Museum Day is an annual event hosted by Smithsonian Media in which participating museums across the country open their doors for free to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket.
Here are the rules:
Only one ticket per household, good for free admission for two at ONE participating museum on Museum Day, September 25th. You must have an official ticket, which you can download from the Museum Day website.
Participating museums in Delaware are:
Biggs Museum of American Art: Dover
Delaware Art Museum: Wilmington
Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts: Wilmington
Delaware Historical Society: Wilmington
Delaware Museum of Natural History: Wilmington
Hagley Museum and Library: Wilmington
Iron Hill Museum: Newark
Old Swedes Church-Hendrickson House Museum: Wilmington
The Lewes Historical Society: Lewes
Treasures of the Sea Exhibit: Georgetown
There are a MESS of participating museums in PA, these are the ones I would consider to be daytrip distance:
Brandywine River Museum: Chadds Ford
Fireman’s Hall Museum: Philadelphia
Heritage Center of Lancaster County: Lancaster
Historic St. George’s: Philadelphia
Independence Seaport Museum: Philadelphia
Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA): Philadelphia
National Christmas Center: Paradise
National Liberty Museum: Philadelphia
National Toy Train Museum: Strasburg
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts: Philadelphia
Philadelphia Art Alliance: Philadelphia
Rosenbach Museum & Library: Philadelphia
Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College: Swarthmore
The Academy of Natural Sciences: Philadelphia
The African American Museum in Philadelphia: Philadelphia
The Franklin Institute: Philadelphia
The Print Center: Philadelphia
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology: Philadelphia
Now. Off the top of my head, I know the DE Art Museum is ALWAYS free on Sundays. The DE Museum of Natural History is free on September 12th, and the Brandywine River Museum is free Sundays in September from 9:30-noon. Some of these museums also participate in the Bank of America Museums on Us program, which gets cardholders in for free the first weekend of the month. So do your research before you go! Check if the museum you’re interested in is free some other time so you can get the biggest bang for your (free) buck.
If it were me: (I have a birthday party to attend that day):
Younger kids? The PA Museum of Natural History is sure to be a winner. Or, book a ride on Thomas the Tank Engine at the Strasburg railroad and then use your free admission tickets at the Toy Train Museum.
If your kids are older (I’d say 4 and up): you can never go wrong with the Franklin Institute. Free admission for the adults is a good deal here (savings of $31). Personally, I’d go check out the Rosenbach Museum. I’ve never been there but they have all sorts of Maurice Sendak stuff, PLUS there is currently an exhibit I’d love to see called “Dreadful Things Happen,” about the Brothers Grimm.
Alternatively, you could go down to Baltimore, hit the Aquarium (that never gets old either, does it?) and add on one of these participating museums (there are MANY MORE but these looked most appealing to my kids):
B&O Railroad Museum
Baltimore Museum of Art
Baltimore Streetcar Museum
Port Discovery Children’s Museum