Free Family Days 2023
Last Thursdays from January through May + September & October!
In partnership with Navy Pier, Chicago Children’s Museum guests can enjoy five fun-filled activities for families and children (ages ten and under) on the last Thursday of each month from January through May and two additional days of activities in September & October.
Free Family Days are made possible with generous support from Pritzker Foundation
10 am to 5 pm - Advance tickets or reservations are not necessary for Free Family Days.
Final admissions are allowed no later than 60 minutes before the museum closes.
Free admission to Chicago Children’s Museum. No pre-registration is required.
$10 discounted parking at Navy Pier with validation.
September 28 - Puppet-palooza!
Thursday, September 28
From 10 am to 5 pm
Great Hall & Fifth Third Bank Family Pavilion
Explore the joyful and creative world of puppetry! Join the performance group Puppet Wonder Wagon for a stage show of dynamic, experimental puppetry. Then, create your own shadow puppets and put on a performance with the help of artist Anna Villanyi. After Free Family Day in the museum concludes, families and children are invited to greet Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee child on a 6,000-mile journey across the United States, at the “Flyboy” Sculpture.
Plus, all of the Museum’s exhibits and special programs are open, including Water City.
Schedule of Activities
Puppet Wonder Wagon Stage Performance
Fifth Third Bank Family Pavilion at Navy Pier
10 am, 11:30 am, and 2 pm
Shadow Puppet Making with Anna Villanyi
Great Hall at Chicago Children’s Museum
11 am - 1 pm
and
2 pm - 4 pm
The Walk with Little Amal presented by Chicago Shakespeare Theater
In partnership with Navy Pier featuring Uniting Voices, A.B.L.E., and the Syrian Community Network
“Flyboy” Sculpture at Chicago Children’s Museum South Dock Entrance
Join Chicago Shakespeare Theater, in collaboration with the Syrian Community Network, to welcome Little Amal to Chicago and Navy Pier. Families are invited to meet Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee child, as she embarks on an epic 6,000-mile journey across the United States.
Little Amal will first appear at Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s iconic marquee on Navy Pier at 5:30 pm before continuing down Navy Pier and visiting with Hebru Brantley’s “Flyboy” at Chicago Children’s Museum and concluding at Polk Bros Park.
In partnership with Navy Pier, this free event for all ages will include appearances and performances by A.B.L.E., Uniting Voices, and Chicago Children’s Museum. Audiences will have the opportunity to learn more about and donate to local groups working to support asylum seekers in Chicago. No tickets or advance registrations required.
Prior Activities & Partners
On May 25, we explored the theatrical arts with our friends at Chicago Children’s Theatre as they performed their interactive stage show, “The Red Kite Friendship Tour.” We also experienced the joy of dramatic play through puppet-making, puppetry performance, and theatrical sensory play.
On April 27, we celebrated Earth Month by making art out of natural and recycled materials with trilingual artist Selva Aparicio, interacting with live animals from the Flying Fox Conservation Fund like Roxy the Sloth, and using our senses to engage with natural materials!
On March 30, we traveled and adventured, practiced our skateboarding stance, made and decorated fingerboards, and played in a miniature skate park with Natty Bwoy Bikes & Boards. We explored skateboarding-inspired movement and poetry with performance group, Every house has a door and held tight to a circus wheel and defied gravity with CirquesExperience.
On February 23, we danced to the melodies and rhythms of West Africa with Kolaam Dance, we moved our bodies joyfully with Black Girls Dance, and found our inner superstar with K-Pop dance from the Korean Cultural Center of Chicago.
On January 26, we explored the wonders of sound with artist, Barbara Silverman; the surprising sounds that everyday objects can make with the Chicago Children’s Museum team; the science of sound at a Curiosity Station hosted by the Museum of Science and Industry; and an “instrument petting zoo” hosted by the Old Town School of Folk Music!