The Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and Adler Planetarium were nestled close together just East of our where we were staying (South Loop), making it easy to explore all the Museum Campus had to offer.

Each had programming specific to toddlers: The Shedd Aquarium was the ultimate playground with tons of room for Dakota to run around an explore. While she enjoyed their Polar Play Zone, she also had just as much fun (probably more) running from tank to tank hollering “lookit!!!” at each new fish and creature. The highlight? Her first 4D movie experience.

The Field Museum’s Family PlayLab featured tons of hands-on play + all the animal replicas and dinosaur bones had Dakota gawking.

Dakota got her second ever theatre movie experience at the Adler Planetarium (this time the Big Bird Adventure Show!), dined at their cute cafe Galileo’s, and we could barely convince her to leave the Planet Explorers experience.

The highlight of the Museum Campus? Dakota’s first hot dog experience courtesy of Kim and Carlo’s Hotdog Cart (helloooo vegan options for mama too!) Of course, now Dakota is hooked on hot dogs…