When the weather becomes crisp and chilly, it’s the perfect time to head indoors. And two of the best places to explore are the library and a museum! Why not visit both? You can get a jump on your next museum adventure by stopping at the library first.
Visit a Museum With Museum Passes
BCLS offers a Museum Pass program, allowing you to check out a pass to a local museum, just like you’d check out a book. The Museum Pass program features 35 different museums in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. If you have a library card, you can choose a museum and reserve a pass for the day you want - or you can search by the museum! Many Museum Passes cover free admittance to up to six people, and include discounts at the museum cafes and gift shops.
Think museums are just paintings and fossils? Think again! There are passes for many local history museums, including the African American Museum of Philadelphia, the National Constitution Center and the Museum of the American Revolution.
If you want to take advantage of a nice fall day, check out some animal friends at the Popcorn Park Animal Refuge and the Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge. Explore trains, cars, trees, ships, airplanes, insects and even the fascinating medical oddities of the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia.
Here are some handy guides to help plan your trip to a local museum using a Museum Pass:
- Go local in South Jersey
- Head to Philadelphia, for history, art and fun
- Choose art or history or both
- Take your teens
Check Out Museum-Themed Books
Make sure to stop by the library first to grab a great book about how cool museums are for everyone!
Our Easy Fiction picture books are a wonderful way to introduce your youngest culture lovers to the wonders of museums - whether they’re dreaming of museums filled with art galleries or dinosaur bones. For school-age readers, there are plenty of stories to introduce them to museum exhibits.
For older readers, who may be heading out on a field trip to a science or history museum, the library offers fantastic Easy Readers, Chapter Books and Juvenile Fiction about what to expect and how to act when they get there. For older middle grade readers, there are some detective stories, allowing them to follow along with the characters in the solving of a mystery in a museum.
Picture Books & Board Books
A Is for Artist: A Getty Museum Alphabet by J. Paul Getty Museum
Anna at the Art Museum by H.J. Hutchins
My Trip to the Science Museum by Mercer Mayer
The Noisy Classroom Goes to the Museum by Angela Shanté
You Can't Take A Balloon Into the Metropolitan Museum by Jacqueline Priess Weitzman
Easy Readers & Chapter Books
Museum Heists by Kenny Abdo
Fancy Nancy at the Museum by Jane O’Connor
Sleepover at the Haunted Museum by Debbie Dadey
Ms. Krup Cracks Me Up! By Dan Gutman
Zach and Lucy and the Museum of Natural Wonders by Pifferson Sisters
Juvenile Fiction & Nonfiction
Smithsonian Dinosaurs and Other Amazing Creatures From Deep Time by Edgar Blake
Museum Sleepover by Deanna Kent
The Marvelous Museum by A.I. Newton
The Time Museum by Matthew Loux
I (heart) Art: Art We Love From the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
