Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Find Free Inspiration






Butterfly Fly is based in Chicago, where there is a wealth of free days at our many museums. The Art Institute, Museum of Contemporary Art, The Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium, Museum of Science and Industry, The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum and Chicago Children’s Museum all offer free days throughout the year. The Chicago Public Library also offers museum passes for free admission that you can checkout for a week at a time.


With kids, don’t worry about seeing everything in the museum, just spend time in the areas they find interesting. It may be a Miro painting, the jellyfish, stegosaurus bones, or an upside down prop-plane. Often a museum visit makes for great dinner conversation, and may spark a special trip to the library for books on a subject or even inspire an art project.


Free outdoor concerts are a wonderful gift that come with nicer weather. Millennium Park offers lots of free concerts- great for picnic dinners. Old Town School of Folk Music offers free children’s concerts in the summer mornings in Millennium Park. And many of the Chicago Parks have free concerts throughout the summer featuring a very wide range of musical styles.

Old paper towel rolls transform into a number of pretend instruments and for older children chop sticks work well for drumsticks or a conducting baton. An inspired 'musical performance' can continue for days after- sometimes weeks.

Be sure to check with the museums, city and parks around where you live for free opportunities and get inspired!

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