Winter’s frigid temperatures may have you bundled up outside, but there’s plenty to explore inside museums across Illinois.
Choose your own adventure with exhibits that let you step out of the cold and into a whole new world.
Cloud Buster
Chicago Children’s Museum, Navy Pier
Ongoing
Designed by artist Kevin Winters, the Cloud Buster attraction is a climbable piece of artwork. The 37-foot structure is a larger-than-life jungle gym made of steel, wood, rope, acrylic and other materials. Climb to the top to see The Apartment—a kid-friendly penthouse designed to look like a real Chicago apartment.
Resilience—A Sansei Sense of Legacy
Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, Skokie
December 15th – June 1st
This special exhibitions gallery is an showcase of eight artists whose work reflects on the effect of EO9066 as it resonated from generation to generation. The Executive Order 9066 ordered the forced imprisonment of all Japanese Americans living on the west coast of the United States, which has the second largest population of Japanese people living outside of Japan. Explore the unique, personal ways that the artists express their deep emotions of intense pain, reluctant acceptance, and more.
Wild Reef Exhibit
Shedd Aquarium, Chicago
Ongoing
Ditch the ice and slush and dive under the sea at the Shedd Aquarium’s Wild Reef exhibit. Witness the singular beauty of vibrant coral, graceful sharks, and other animals while learning about each one’s role in the underwater ecosystem.
First in War: World War I
Cantigny First Division Museum, Wheaton
Ongoing
The gripping, First in War exhibit allows visitors to partake in powerful experiences such as “walking through a WWI trench, onto Omaha Beach and through the jungles of Vietnam.” Visitors also get the chance to learn about WWI through a detailed timeline, personal stories, galleries, and more.
Sue the T. rex
Field Museum, Chicago
Ongoing
Get to know one of the largest Tyrannosaurus rex specimens ever discovered: Sue! At 40.5 feet long and 13 feet tall at the hip, Sue is around 90% complete and is believed to have lived around 67 million years ago, making this towering dinosaur one of the most famous skeletons in the world.
Notes to Neurons
Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
Ongoing
This new multimedia experience uses immersive audio, movement recognition, and other interactive technologies to immerse visitors on a journey to help them discover the role of music in their lives and the power it has with connecting us to one another.
Freedom in Form: Richard Hunt
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield
October 25th - April 20th
Freedom in Form will offer visitors the opportunity to engage with Hunt's work through a lens shaped by Black history. The voices and struggles of figures like Frederick Douglass, Emmett Till, and Ida B. Wells will resonate throughout the experience, providing context and depth—illustrating that freedom takes many forms.
Level Up: Writers and Gamers
American Writers Museum, Chicago
May 24th, 2024 - May 5th, 2025
This special exhibit explores how Americans use video games and role-playing to define and respond to culture. The gallery leads visitors into the world of game writing where some of the games featured include Dungeons & Dragons, Zork, Apocalypse World, and Baldur’s Gate III.
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