Kids Free Day 2025
Sunday, May 4
10 am to 5 pm
Join us to explore the museum’s exhibits and stop by Great Hall for special programming to celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Skin You Live In! Museum entry is free for all kids (17 years or younger) on Kids Free Day.
Chicago Children’s Museum’s beloved picture book delivers an important message about race, inclusion, and social acceptance to young readers. Join author Michael Tyler and illustrator David Lee Csicsko for readings, book signings, and a collage self-portrait activity that celebrates the beautiful skin you live in.
Schedule of Events
10am-12pm &1-3pm: Collage self-portraits with illustrator David Lee Csicsko
11am & 2pm: Read-aloud with author Michael Tyler
11:30am & 2:30pm: Book signing with author Michael Tyler and illustrator David Lee Csicsko
Plan Your Visit
Children must be accompanied by an adult (18+) for museum entry. Advance tickets or reservations are not necessary for Kids Free Day. Final admissions are allowed no later than 60 minutes before the museum closes. Find frequently asked questions and more information to help plan your visit here.
Prior Activities & Partners
On September 28, 2023 we explored the joyful and creative world of puppetry! We experienced the performance group Puppet Wonder Wagon’s stage show, created our own shadow puppets and put on a performance with the help of artist Anna Villanyi. After Free Family Day in the museum concluded, we greeted 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.
On May 25, 2023 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, 2023 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, 2023 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, 2023 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, 2023 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!