If you have children and wish to teach them a love of science, then teaching them to love dinosaurs is a gateway drug.
This museum doesn't look like much from the outside, but inside is a treasure trove of natural and bio-geographic history. Plus, marvel at some very unique facts about northeast Ohio's geology. Who for instance, ever knew that Center Ridge Road was so named because it was built on the exact path traced by a very real geologic ridge called the "center ridge" formed at the time when this whole place we are standing on was a massive glacier formation? Now that explains a lot of why it winds west the way it does.
It is about perhaps a quarter size to a third of Chicago's natural history museum -- but this might be a good thing for the parent who might not want to spend the entire day in a museum. You get the same experience in a convenient, fun, package that's short and sweet. It is clean, well lit, and staffed with real scientists who know things in-depth. As a geek and biology/science major, I love this place, and so can you!