Like most 5 year old boys my son loves dinosaurs. However we don't always have the time in our busy schedule to drive into the city to visit the Field Museum. The good news is, you don't have to! There is a gem of a museum right in our back yard, the Lake County Discovery Museum at Lakewood.

This unassuming old farm building has been developed into a top notch family friendly destination and a must see in lake county. The museum has four main galleries; Mall of History, Children's Learning Gallery, Vortex Roller Coaster theater, and Bring the World Home. They currently have two special Exhibits ruining Charles Warner Cathedrals (1/16-8/15) and Golden Legacy (3/20-8/22).

  

I was really looking forward to seeing the Golden Legacy exhibit. I of course grew up on Golden Books and my children read them I thought it would be great. However anyone that has children knows that the best laid plans are, well , plans. Tuesday's are half price admission day, so there was a large school group there. That made spending time looking at all the beautiful artwork and talking about it with my kids near impossible. While looking at the art we stumbled on to the cathedrals exhibit. I hadn't read about this prior and had no idea what to expect from the signs and we were blown away.

Five meticulously designed and constructed folk art cathedrals, recalling the artist’s childhood memories of Europe. Each spire is illuminated and elaborately painted. The cathedrals are complemented by historic postcards of Old World and New World cathedrals.

The Golden Legacy Exhibit has original artwork from 65 years of Golden Books. 

The exhibit however, is so much more than artwork.  After you pass through the gallery there is a interactive kids gallery set up all themed to different books. You can:

• Draw on walls like The Color Kittens.
• Crawl through a plush version of Farmer McPhee's lemon orchard to find The Red Lemon and play a "Toss the Red Lemon" game.
• Slide down the Happy Man's dump truck.
• Make a snake slither and a cricket hop away from The Poky Little Puppy.
• Recreate scenes from Tootle and Scuffy the Tugboat on a large play table.
• Play I Can Fly inspired mad libs or sit down to enjoy a story in a themed reading area.
• Create your own Golden Book on our storyboard wall.

There is enough to do to entertain children of all ages, readers and non-readers alike. My children are 3 and 5 and were just as entertained as the 9 and 10 year olds that were visiting with their school. 


We had a little time left and my son really wanted to see the dinosaur bones. While we were exploring Prehistoric Lake County one of the museum volunteers (who did not know I was writing this) came up and offered to set  up a station and pull out some skulls and animals things to talk about with the kids.

We were so caught up in the activity and there was so much more to see it was hard to leave!

While not exclusive a children's museum it really is a great place for kids. Outside of the kid specific exhibits there are little signs:

that indicate interactive games and toys for the kids. It's also located in the Lakewood forest preserve so there are picnic areas, grass to run in and a mammoth outside that my kids love to run around. 


HOURS: Regular gallery hours are Monday - Saturday, 10a.m. - 4:30 p.m. and Sunday, 1 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

COST: 

• Admission is $6 for adults and $2.50 for youth ages four to 17, and free for children three years and under. Admission is $2.50 for seniors after 2 p.m.
• Discount Tuesdays: adults $3, ages 4-17 (up to five children per adult) FREE, $1.25 per child for groups with 5-10 children per adult.
• Download a $1off coupon at the Museum website. 

UPCOMING SPECIAL EVENTS:
Civil War Days
Small Discoveries- Summertime Fun






All photos included are property of Melissa H. and cannot re reused with out permission. 

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