Top 10 Things to Know: Children's Museum of Illinois in Decatur

The top 10 things you need to know before you visit the Children’s Museum of Illinois

Get to know the Children’s Museum of Illinois, located only an hour from Champaign-Urbana in Decatur

On blisteringly hot summer days or in the midst of ice-cold winters, indoor play comes at a premium. Here is everything you need to know about one popular Central Illinois indoor play place: The Children’s Museum of Decatur.

Must Know Info

What: Children’s Museum of Illinois in Decatur

Where: 55 S. Country Club Road, Decatur. Located right on Lake Decatur, with a free parking lot adjacent to the museum.

When: 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday; noon – 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Closed major holidays; be sure to check its Facebook for the latest.

What to bring: Admission is $12 per person ages 2 and older. Admission is $6 for ages 65+. Children under 2 are free. Memberships are available for the year starting at $150 per year. If you get a Fun Family Membership for $200, you will get benefits through participating ASTC and ACM locations, which gets your family free admission into places like the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago for the whole year. Read all about the Nationwide Museum Passport Program here. You’ll also be able to include a caregiver and grandparents in your membership.

10 things to know about the Children’s Museum of Illinois

It is worth the drive. At only an hour from Champaign-Urbana (give or take a few minutes based on your starting point in town), the drive to Decatur is easy and makes for a great day trip. Plus, the Children’s Museum is located right beside the Scovill Zoo, one of our favorite places around!
Bring your own packed lunch or snacks. The second floor of the museum features the Mess Hall, where tables, chairs, and high chairs are provided. There are some vending machines, but we recommend packing snacks or lunch and taking a break from play to eat. If the weather is nice, you can also take your food outside to the picnic area near the helicopter and firetruck. The picnic area overlooks Lake Decatur and has a good amount of shade.
As of May 2024, climber construction has begun in the center of the museum. The climber will span two floors when it’s complete; check out the video on the Museum’s website to learn more. Construction might mean things are a little noisier than usual, and some exhibits may be temporarily moved around.
The museum has two floors full of exhibits and fun. The ground floor boasts an air tunnel system as soon as you walk in – even before the front desk! Beyond that, check out exhibits devoted to food production from farm to store, a car service station, and a super cool water table ecosystem. The Hall of Heroes is an immersive wing dedicated to law enforcement and first responders, where kids can solve a case, check out a police car, and learn about everything it takes to serve and protect a community. This exhibit extends to the second floor, which also has health exhibits, a big construction/building area, art creation stations, a miniature theater, and more. Each floor also has it’s own baby/toddler area, with activities and toys perfect for the littlest museum-goers. Bathrooms are on both floors, with family restrooms located in Heroes Hall and in the Mess Hall. The entire museum is handicap accessible.
Be aware that smocks weren’t available (at least on our trip) for the water table. With kids leaning over it and getting their hands in the water, they’re bound to get wet. So either make plans to usher them toward other exhibits, bring an extra pair of clothes, or prepare your heart and mind for soggy children.
The museum offers sensory-friendly times on the first Tuesday of the month from 9:30 a.m. – noon. During this time, many audio, visual, and physical interactions are tweaked or removed so that those with sensory needs can enjoy the museum comfortably. At all times, there are sunglasses and noise-cancelling headphones available for use from the front desk.
There are real, decommissioned emergency vehicles on-site for kids to climb in and explore. The Macon County Sheriff vehicle is in the Hall of Heroes on the ground floor, and the helicopter (also from Macon County Sheriff) and fire engine are outside under pavilions. The real horns, bells, and whistles no longer work on the vehicles, but there are buttons to push and audio equipment that will play recordings of the sounds. Be sure to help little ones as they climb in and out of the vehicles, especially the outdoor ones — both sides are open, so kids can hop right out the other door and it’s a bit of a drop if they don’t use the steps.
The Children’s Museum of Illinois is a super-popular field trip location. Thanks to its convenient location beside the Scovill Zoo, and to the fact that its just a really cool place on its own, there are likely to be a few groups of school kids enjoying the museum if you’re there on a weekday. Keep that in mind as you plan your trip; Fridays may be a bit more crowded, and particularly active times include spring right before school lets out. On our recent (end-of-the-school-year) visit, there were a few groups of kids from local school districts, but we found that it didn’t hinder our preschooler’s enjoyment of the activities, and the big kids were well-corralled by their chaperones.
This is a great place to spend a day with your family members/kids of all ages! There is plenty of room throughout the museum to maneuver a stroller (and it’s all accessible via elevator), plus the tot areas on each floor provide a fenced-in, baby-friendly space for littles to explore. Preschoolers and young elementary kids might be the ideal age for the majority of the exhibits, but slightly older kids will love visiting, too. Older kids may especially have fun walking through the steps of solving a crime in the Hall of Heroes. They can don a police or detective uniform, collect fingerprints, analyze evidence, and take the case to court. Kids of all ages will love the art area, stocked with supplies for creating. The paint wall is also a draw, where kids can paint on a clear wall, wipe it off, and paint something new as many times as they’d like.Once the climber is finished (under construction as of May 2024), kids will love exploring the two-story play structure. Got grandparents? Bring ’em! The Museum is great for the whole family. There are plenty of benches for grown-ups to sit and watch the kids play and learn. The museum also offers grandparent memberships that allow the grands to bring all of their grandchildren (and great-grandchildren) to the museum for free.
We mentioned it up top, but it’s worth repeating: you can definitely do the Scovill Zoo and the Children’s Museum of Illinois in the same day trip. And why wouldn’t you? The drive is only an hour, but we think it’s definitely worth it to pack a whole day of Decatur fun into the trip. You can easily make a day of it: start off at the zoo on a warm summer morning, then spend the afternoon at the museum. Have a picnic on the playground at the Zoo or lakeside at the museum to break up the day. Check out everything we think you should know about the Scovill Zoo before your trip, and you’ll be set to go. Enjoy a full day in Decatur — and hopefully a car full of sleepy kids on the drive home!