Rainy Day Activities for Kids

Houston, TX

Space Center Houston

NASA's Houston visitor center - tram tours across the Johnson campus, a walk-through shuttle, moon rocks and Apollo capsules.

Science
Ages 3+
~5h
Paid

Austin, TX

Austin Aquarium

Hands-on north Austin aquarium where kids feed stingrays, touch sea stars in shallow pools and walk into a bird aviary with nectar cups.

Aquarium
Ages 2+
~2h
Paid

Bastrop, TX

Bastrop State Park Cabins

Historic 1930s CCC stone cabins among the Lost Pines east of Austin, among the hardest reservations in the Texas park system

Lodging
Ages 1+
Overnight
Paid

Burnet, TX

Longhorn Cavern State Park

Kid-friendly guided cave tour near Burnet TX - walk a mile through cathedral-sized underground rooms formed by an ancient river, great for ages 4+

Nature
Ages 4+
~2h
Paid

Cedar Hill, TX

Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center

Shaded canyon trails with a nature play area for kids. Free. Best from about age 3. About two hours. Moderate effort.

Hiking
Ages 3+
~2h
Free

Colleyville, TX

Colleyville Nature Center

Nature trails and playscape perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. Free. Works from toddler age. About an hour. Stroller-friendly.

Nature
Ages 2+
~1h
Free

Fort Worth, TX

National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame

Fort Worth museum of the women of the American West with a bucking bronc ride simulator, rodeo gear, saddles and Wild West costumes.

Museum
Ages 4+
~2h
Paid

Frisco, TX

National Videogame Museum

Frisco museum of video game history with a free-play 1980s arcade, playable consoles, and decade-by-decade living rooms.

Indoor Play
Ages 5+
~2h
Paid

Houston, TX

Downtown Aquarium Houston

Downtown Houston aquarium with a shark tunnel, swamp alligators and white tigers, plus a small ride midway and Ferris wheel outside.

Aquarium
Ages 2+
~3h
Paid

San Antonio, TX

SEA LIFE San Antonio Aquarium

Small River Walk aquarium in San Antonio with a walk-through ray and shark tunnel plus supervised touch pools, about an hour end to end.

Aquarium
Ages 1+
~1h
Paid

San Antonio, TX

San Antonio Museum of Art

Art museum in a castle-like former brewery on San Antonio's Museum Reach, holding mummies, Roman glass and Latin American folk art.

Museum
Ages 4+
~2h
Paid

Seagoville, TX

John Bunker Sands Wetland Center

Boardwalk trails over marshes with interactive nature center. Paid entry. Best from about age 3. About two hours. Stroller-friendly.

Nature
Ages 3+
~2h
Paid

Tupper Lake, NY

The Wild Center

Natural history museum with a treetop Wild Walk and live animal exhibits. Paid entry. Works from toddler age. A half-day trip.

Nature
Ages 2+
~3h
Paid

Albany, NY

Albany Institute of History & Art

Small Albany museum with two ancient Egyptian mummies, Hudson River School landscapes and drop-in family art workshops on weekends.

Museum
Ages 4+
~2h
Paid

Albany, NY

New York State Museum

Free Albany museum with a full-size mastodon, New York habitat dioramas and a working 1890s carousel running rides on the top floor.

Museum
Ages 2+
~3h
Free

Beacon, NY

Dia Beacon

Vast daylit factory in Beacon filled with room-size contemporary art including Richard Serra steel spirals kids walk inside.

Museum
Ages 5+
~2h
Paid

Blue Mountain Lake, NY

Adirondack Experience Museum

World-class Adirondack history museum with interactive exhibits on Blue Mountain Lake. Paid entry. Best from about age 3.

Nature
Ages 3+
~4h
Paid

Buffalo, NY

Buffalo Museum of Science

Buffalo science museum with dinosaur skeletons, a mummy, live animal encounters, and a rooftop observatory for night sky viewing.

Science
Ages 2+
~3h
Paid

Corona, NY

New York Hall of Science

Queens hands-on science museum with a build-and-test design lab, a room-size interactive ecosystem, and a preschool zone.

Science
Ages 2+
~4h
Paid

Fineview, NY

Wellesley Island State Park

Island park in the Thousand Islands with nature center, beach, and 430-site campground. Paid entry. Works from toddler age.

Nature
Ages 2+
~4h
Paid

Garden City, NY

Cradle of Aviation Museum

Long Island aviation and space museum with seventy-plus aircraft, a real Apollo Lunar Module, flight simulators and a dome theater.

Museum
Ages 3+
~3h
Paid

Ithaca, NY

Museum of the Earth

Ithaca fossil museum walking kids forward through geologic time past a hanging whale skeleton and a mastodon found in the Finger Lakes.

Museum
Ages 3+
~2h
Paid

Ithaca, NY

Sciencenter

Ithaca hands-on science museum with a walk-in kaleidoscope, a two-story ball machine, live animals and a soft corner for the under-fives.

Science
Ages 1+
~3h
Paid

Syracuse, NY

Museum of Science & Technology (MOST)

Syracuse science museum with four floors of hands-on exhibits, a simulated cave crawl, a toddler area and a domed IMAX theater.

Science
Ages 2+
~3h
Paid

Hana, HI

Wai'anapanapa State Park Cabins

Simple state park housekeeping cabins at the Hana black sand beach, one of the few affordable ways to actually sleep past the Hana road

Lodging
Ages 2+
Overnight
Paid

Hilo, HI

Imiloa Astronomy Center

Hilo center pairing Mauna Kea astronomy with Polynesian wayfinding, plus a full-dome planetarium running daily star shows.

Science
Ages 4+
~3h
Paid

Hilo, HI

Mokupapapa Discovery Center

Free NOAA visitor center on Hilo Bay with a 2,500-gallon reef tank and life-size monk seal and albatross models hanging overhead.

Museum
Ages 2+
~1h
Free

Hilo, HI

Pacific Tsunami Museum

Hilo Bayfront museum on the 1946 and 1960 tsunamis with survivor accounts, photographs and a wave tank showing how they form.

Museum
Ages 7+
~1h
Paid

Honokaa, HI

Kalopa State Recreation Area Cabins

Group cabins and tent camping in cool misty native ohia forest above the Hamakua Coast, a half hour from the Waipio Valley Lookout

Lodging
Ages 3+
Overnight
Paid

Honolulu, HI

Battleship Missouri Memorial

Walk the deck and interior of the battleship where WWII ended, from the surrender plaque to the bridge and sixteen-inch gun turrets.

Museum
Ages 5+
~3h
Paid

Honolulu, HI

Bishop Museum

Honolulu's state museum of Hawaiian history with a walk-through erupting volcano, planetarium, and koa-wood Hawaiian Hall.

Museum
Ages 3+
~3h
Paid

Honolulu, HI

Honolulu Museum of Art

Courtyard-built Honolulu art museum with a world-class Asian collection, free child admission, and weekend family art days.

Museum
Ages 4+
~2h
Paid

Honolulu, HI

Iolani Palace

The only royal palace on US soil, with guided tours of the throne room and the upstairs room where Queen Liliuokalani was imprisoned.

Museum
Ages 5+
~2h
Paid

Honolulu, HI

Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum

Restored seaplane hangars on Ford Island still bullet-scarred from 1941, holding a Japanese Zero, a B-25 and flight simulators.

Museum
Ages 5+
~3h
Paid

Laie, HI

Polynesian Cultural Center

Interactive Pacific Island cultural park with hands-on activities and evening luau. Paid entry. Best from about age 3. Easily a full day.

Nature
Ages 3+
~8h
Paid

Lihue, HI

Kauai Museum

Small Lihue museum of Kauai history with koa canoes, Niihau shell lei, and a relief map explaining the island's interior.

Museum
Ages 5+
~1h
Paid

Broken Bow, OK

Beavers Bend State Park Cabins

Rustic and modern state park cabins in the pines at Beavers Bend, minutes from Broken Bow Lake and the Mountain Fork River

Lodging
Ages 1+
Overnight
Paid

Broken Bow, OK

Broken Bow Treehouse and Glamping Stays

Treehouses, A-frames, geodesic domes and canvas glamping tents scattered through the woods around Hochatown and Broken Bow Lake

Lodging
Ages 4+
Overnight
Paid

Broken Bow, OK

Forest Heritage Center Museum

Free forestry museum inside Beavers Bend State Park with wall murals, logging tools, and dioramas for a rained-out cabin day.

Museum
Ages 3+
~1h
Free

Broken Bow, OK

Hochatown Cabin Rentals

The private cabin market around Hochatown and Beavers Bend, where hot tubs, bunk rooms, game rooms and fire pits are the family standard

Lodging
Ages 1+
Overnight
Paid

Idabel, OK

Museum of the Red River

Idabel museum forty minutes from Broken Bow with a full mounted Acrocanthosaurus and Native American art of the Americas.

Museum
Ages 4+
~2h
Free

Norman, OK

Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History

Norman natural history museum with a record-holding Pentaceratops skull, an Apatosaurus mount, and a hands-on discovery room.

Museum
Ages 2+
~3h
Paid

Oklahoma City, OK

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum

Oklahoma City Western museum with a full-scale indoor frontier town, a kids cowboy corral, and rodeo and Native American galleries.

Museum
Ages 4+
~3h
Paid

Oklahoma City, OK

Oklahoma City Museum of Art

Oklahoma City art museum built around a fifty-five foot Chihuly glass tower, with weekend family art studios and a film theater.

Museum
Ages 4+
~2h
Paid

Oklahoma City, OK

Oklahoma History Center

Oklahoma City state history museum with hanging aircraft, a full oil derrick, a Route 66 section and a hard-hitting Dust Bowl gallery.

Museum
Ages 5+
~3h
Paid

Oklahoma City, OK

Science Museum Oklahoma

Huge Oklahoma City science museum with a high-wire bike, tinkering garage, planetarium, and daily explosive demonstrations.

Science
Ages 2+
~5h
Paid

Tulsa, OK

Discovery Lab

Tulsa children's museum by the Arkansas River with a maker space, water channels, a climbing structure and a crawler-friendly zone.

Indoor Play
Ages 1+
~3h
Paid

Merritt Island, FL

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

Stand under a real Saturn V, walk through the Atlantis shuttle exhibit, and meet an astronaut - a full day, and worth it.

Science
Ages 4+
~8h
Paid

Clearwater, FL

Clearwater Marine Aquarium

A working rescue hospital rather than a display aquarium - the dolphins, turtles and otters here are patients, and you watch them recover.

Aquarium
Ages 2+
~4h
Paid

St. Thomas, VI

Coral World Ocean Park

An undersea observatory tower sunk into a living reef so you look out at wild fish, plus turtle and shark pools and sea lion encounters.

Aquarium
Ages 2+
~4h
Paid