The Franklin Institute
Philadelphia's giant hands-on science museum — the walk-through heart, the planetarium, and a full day of button-pushing 40 minutes from Wilmington.
The Quick Version
- • Philadelphia's big hands-on science museum on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway — open daily 9:30 am – 5 pm.
- • Admission: $29 adult, $25 teen, $23 child (members free). Special exhibitions cost extra.
- • Onsite parking is limited and $25 per vehicle — the single biggest planning fact. Members pay $15.
- • The Fels Planetarium is included with admission; shows run through the day.
- • The walk-through giant heart is the thing every kid remembers. Budget a full morning-into-afternoon.
- • The Eatery on site handles lunch — or picnic on the Parkway lawns in good weather.
Best Ages
4-13
Plan For
3-5 hours
Adults
$29
Kids
$23 (teen $25)
What to Expect
The Franklin Institute is the region's flagship science museum and the standard against which every smaller science center gets measured. It's big — multiple floors of hands-on exhibits — and it's genuinely hands-on: kids pull, crank, climb, and press their way through the building rather than reading placards.
The giant walk-through heart is the icon, and it earns it — every Delaware Valley kid eventually crawls through those arteries, and it's been a rite of passage for generations. Around it: electricity and physics floors full of live demonstrations, a train gallery with a real locomotive, aviation exhibits, and the Fels Planetarium, whose shows are included with admission and double as the mid-visit sit-down reset for tired legs.
Pace is the whole game with kids here. The museum rewards a full day but most families peak around the four-hour mark: two or three exhibit floors, a planetarium show, lunch, one last lap, done. Pick the marquee stops first — the heart draws a line by late morning on busy days.
The honest costs: a family of four pays roughly $100 at the door plus $25 to park, and the rotating special exhibitions upcharge on top of that. That's real money, which is why the membership math matters if you'd come twice a year — and why this is a planned worth-the-drive day, not an impulse trip. Done right, it's one of the best full museum days a Wilmington family can reach in under an hour.
Who It's Best For
Preschoolers get real value — the heart, the trains, anything with buttons — but the museum's sweet spot is elementary and up, when the exhibit explanations start landing. Tweens still engage here when most museums have lost them (planetarium, tech floors, special exhibitions). Toddlers can have a fine time, but you're paying full freight for a lot of exhibits they'll skip.
Highlights
The Giant Heart
Ages 3+The two-story walk-through heart — the exhibit every kid remembers and every parent walked through as a kid themselves. Go early before the line forms.
Fels Planetarium
Ages 5+Included with general admission. Shows run through the day — use one as the mid-visit rest for everyone's legs.
The hands-on floors
Ages 6-13Electricity, physics, mechanics — live demonstrations and machines kids operate themselves. This is where elementary kids disappear for an hour.
The Train Factory
Ages 2-10A real 350-ton Baldwin locomotive kids can board, plus the engineering exhibits around it. The reliable win for the vehicle-obsessed.
What to Skip with Little Ones
- • The special ticketed exhibitions with toddlers — a big upcharge for content aimed older.
- • School-year weekday mid-mornings if crowds stress your crew — that's peak field-trip traffic.
- • Doing the whole building. Pick three things; leave wanting more.
Logistics
Admission
Adults
$29
Kids
$23 (teen $25)
Under
Check fi.edu for the youngest-visitor policy
General admission covers the core museum and the Fels Planetarium. Special exhibitions are a separate, meaningfully higher ticket. Buy online before you go.
Membership tip: Members get in free and park for $15. If you'd visit twice in a year — or pair it with reciprocal science-museum benefits — the family membership pays for itself fast.
Getting There
Parking
The museum's own garage is limited and $25 per vehicle ($15 for members). Street and lot parking around the Parkway exists but is competitive on weekends.
Price the $25 into the trip so it doesn't sour the day — or arrive right at 9:30 when the garage is emptiest. On a nice day, cheaper lots further down the Parkway plus a 10-minute walk work fine with school-age kids.
Entrance
Main entrance up the grand steps off 20th St at the Parkway; an accessible entrance serves strollers and wheelchairs. Security bag check on the way in.
Parent Logistics
Elevators reach every floor and the building handles strollers fine, but it's a big, busy museum — a carrier is easier than a stroller in the packed marquee exhibits.
Restrooms on every floor.
Available in restrooms.
Indoor.
Food & Snacks
The Eatery, the museum's own food hall — standard museum-cafe fare and pricing.
Snack strategy: Museum lunch is fine but not cheap. The move in good weather: pack lunch and take the break on the Parkway lawns, then re-enter (confirm same-day re-entry at the desk). Keep car snacks for the I-95 ride home.
Pro Tips
- ✓ Buy admission online and arrive at 9:30 sharp — the first hour is the calmest the giant heart will be all day.
- ✓ The planetarium is included — schedule a show as your sit-down break instead of fighting the afternoon slump.
- ✓ Membership math: two family visits a year roughly breaks even, and members park for $15 instead of $25.
- ✓ Pair the drive: the Please Touch Museum is 10 minutes away for the under-5 sibling on a different trip — don't try both in one day.
When to Go
Best Time to Visit
Weekday mornings in summer or school-year weekends right at 9:30 open — the museum fills with school groups on school-year weekdays and with everyone by early afternoon. Hit the marquee exhibits first, planetarium show mid-visit as the sit-down break.
Seasonal Notes
Open daily year-round, 9:30 am – 5 pm. Special ticketed exhibitions rotate through (currently a Universal theme-parks exhibition at a significant upcharge — adult $47 all-in); decide before you're at the counter with kids watching.
Rainy Day?
This is the rainy-day plan — fully indoor, and a washout Saturday is exactly when to spend the parking money.
While You're in the Area
The Parkway puts the Academy of Natural Sciences (dinosaurs) 5 minutes' walk away and the Philadelphia Zoo a short drive — but the Franklin Institute is a full day on its own. Sister Cities Park's splash fountain and cafe, 2 blocks east, is the post-museum decompression stop in summer.