Top 20 Places to Take Kids in and around Kansas City - 2020
2020 Best Places for Kids in the Kansas City region!
2020's best places to take kids in the Kansas City area, based on KidsOutAndAbout's annual reader survey. But there is LOTS more to do around the area...Get great ideas here at KidsOutAndAbout.com! The terrific organizations listed below are just the starting point: Browse through our site and calendar to find lots more, sign up for our fabulous weekly e-newsletter, and be sure to click on Everything That's Free.
Kansas City Zoo
The Kansas City Zoo is located in historic Swope Park. With more than 1,700 animals and over 200 acres, the Zoo is the most affordable fun in Kansas City! With its world-class exhibits and exceptional programs, the Zoo attracts visitors from around the world and families from close to home.
My Local Library
Of course, the libraries in the Kansas City area are not really ONE place, but MANY places... but it's important to emphasize how valuable libraries are for family learning and fun. The libraries in our area are wonderful about posting their events to the KidsOutAndAbout calendar so you always can get ideas for free things to do with your kids that celebrate education and imagination. KidsOutAndAbout.com takes this opportunity to salute the wonderful children's librarians who serve our community with such dedication. They're proud that locals voted them to the best places to take kids this year!
Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead
Designed to depict a family farm, the Farmstead has nearly 200 animals and birds of prey, vegetable and flower gardens, a one-room country schoolhouse, an old-time fishing pond, pony rides and more. Deanna Rose brings the charm of the farm to children living in the city. Children treasure such memories as bottle feeding baby goats, milking a cow and taking a horse drawn wagon ride through the woods. 2015 was the Farmstead's biggest year yet - it hosted more than 477,000 visitors from nearly every U.S. state and 17 countries.
Science City
Science City is a place of wonder, where kids and adults can find something new with each visit. Throw the don't touch mindset out the window. There are no tests and no wrong or right answers, just a chance to explore with freedom and pure imagination.
Kansas City Young Audiences
The mission of Kansas City Young Audiences is to engage all youth in the arts, promote creativity, and inspire success in education.
KC Parks
For 125 years, Kansas City, Missouri Parks and Recreation has provided facilities, programs and recreational opportunities for the community that contribute to an aesthetically pleasing environment and enhanced quality of life. The department maintains 221 parks, 12,242 acres of parkland, 158 miles of trails and bikeways, 29 lakes, hundreds of athletic fields and tennis courts, 103 playgrounds, and five public golf courses. Miles of scenic boulevards and parkways crisscross the city, where 48 fountains and 122 monuments and sculptures surprise and delight. Ten community centers, along with eight museums, provide the setting for socially equitable and community-driven programming.
Worlds of Fun/ Oceans of Fun
Kansas City's amusement park with 235 acres of family rides, thrill rides & waterslides including 7 world-class rollercoasters and Oceans of Fun.
Kansas City Renaissance Festival
The Kansas City Renaissance Festival began its journey in September of 1977 as a benefit to the Kansas City Art Institute. Since then, the Kansas City Renaissance Festival has grown to be one of the largest Renaissance Festivals in the United States with an annual attendance of 200,000.
The Coterie Theatre
The Coterie Theatre, named "One of the Five Best Theaters for Young Audiences" in the U.S. by TIME magazine, provides unique theatre experiences for families and young audiences. The company is nationally recognized for its one-of-a-kind programming that features a year-round season of live plays and musicals on the company's mainstage, for which individual, group, and season tickets are available.
Kansas City Starlight Theatre
Starlight Theatre Association is dedicated to producing, presenting and promoting excellence in musical theatre and the performing arts for diverse audiences of all ages, with continued programming for families and children.
C.W. Parker Carousel Museum
The museum tells the history of C.W. Parker who produced carousels in Leavenworth, KS. Visitors are able to ride a 1913 Parker Carousel.
Urban Air Adventure Park
If you’re looking for the best year-round indoor amusements in Prairie Village, Leawood, Olathe, Overland Park, Shawnee, Lawrence, Bonner Springs, Eudora, DeSoto and Lenexa areas, Urban Air Adventure Park is the perfect place. With new adventures behind every corner, we are the ultimate indoor playground for your entire family. Take your kids’ birthday party to the next level or spend a day of fun with the family and you’ll see why we’re more than just a trampoline park.
Alldredge Orchards
Minutes from Kansas City, Alldredge Orchards is a small family farm open on weekends in September/October. Pick apples (check ahead for availability), visit the pumpkin patch, take a hayride and feed the chickens and goats! Be sure to check out the barn store and have fun in our play area. School tours and hayride parties throughout the season.
Boulevard Drive-In Theatre
The Boulevard leads the way in digital technology, and was the first drive in theater in the world to install digital sound and 4K resolution digital projection! card. Double-feature drive-in movies at a classic, family-friendly venue with a snack bar & a playground.
Chicken N Pickle
A new outdoor/indoor entertainment venue and restaurant concept in north Kansas City. Play pickleball, grab a healthy bite to eat or challenge your friends to lawn games like connect four or cornhole. Located on the corner of 18th and Burlington in North Kansas City, Chicken N Pickle is a brand new entertainment complex including a fast casual dining restaurant, 8 pickleball courts (4 indoor and 4 outdoor), a bar and entertainment space, food trucks, outdoor lawn games like ping pong and Jenga and a living room with fire pits and TV screens for you and your friends to catch your favorite game.
Kaleidoscope
Kaleidoscope nourishes the creative spirit. It is a place where children and their families are invited to be creative, have fun, and feel good about their own special ideas.
Lakeside Nature Center
Lakeside Nature Center is located at 4701 East Gregory Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri’s Swope Park. It is owned and managed by Kansas City, Missouri Parks and Recreation Department.
Parkville Nature Sanctuary
Parkville is a vibrant community known for its quiet neighborhoods and bustling business districts. We invite you to visit and see for yourself!
The Theatre In The Park
Theatre in the Park is the largest outdoor community theatre in the country. Our outdoor amphitheater is tucked into 10 beautiful acres in Shawnee Mission Park with a separate entrance at 7710 Renner Road. Located just north of I-435 Highway and 87th Street, our facility is easily accessible from anywhere in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
Union Station
You can still catch the train at Union Station's AMTRAK STOP and head out across the country. You'll also find a permanent rail exhibit called the KC RAIL EXPERIENCE, exhibit spaces for traveling exhibits produced by the Smithsonian, National Geographic and other international organizations, a PLANETARIUM, an interactive science center SCIENCE CITY and a vibrant Theater District featuring GIANT-SCREEN MOVIES, LIVE THEATER, and so much more.
Winners in Special Categories
In the second part of our survey, we asked readers to select their favorites in the categories of arts education and sports/physical education. These were the winners:Favorite Arts Educator
Kansas City Young AudiencesThe mission of Kansas City Young Audiences is to engage all youth in the arts, promote creativity, and inspire success in education.
Favorite Sports/Physical Educator
YMCA of Greater Kansas CityEverything the Y does is in service of making us—as individuals and a community—better. From advocacy to early education, disease prevention to sports, swim lessons to after school programs, everything we do helps strengthen our neighborhoods and the people who live here. When you join the Y, you're committing to more than simply becoming healthier. You're supporting the values and programs that strengthen our community.
