KidPaths

17 results for “free kids activities” in Phoenix

Arizona Museum of Natural History

Arizona Museum of Natural History

4.7(5,257)

Ages: Roughly 3 through 11, with the peak at 4 to 9. This is the rare museum that works hard for preschoolers and elementary kids at the same time. Toddlers who can walk are carried by Dinosaur Mountain alone, where animatronic dinosaurs move and roar and a three story indoor waterfall lets loose a flash flood every 20 minutes, and by the Paleo Dig Pit, where they can dig for fossils and dinosaur eggs without needing to read a single label. Elementary kids add the DinoZone with its tunnels and slides, the gold panning stream, the simulated mine and the original Mesa jail cells. Tweens still enjoy it, particularly the dig pit and the mine, though a twelve year old will move faster than a six year old. Teens generally age out unless they are along with younger siblings. Very young babies are welcome but will not get much beyond the noise, which can be loud during a flash flood.

IndoorStroller-FriendlyRainy Day
Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum

Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum

4.8(1,173)

Ages: Roughly 5 through the teen years, which is a wide and unusually durable range. Age 5 is a natural starting point because that is where paid admission begins, and it is also about when a child can look at a bomber and understand that people actually flew it. Kids in the 6 to 12 band get the most out of it, because the museum lets you climb aboard the bombers and cargo planes rather than roping them off, and standing inside a fuselage is a completely different experience from looking at one. Teens who are into history, engineering or aviation often outlast their parents here, especially in the maintenance hangar where mechanics work on the flying aircraft in view of visitors. Toddlers and babies are the weak fit: hangar floors, moving equipment and steep boarding ladders are not built for them, and there is nothing to occupy a two year old between planes.

Indoor/OutdoorRainy Day
Arizona Capitol MuseumFree

Arizona Capitol Museum

4.5(1,729)

Ages: Roughly 8 and up. This is a history museum inside a working government complex, built on reading, looking and listening rather than touching and climbing, so the payoff scales directly with a child's ability to engage with a story. Third and fourth graders studying Arizona statehood are the ideal audience, and the museum leans into that with a self-guided map and family activities available at the information desk. Tweens and teens do well, particularly with the current exhibits on Holocaust survivors and on Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, which give older kids something substantial to react to. Younger children are welcome and admission is free for everyone, so there is no financial risk in trying, but expect a five year old to be done in 25 minutes. If you have a mixed-age group, pair this with a park stop rather than treating it as the whole outing.

IndoorStroller-FriendlyRainy Day
Heard Museum

Heard Museum

4.7(5,648)

Ages: Roughly 6 through 17, with the strongest fit from about 8 to 16. The Heard is a serious art and culture museum, not a play space, so the kids who get the most out of it are old enough to look closely and ask questions. Little kids around 6 or 7 do fine because the galleries are bright and open and the courtyards give them somewhere to move between rooms, but they will move fast. Tweens and teens are the real audience here, especially for the galleries that deal with Native boarding schools and contemporary Native artists, which land differently for a kid who is old enough to sit with hard history. Toddlers and babies are welcome and stroller-friendly, but there is very little for them to touch, so a short visit is more realistic than a full one.

Indoor/OutdoorStroller-FriendlyRainy Day