This is a terrific museum that will please everyone in your family. There's dinosaur bones, an enormous beetle collection, and plenty of large stuffed animals. And yet it's pretty compact so your kids aren't exhausted from having to walk around a huge museum. Informative explanations, easy coat/bag check, and it's very close to Harvard yard.
This is a hidden treasure on the Harvard campus, just a short walk from Harvard Square...many new exhibitions with fascinating explanations of Evolution, how animals communicate with color, meteorites..even a great gallery on insects, crustaceans. My favorites are still the amazing 19th c. galleries with hundreds of animals..and of course the dinosaurs (including a triceratops skull) and the huge 42 foot Kronosaurus.