TOP 10 Most Interesting Museums and Science Centers in Krakow for Kids
Why Visit Museums with Kids?
Gone are the days when museum exhibits were only viewed from behind glass cases. Today's museums engage young visitors with interesting and interactive displays. Museums can inspire and expand imagination. Art, history, science – each field offers something fascinating. Seeing an exhibit in person is very different from just seeing it in a school textbook. By viewing various exhibits, children gain a broader perspective on the world and its cultural richness, which develops their empathy and sensitivity.
Below, we present places on the map of Krakow that we love to visit and that our children particularly enjoyed:
1. Rynek Underground
An interactive museum located beneath Krakow's main square. This unique place takes children on a journey through centuries, showing the daily life of medieval Krakow's residents. With modern technology and multimedia presentations, kids can feel like real archaeologists, discovering treasures and secrets of the old city. The use of holograms, 3D reconstructions, and numerous exhibits makes history come alive and fascinating even for the youngest visitors. The museum has a room where a puppet show about King Krak and the Wawel Dragon is performed every hour.
Museum under the market square in Krakow
The tourist route through the underground of the Main Square (branch of the Krakow Museum) shows us medieval Krakow using 21st-century technology. ...
2. Stained Glass Museum
Visitors can watch the process of making stained glass directly above the heads of artists and craftsmen. A guide accompanies museum guests, explaining the history of the place and the process of creating stained glass. The Stained Glass Museum especially invites children to “Stained Glass Saturday Mornings.” The activities start with a guided tour of the working studio. Children learn about concepts like a living museum, workshop, and stained glass. During the tour, they observe masters at work, can hold tools and brushes, and "paint" a stained glass face.
Stained Glass Workshop and Museum - tours, workshops
The Stained Glass Workshop and Museum in Krakow is a unique living museum and gallery of artworks designed and created by skilled artists and masters. ...
3. Aviation Museum
The Polish Aviation Museum is another place that will surely interest young airplane and flying machine enthusiasts. The museum features an impressive collection of airplanes, helicopters, and other aviation-related exhibits. Children have the chance to see original machines up close and even enter some of them. There is also an interactive room where they can conduct experiments.
Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow
Visiting the Polish Aviation Museum At the Polish Aviation Museum in Krakow, you can see a rich collection of airplanes. ...
4. Archaeological Museum
This place takes the youngest visitors back to ancient civilizations, showing treasures from excavations and the daily life of people thousands of years ago. Children can see ancient tools, ornaments, ceramics, and learn more about the mysteries of Ancient Egypt, including mummies and sarcophagi.
Face to Face with a Caveman: The Archaeological Museum in Krakow
Practical Information: The museum is located near the Market Square, around Grodzka Street. It is not accessible for strollers and people with disabilities. ...
5. Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum, located close to the city center, can be an interesting alternative to the Krakow Zoo, as many tourists lack time for a trip to the zoo on the outskirts of the city. Among the museum's exhibits, you will find aquariums, fossils, minerals, shells, butterfly displays from different continents, and even live animals. The museum also features preserved animals from the Ice Age, including a woolly rhinoceros found in Ukraine and cave bear bones.
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is located in a building near the Market Square and Planty Park, close to Wawel Castle and St. Gertrude Street. ...
6. Museum of Municipal Engineering
The museum is located in Krakow's oldest horse-drawn and electric tram depot. In addition to the history of urban transportation, visitors can learn about the secrets of technology and physics. Children will surely enjoy the "green hand" stations, where they can touch, build, and experiment. The new permanent exhibition at the museum on Św. Wawrzyńca Street is a true journey through time: from ancient times to the present and even the future and space stations.
Museum of Engineering and Technology in Krakow
The Museum of Engineering and Technology is a modernized space of the former Museum of Municipal Engineering in Krakow. Since spring 2023, you can visit the new exhibition "City. Technotenderness". ...
7. Natural Education Center
This is a treasure trove of knowledge about animals! From the history of life on Earth and fantastic visualizations of animals known from fossils to the fauna around us. The exhibition features display cases and animal models – there are no interactive stations, but the exhibition itself is impressive and appeals to both adults and children. We recommend this place for those looking for a family attraction for children of different ages – it will appeal to toddlers, teenagers, and seniors alike. It wonderfully combines entertainment with education.
Nature Education Center of Jagiellonian University
Practical Information: Nearest stop: Ruczaj, Easy to visit with a stroller, Suitable for children of all ages, Rest room available ...
8. Krakil Museum of Illusions
In the Museum of Illusions, you can touch, move, grab, conduct experiments, and draw conclusions. It has been proven that this is the best way to learn and remember acquired knowledge. One of the few places that will interest children of almost any age. Krakil will delight both teenagers, preschoolers, and parents: it's an ideal proposal for family visits, especially for families with children of different ages, where it's particularly difficult to find attractions that won't bore one child or the other.
Krakil - Museum of Illusions
You Can Touch Everything Here! Attention, do not touch the exhibits - this is probably the most hated sign by children in mu ...
9. WOMAI - Center for Science and Senses
Test the power of your senses, try to trick them (e.g., by turning the world upside down), get inspired, break away from everyday life, and see the world in a different dimension!
WOMAI - Center for Science and Senses in Krakow has prepared a scientific adventure for you on the Light Side exhibition and for older children, teenagers, and adults - the Dark Side exhibition, where in the company of a blind guide, we test the power of our senses in the dark.
Both exhibitions are guided, so you will learn more, but it is harder to adjust the pace of the visit to the child's individual preferences – a child may get bored and impatient at one experiment, while wanting to spend more time on another activity but having to keep up with the group.
WOMAI Science and Senses Center
Do you prefer theory or practice? Do you like learning from textbooks, or do you prefer to experience: see, touch, hear? ...
10. Stanisław Lem Garden of Experiences
On six hectares of park greenery, there are original, large devices designed to stimulate thinking and learning, but also to entertain, making learning enjoyable regardless of age. The devices are grouped by themes: optics, magnetism, hydrostatics, acoustics, and mechanics.
Each installation is described: how to use it and what physical phenomenon we are observing.
The Garden of Experiences named after Stanisław Lem
Nearest MPK stops: M1 Aleja Pokoju Parking available at the affiliated M1 Shopping Center. WiFi network available. ...
...and more:
11. Krakow Glassworks
Watching glassmakers at work always makes the biggest impression! You can see live how artists create wonders from red-hot glass: how they blow and skillfully shape it into fabulous forms! Krakow Glassworks is a living museum where you can see demonstrations of hand-forming glass, learn about the history of Krakow Glassworks, find out what glass is made of and how it is produced, and see its wide range of applications. In the museum section, you will see old glassworking tools, historical glass, including masterpieces by Krakow artists.
Krakow Glassworks - demonstrations and museum
The Krakow Glassworks is a living museum where you can see demonstrations of hand glass forming, learn about the history of the Krakow Glassworks, discover how and what glass is made from, and understand its wide range of applications. In the museum section, you can see old tools for glass processing and historic antique glass. ...
12. Ethnographic Museum
Travel back in time to old cottages and learn about the lives and customs of their inhabitants. The museum's exhibition spans three floors and is truly rich! On the ground floor, you can enter reconstructed interiors of village cottages, a school, and a fulling mill. Children also love the interactive room dedicated to traditions related to welcoming spring and Easter traditions.
Ethnographic Museum of Seweryn Udziela in Krakow
Travel back in time to old cottages and learn about the life and customs of their inhabitants. The Ethnographic Museum in Krakow offers you interestingly displayed rich ethnographic collections and fun activities for children! ...
13. Małopolska Science Center Cogiteon
This is Krakow's newest science center. Its goal is education through fun and engaging in independent or team scientific experiments, research projects, and social projects. We haven't had a chance to visit yet, but we plan to! If you've been there, please share your impressions with us!
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