1. Pack snacks and lunches. You have to exit the museum to the first floor to eat. There is a cafeteria and an outside area you can picnic on instead of standing in line to buy food. And it would be a good treat to eat at the cafeteria if you have older kids, but with kids ages 6,4 and 2 - I always find it easiest to have something ready to eat immediately and to their liking.
2. With small kids it worked nice to view a floor of exhibits then take a snack break. We did not get overambitious to see everything but kind of floated around to what the kids found the most interesting.
3. If you arrive early go to the sports exhibit underground first and the energy exhibit because they have exhibits that you have to stand in line for, and the lines will be shorter earlier in the day. Trust me - your kids are going to want to race a dinosaur!
4. When you reach a point and need a break, again if you are with small children, go to the bottom floor in the Children's Museum section. It is free play and you can grab a seat on a bench while they run free and have fun.
5. Don't be scared to ask a question, museum staff is floating around everywhere. In a few exhibits, my kids had questions and we located the staff - not only did they have an insightful answer, but then wanted to show my kids more!
6. Encourage Interaction. Every exhibit seemed to have different levels of interactions. Touch, feel, watch - it was engaging, so let your children be engaged!
Activity
Hand off your iphone and let your kids take the pictures. My children still talk about the ones they took, and can't remember the items in the pictures because they were the photographer. It gave us something to talk about after leaving the museum - and something they wanted to share with others! Here's a few of our favorites that my son took:
