-packed museum.
Recommended by Wisterian from Wisterian Watertree.
#5: Natural History Museum With Kids (London, England)
There is so much to captivate children at London’s Natural History Museum whether they’re into dinosaurs and furry owls or giant whales and tiny insects. Visitors can feel the earth move in the Earthquake machine, play detective games around the museum and visit colorful butterflies in the Butterfly House. The hands-on Science Centre is a great place for children to examine specimens from around the world, using microscopes and other instruments.
The most popular gallery is the Dinosaurs, where visitors can get up close to prehistoric specimens, including the skull of a plant-eating Triceratops, an Iguanodon, one of the first species of dinosaur, and of course, the formidable Tyrannosaurus Rex. Hope, a 25 meter long blue whale skeleton, is suspended from the ceiling of the main hall. The Natural History Museum is open daily and admission is free.
Recommended by Nicky of Go Live Young. Find out more from Nicky about London with kids.
#6: Natural History Museum (Vienna, Austria)
Vienna’s Natural History Museum was one of the highlights of our trip to Vienna with our kids, aged 3 and 1 years old. We actually pushed this activity as one of the last, since it isn’t specifically geared towards kids, but we are so glad we didn’t miss it! For kids who love animals, this place is a must. We toured the taxidermy exhibit on the top floor of the Museum, where taxidermy of every kind of mammal imaginable was exhibited 3 times and saw every kind of mammals imaginable! The architecture is absolutely breathtaking, and the Museum is enjoyable for adults too. Even our 1-year-old was amazed at all the animals. Families visiting Vienna with kids should not push this museum off – it’s totally kid-friendly and adult friendly too!
Recommended by Emily Jenks from Henry and Andrew’s Guide.
#7: Natural History Museum of Marseille With Kids (Marseille, France)
There may be countless natural history museums in the world, but not many of them are housed in magnificent 19th century palaces. If you happen to be in the city of Marseille in the south of France, make sure you visit the Natural History Museum of Marseille located inside the Palais Longchamp. Why our family loves this museum:
- It contains thousands of zoological, botanical, mineral and fossil specimens, some of them long extinct.
- It has four permanent exhibits: Safari Room, Provence Room, Human Earth and Land of the Living.
- It has an old-fashioned feel to it. It was founded in 1819, and we felt like we were indeed stepping back to the 19th century when visiting it.
- There is a great interactive display for kids.
- It has free admission on the first Sunday of each month.
Recommended by Bea from PackYourBags.Org. Find out more from Bea about the Natural History Museum of Marseille.
#8: Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum With Kids* (Washington, D.C.)
We recently traveled to Washington D.C. on our recent White Christmas trip to the U.S., and visiting a few of the Smithsonian Museum’s was top of our list. First up was the National Museum of Natural History, located on the National Mall near Capitol Building. I wasn’t sure how interested the kids would be and had expected that we would whip around this museum in a few hours. How wrong was I, as we took a whole day exploring this Museum, and I still feel that we rushed through some parts of it.
The Museum is reported to be home to approximately 126 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, human remains and human cultural artefacts. The kids most enjoyed the interactive areas, particularly where they were able to place items under a microscope and analysis them. There are a large number of animals from each continent on display, including animals that are now extinct. My son was also very interested in the Egyptian, artefacts including the mummies on display. 
The museum is huge, and visitors could spend a week here and still not see if all. A full day gave us a good look around and kids enjoyed every minute of it.
#9: South Australian Museum With Kids (Adelaide, Australia)
The South Australian Museum is one of the most visited museums in Australia. With five floors of exhibits covering fossils, mammals, Ancient Egypt, special exhibition spaces and more plus Aboriginal and Pacific Cultures collections, the South Australian Museum offers plenty for young and old. With so many interactive hands on activities, kids will absolutely love it here. No doubt they will love checking out the various world mammals, learning about the various South Australian biodiversity and checking out the giant squid that spans across four floors dangling in an elevator shaft!
During the school holidays, the Museum has free school holiday programs attracting more than 5,000 school kids each holiday period. The Discovery Centre Team located on level 1 is more than happy to have a chat about any of the exhibits, and visitors can also see bees making honey, which is sure to keep little, and big kids busy for a while. The Discovery Centre is open from 11am-4pm weekdays, and 11am-3pm weekends and public holidays. The Museum is open every day from 10am-5pm, including weekends and public holidays. Entry is free; however some exhibitions may charge an admission fee.
Recommended by Melissa Delaware of Thrifty Family Travels. Find out more from Melissa about Adelaide with kids.
We love natural history museums with kids and can’t wait to visit all of these world’s best natural history museums. For more amazing museums for young scientists, check out the World’s Best Science Centers With Kids!