Our Goal

Our goal at the Burpee Museum of Natural History is to fill faces with wonder. Our many unique exhibits have been known to intrigue visitors young, old and in-between...both onsite and virtually. Great detail and care goes into all of our exhibits, and there’s plenty to see for everyone! Make Burpee your destination for wonder!

Our Mission

It is the mission of Burpee Museum of Natural History to inspire all people to engage in a lifetime of discovery and learning about the natural world, through preservation and interpretation.

Effective June 13th, the Burpee will be open every day from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm to align with the city and statewide COVID-19 mitigation efforts. Please see our "Events" page to reserve tickets. Walk-ins encouraged!

Much Has Changed

Come check it out for yourself, and see all the upgrades! Burpee is so excited to share several new, and improved exhibits this spring.  The whole 2nd floor is new for 2021's re-opening. Thanks to generous support from donors and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), we are ready to share our new Ice Age exhibit, Geology exhibit, Jurassic exhibit, Carboniferous Era and Ordovician Exhibit upgrades!  

The health and safety of our guests, staff, and their families is of the highest priority to Burpee Museum. Effective June 13th, the Burpee will be open every day from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm to align with the city and statewide COVID-19 mitigation efforts. Please see our "Events" page to reserve tickets. Walk-ins encouraged! While our physical doors are closed at night, our digital doors are WIDE OPEN!  We are ready to bring Burpee Without Walls to you!  

Natural Science Learning

From ZooBabies for our youngest nature lovers, to KidVentures one-day-camps, Girls in Science, Scouts, and Burpee Explorer week long camps, we have a summer full of adventure planned for you.  Classes for 3 & Under, 3-6, 7 & Up.

While classes will be in-person, class sizes will be small, and social distancing with masks and frequent cleaning will be employed for everyone's safety.  Burpee Museum teachers are vaccinated for your child's protection.

Virtual Field Trips Now at Burpee

Standing in the shadow of a real dinosaur, or staring into the eyes of a living turtle make the trip into our museum something children remember for years to come!  Plan your upcoming visit to Burpee with a large variety of new options.

Burpee offers revamped field trips that are aligned to NGSS science expectations and opens the door to great non-fiction reading opportunities to improve literacy, critical thinking, and evidence based reasoning.