Museums and Science Centers for Kids
60 family-friendly spots across Hawaii, New York, Oklahoma, & Texas, with costs, best ages, parking tips, and what to bring.
60 adventures found
Albany Institute of History & Art
Albany, NY
MuseumSmall Albany museum with two ancient Egyptian mummies, Hudson River School landscapes and drop-in …
Battleship Missouri Memorial
Honolulu, HI
MuseumWalk the deck and interior of the battleship where WWII ended, from the surrender plaque to the …
Bishop Museum
Honolulu, HI
MuseumHonolulu's state museum of Hawaiian history with a walk-through erupting volcano, planetarium, and …
Blanton Museum of Art
Austin, TX
MuseumUT Austin art museum whose Ellsworth Kelly stone chapel floods the floor with shifting colored light …
Briscoe Western Art Museum
San Antonio, TX
MuseumCompact Western art museum on the San Antonio River Walk with a stagecoach, saddles, historic …
Buffalo Museum of Science
Buffalo, NY
ScienceBuffalo science museum with dinosaur skeletons, a mummy, live animal encounters, and a rooftop …
Bullock Texas State History Museum
Austin, TX
MuseumThree floors of Texas history in downtown Austin anchored by a real 1686 shipwreck hull, plus an …
Children's Museum at Saratoga
Saratoga Springs, NY
Indoor-PlaySmall Saratoga Springs children's museum with a pretend-play diner, a fire truck and a toddler area …
Children's Museum Houston
Houston, TX
Indoor-PlayTop-ranked Houston children's museum with a kid-run city, a giant water play zone, an invention lab …
Corning Museum of Glass
Corning, NY
MuseumFinger Lakes museum with live molten glassblowing shows, make-your-own-glass sessions, and 3500 …
Cradle of Aviation Museum
Garden City, NY
MuseumLong Island aviation and space museum with seventy-plus aircraft, a real Apollo Lunar Module, flight …
Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas, TX
MuseumFree-admission art museum in the Dallas Arts District with a hands-on kids studio, Egyptian …
Dia Beacon
Beacon, NY
MuseumVast daylit factory in Beacon filled with room-size contemporary art including Richard Serra steel …
Explore & More Children's Museum
Buffalo, NY
Indoor-PlayFour floors of Buffalo-themed play at Canalside with a working model Erie Canal, a mini grocery, a …
Forest Heritage Center Museum
Broken Bow, OK
MuseumFree forestry museum inside Beavers Bend State Park with wall murals, logging tools, and dioramas …
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
Fort Worth, TX
ScienceFort Worth science museum with a toddler wing, a dinosaur dig pit, water play, a dome theater and …
Frontiers of Flight Museum
Dallas, TX
MuseumHangar museum at Dallas Love Field with thirty-plus aircraft, the Apollo 7 capsule, flight …
Hawaii Children's Discovery Center
Honolulu, HI
Indoor-PlayOahu children's museum in Kakaako with a mini TV studio, a pretend supermarket and a walk-through …
Hawaii State Art Museum
Honolulu, HI
MuseumFree downtown Honolulu museum of contemporary Hawaii art with a hands-on family gallery, activity …
Honolulu Museum of Art
Honolulu, HI
MuseumCourtyard-built Honolulu art museum with a world-class Asian collection, free child admission, and …
Houston Museum of Natural Science
Houston, TX
MuseumHouston natural history museum with action-posed dinosaurs, a walk-in butterfly rainforest, real …
Imiloa Astronomy Center
Hilo, HI
ScienceHilo center pairing Mauna Kea astronomy with Polynesian wayfinding, plus a full-dome planetarium …
Iolani Palace
Honolulu, HI
MuseumThe only royal palace on US soil, with guided tours of the throne room and the upstairs room where …
Kauai Museum
Lihue, HI
MuseumSmall Lihue museum of Kauai history with koa canoes, Niihau shell lei, and a relief map explaining …
Kimbell Art Museum
Fort Worth, TX
MuseumFree permanent collection in a famous Louis Kahn building in Fort Worth, small enough for a one-hour …
LEGOLAND Discovery Center Dallas Fort Worth
Grapevine, TX
Indoor-PlayIndoor LEGO play center at Grapevine Mills with build zones, two rides, a 4D cinema, soft play and a …
Long Island Children's Museum
Garden City, NY
Indoor-PlayFourteen hands-on galleries in Garden City with bubbles, a climbing structure, a sound studio, and a …
Mid-Hudson Children's Museum
Poughkeepsie, NY
Indoor-PlayHands-on children's museum on the Poughkeepsie waterfront with circuits, bubbles, water tables, and …
miSci Museum of Innovation and Science
Schenectady, NY
ScienceSchenectady science museum with hands-on electricity exhibits, General Electric history and a …
Mokupapapa Discovery Center
Hilo, HI
MuseumFree NOAA visitor center on Hilo Bay with a 2,500-gallon reef tank and life-size monk seal and …
Museum of Science & Technology (MOST)
Syracuse, NY
ScienceSyracuse science museum with four floors of hands-on exhibits, a simulated cave crawl, a toddler …
Museum of the American Railroad
Frisco, TX
MuseumFrisco rail museum with full-size steam locomotives, a Pullman sleeper and vintage passenger cars …
Museum of the Earth
Ithaca, NY
MuseumIthaca fossil museum walking kids forward through geologic time past a hanging whale skeleton and a …
Museum of the Red River
Idabel, OK
MuseumIdabel museum forty minutes from Broken Bow with a full mounted Acrocanthosaurus and Native American …
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Cooperstown, NY
MuseumThree floors of baseball history in Cooperstown with the Plaque Gallery, game-worn jerseys, and a …
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
Oklahoma City, OK
MuseumOklahoma City Western museum with a full-scale indoor frontier town, a kids cowboy corral, and rodeo …
National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame
Fort Worth, TX
MuseumFort Worth museum of the women of the American West with a bucking bronc ride simulator, rodeo gear, …
National Videogame Museum
Frisco, TX
Indoor-PlayFrisco museum of video game history with a free-play 1980s arcade, playable consoles, and …
New York Hall of Science
Corona, NY
ScienceQueens hands-on science museum with a build-and-test design lab, a room-size interactive ecosystem, …
New York State Museum
Albany, NY
MuseumFree Albany museum with a full-size mastodon, New York habitat dioramas and a working 1890s carousel …
Oklahoma City Museum of Art
Oklahoma City, OK
MuseumOklahoma City art museum built around a fifty-five foot Chihuly glass tower, with weekend family art …
Oklahoma History Center
Oklahoma City, OK
MuseumOklahoma City state history museum with hanging aircraft, a full oil derrick, a Route 66 section and …
Pacific Tsunami Museum
Hilo, HI
MuseumHilo Bayfront museum on the 1946 and 1960 tsunamis with survivor accounts, photographs and a wave …
Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum
Honolulu, HI
MuseumRestored seaplane hangars on Ford Island still bullet-scarred from 1941, holding a Japanese Zero, a …
Perot Museum of Nature and Science
Dallas, TX
ScienceFive floors of hands-on science in downtown Dallas with dinosaur skeletons, an earthquake simulator, …
Rochester Museum & Science Center
Rochester, NY
ScienceRochester science museum with three hands-on floors plus the Strasenburgh Planetarium's dome star …
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
Norman, OK
MuseumNorman natural history museum with a record-holding Pentaceratops skull, an Apatosaurus mount, and a …
San Antonio Museum of Art
San Antonio, TX
MuseumArt museum in a castle-like former brewery on San Antonio's Museum Reach, holding mummies, Roman …
Science Museum Oklahoma
Oklahoma City, OK
ScienceHuge Oklahoma City science museum with a high-wire bike, tinkering garage, planetarium, and daily …
Sciencenter
Ithaca, NY
ScienceIthaca hands-on science museum with a walk-in kaleidoscope, a two-story ball machine, live animals …
Space Center Houston
Houston, TX
ScienceNASA's Houston visitor center with a tram to real Mission Control, a walk-through shuttle, moon …
The Health Museum
Houston, TX
ScienceHouston museum of the human body with a walk-through giant heart, a climb-in brain and a simulated …
The Strong National Museum of Play
Rochester, NY
Indoor-PlayEnormous Rochester museum of play with a Sesame Street set, classic arcade, butterfly garden, …
Thinkery
Austin, TX
ScienceAustin children's museum built for hands-on play, with water tables, a light and shadow lab, a maker …
USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park
Honolulu, HI
MuseumWalk end to end inside a real WWII submarine at Pearl Harbor, past stacked bunks, torpedo rooms and …
Witte Museum
San Antonio, TX
MuseumSan Antonio natural history museum with a dinosaur gallery and dig pit, Texas wildlife dioramas and …
Adirondack Experience Museum
Blue Mountain Lake, NY
NatureWorld-class Adirondack history museum with interactive exhibits on Blue Mountain Lake. Paid entry. …
The Wild Center
Tupper Lake, NY
NatureNatural history museum with a treetop Wild Walk and live animal exhibits. Paid entry. Works from …
Frisco Heritage Center
Frisco, TX
PhotographyHistoric buildings and a steam locomotive make this a top portrait photography spot. Free. Works …
Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary
McKinney, TX
NatureInteractive nature museum and 289-acre wildlife sanctuary. Paid entry. Best from about age 3. A …