I’m constantly surprised by the fact that people don’t know about this, and it seems like A LOT of people don’t know about this. Chicago Public Library and Kraft foods have partnered together and created a program called The Great Kids Museum Passports. Each library has passports for almost every museum that will get you into that museum for free. My wife is constantly going to our local branch looking for these to bring our kids to the Shedd Aquarium (and other museums). They can be hard to come by sometimes but when you can get one, it is well worth it.
The library has passes to all the major museums:
• The Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum
• The Art Institute of Chicago
• The Brookfield Zoo
• The Chicago Children’s Museum
• The Chicago History Museum
• The Dusable Museum of African American History
• The Field Museum
• The McCormic Tribune Freedom Museum
• The Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum
• The Museum of Contemporary Art
• The Museum of Science and Industry
• The Notebaert Nature Museum
• The John G. Shedd Aquarium
The passes are good for 5 people (adults or children) and can be checked out for 1 week. Late fees are $1 per day (with a $10 max). I’ve been told by librarians that each library has 5 passes for each museum. Be warned, if you lose the pass it is a $30 fine on your card and it takes the library 1 month to get a replacement.
The Great Kids site is a little confusing. They list Museums in the Park which includes most of the museums in the list above. They also include The Chicago Public Library. I spoke to a librarian on the phone about this and I was told that there are no passes for CPL (because it’s free anyway) and that there are no additional passes for Museums in the Park, just the passes they have for the individual museums. The librarian I spoke to was a little confused about that also.
Maybe I shouldn’t be blogging about this. Now it will be harder than ever for my wife to get the passes she wants.
3 Comments
I’m a big fan of these, too. I was thrilled recently when the Blackstone Branch put up a new sign on the circ desk which says:
Adler Planetarium OUT
Art Institute IN
Field Museum OUT
etc.
It’s great, and makes it much easier than the long conversation: “Do you have this one? What about this one?”
Now, if only you could return them to other branches and/or in the bookdrop….
That is FANTASTIC! You don’t know how often my wife and I have had to run down the list asking for available passes let alone other people I’ve heard doing the same thing while I was waiting in line. Having that out for everybody to see would be a great way to save time and energy for everybody.
Just an update. The museum passes allow four people per card with the exception of the Shedd Aquarium pass which allows two adults and two children. Just thought I’d let you know.
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