For years my girlfriends and I have frequented the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum during the winter months. This little known gem in the city is never crowded. The kids can run around like mad for a few hours for a lot less money than most ‘pay to play’ spaces in the city.

Ben in the Colon Crawl. Eww.

Most of my girlfriends have memberships. A family membership is only $60 a year and you get free coat check along with some other benefits. I didn’t bother with the membership, instead I use my Children’s Museum Membership card to get 1/2 of the admission price. Adult full price is $9, kids 3-12 are $6 and kids under 3 are free. So when I go with just Ben it’s only $4.50. On Thursdays it’s free for Illinois residents.

All the exhibits are either made for kids or are very kid friendly. They recently opened the ‘Eww, What’s Eating You?’ exhibit. We were all surprised to see Carrot Top hosting the videos. It was kind of gross in a fascinating way. I definitely plan to take Jack back to play the ‘Parasite Pinball’ game.