10 Chicago spring break staycation ideas for families

No plans for spring break? No problem. There are plenty of ways for procrastinators to play tourist on a Chicago staycation or for visitors to take in some of the city’s quirkier attractions. Seek out a new-to-you park or micromuseum, revisit a stunning architectural spectacle, or swap out your doomscrolling for a visit to the Doomsday Clock.

Want to get the heck out of town? Check out our list of great day trips within a four hours’ drive of the city.

The Insect Asylum

2870 N. Milwaukee Ave. 

Part museum, part nature center, part LGBTQ cultural center, part animal adoption center, the Insect Asylum in Avondale is one of the most diverse institutions in town. Featuring creepy crawly insects both alive and pinned neatly on display, the space is jam packed with more than 5,000 specimens. Sign up for a beetle pinning workshop or owl pellet dissection. It’s open Thursday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Adults are $25, kids are $15. Visit theinsectasylum.com.

International Museum of Surgical Science

1524 N. Lake Shore Dr.

Touted as “North America’s only museum devoted to surgery,” this unapologetically graphic museum is not for the faint of heart. Located at the southern tip of Lincoln Park, the museum houses collections that include vintage surgical instruments and some wildly grotesque paintings depicting surgery’s earliest days. If you need a break from the stomach-turning exhibits, focus on the building: a 1917 mansion modeled after Marie Antoinette’s personal chateau. It’s open every day (except March 22, when it’s closed for a film production) from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (from 10 a.m. on weekends). Tickets are $15 for kids, $25 for adults. Visit imss.org.

Stony Island Arts Bank

6760 S. Stony Island Ave.

Chances are if you’re remotely tapped into the local arts and culture scene, you know the name of artist Theaster Gates. But have you visited the cultural center he helped shepherd on the South Side? Located just off Jackson Park in a beautifully repurposed 1920s bank building, the Stony Island Arts Bank is the permanent home to the vinyl collection of house music godfather Frankie Knuckles and the book archive of former Ebony and Jet magazine publisher John H. Johnson, and there are rotating exhibitions. It’s free and open to the public from Thursday to Sunday. Visit rebuild-foundation.org.

The Button Museum

3407 W. Armitage Ave.

Ready to visit the tiniest, sweetest museum in the city? Head to west Logan Square to The Button Museum, which is located in the office/factory of the Busy Beaver Button Co. On display are more than 30,000 pins of varying shapes, sizes, and features (yes, some pins have features) dating from 1896 — the year pinback buttons were patented. The museum is free and open to the public Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit buttonmuseum.org.

The Chapel in the Sky at the Chicago Temple

77 W. Washington St.

If you’ve never been to the Chicago Temple, the urban Methodist church hiding in plain sight at Clark and Washington Streets, spring break is prime time for a pilgrimage. It’s home to the so-called Sky Chapel: the world’s highest worship space, located in the tip-top of this neo-Gothic 1923 skyscraper. There are free, hourlong tours of Sky Chapel after worship most days of the week, and plenty of non–churchgoers partake. Visit chicagotemple.org.

Pullman Historic District and National Historic Park

610 E. 111th St.

Yes, it’s technically one of the city’s 77 neighborhoods. But given its unique development and stand-alone geography, the Pullman Historic District still feels like a township of its own. Go all out and take the Metra Electric (ME) line to Pullman’s 111th Street station and get the lay of the land at the Visitor Center. Free ranger tours of the park take place Wednesday through Sunday at 1 p.m., and the Pullman Historic Foundation offers a variety of self-guided and paid tours, too. Visit nps.org.

The Smallest Park in the City: No. 474

3231 S. Dearborn St.

Blink and you’ll miss it. Barely 20 square feet in area, this parklet on IIT’s campus is the site of Man on a Bench by George Segal, the sculpture designed to commemorate Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s 100th birthday. There’s nothing else to see at this “park,” but it’s a fun starting point for architecture buffs keen to explore the Mies-designed campus of IIT, including the glorious Crown Hall just a few blocks south. While you’re in the area, be sure to check out Rem Koolhaas’ orange-tinged tunnel aka the McCormick Tribune Campus Center. Visit chicagoparkdistrict.org.

Want another suggestion for a local hike that will reveal some hidden gems? Here’s a list of 10 great local outdoor adventures.

Klairmont Kollections Auto Museum

3117 North Knox Ave.

It doesn’t hold a candle to Detroit’s sprawling Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, but the Klairmont Kollections Automotive Museum in Kelvyn Park has a pretty impressive collection of notable and vintage cars. Visiting is kind of like wandering the main deck of a car ferry transporting 300 of the most beautiful and interesting cars in the world. They’re packed in like sardines, and there’s a recreation of a 1950s car dealership, and a drive-in theater too. It’s open Wednesday through Sunday; admission is $22 for adults and $15 for kids, plus family discounts. Visit klairmontkollections.com.

The Doomsday Clock

1307 E. 60th St.

Visiting the Doomsday Clock probably isn’t exactly what you had in mind for spring break this year. But this massive, metaphoric “clock” — which represents how close humanity is to destroying the world with nuclear weapons and climate change — was created almost 80 years ago by the "Bulletin of Atomic Scientists." Today it sits on display at the Bulletin’s offices at the University of Chicago’s Keller Center. It’s currently set to 89 seconds to midnight, so be sure to stroll the lovely quads after visiting, to bring your heart rate back down. Visit news.uchicago.edu.

Bonus: Atomic history buffs and fans of the film "Oppenheimer" can take this self-guided tour of Manhattan Project sites on the University of Chicago campus.

Bahá'í House of Worship

100 Linden Ave., Wilmette

There are just 13 Bahá'í temples in the world, and the oldest — dating to the 1950s — is in Wilmette. Designed by Louis Bourgeois, a one-time collaborator of Louis Sullivan, this beautifully intricate building is particularly striking on crisp spring days with the lake chopping in the background. True to Bahá'í architecture, there are nine sides to the domed building, encircled by nine connected gardens. It’s open to the public daily from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., and admission is free with a couple guidelines typical of houses of worship. Visit bahai.us.