University

The University of Texas art museum, and the reason to bring kids is Ellsworth Kellys Austin, a freestanding stone chapel with colored glass windows that throw shifting color across the floor. Kids walk in and immediately get it without anyone explaining anything. Inside the main building the galleries are manageable in size and there are family guides and art-making activities at the front desk. Free admission days run regularly. Combine it with the Bullock a few blocks away for a full downtown rainy day.

The University of Oklahomas natural history museum in Norman and one of the largest university museums in the world. The Hall of Ancient Life is built around an Apatosaurus mount and a Pentaceratops skull that holds a world record for size, and the scale of the room does the work. A Discovery Room lets younger kids handle fossils, bones and drawers of specimens. Galleries cover Oklahoma ecology, Native American cultures and the states geological history. Two to three hours and easy to reach from Oklahoma City.