Jess
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Looking for things to do with kids in Denver? The Scary Mommy Travel Guide was created because there is nobody better to help you survive traveling to a unfamiliar destination than a mom who lives there. Read the ever growing guide here, or submit your own hometown!
1. Heritage Square is toddler amusement park with paddle boats, bumper cars, fair style food, candy shops and wooden toy shops and much more. Set up like an old west town, Heritage Square also hosts holiday events, so check out their schedule before you go!
2. Littleton History Museum. A ’living’ farm with sheep, cows, mules, blacksmith, schoolhouse and more. Best of all, it’s free! Located 15 minutes from Downtown Denver this volunteer run museum feels like stepping back in time. Talk to the farm workers, schoolhouse teacher, blacksmith, homemakers to learn more about times of the past. Holiday events are held here through the year.
3. Red Rocks Amphitheater/National Park. Nestled in the foothills West of Denver, this concert venue sits within jutting red rocks. Known worldwide for its acoustic projection, visiting Red Rocks during off-concert times is fun, kids (and adults) can play on the stage, hike around the rocks, visit the visitors center and learn more about the area.
4. The Butterfly Pavilion. Get up close and personal with live bugs and butterflies. Walk into a huge atrium with free flying butterflies, or wander around the (not free crawling) creepy crawly exhibits. You can even hold Rosie the tarantula. Eeeek! (20 minutes north of Denver.)
5. Casa Bonita. A Mexican themed restaurant with cliff divers, puppet shows, arcade, all around kid craziness. Not the best food in town, but what it lacks in that department it makes up for in over the top entertainment and overall ‘fun’ stuff for kids of all ages.
6. Dinosaur Ridge. An outdoor museum where important dinosaur discoveries were made in the late 1800′s. See Stegosaurus bones, Iguanodon tracks and ripple marks preserved in this unique outdoor setting. Make sure to stop by the Visitor Center for a guided tour.
7. Downtown Denver Aquarium. The entertainment and dining complex features a public aquarium boasting more than a million gallons of underwater exhibits that highlight fascinating ecosystems around the world. The aquarium houses over 500 species of animals, including an interactive stingray reef touch tank where kids can feed stingrays. There are even tigers to be found (though you can not feed them!)
8. Mile High Flea Market. Your typical flea market, year round. It seems innocent enough, but the vastness of this market calls for a whole day of exploring and fun. Like a giant garage sale, the market also houses permanent vendors, fair foods and amusement rides.
9. Tiny Town. Literally a miniature town that kids can look at/play in, playground and train ride around the park, just 20 minutes outside of Denver into the beautiful mountains.
10. Pike’s Peak Cog Railway. For the train lovers, or for the scenic mountain view lovers, the worlds highest cog railway runs year-round. This is a whole-day trip, located a little over an hour south of Denver near Colorado Springs. The rail is about 4 miles, and takes 3+ hours. The beautiful views make it well worth it.
Got any Denver tips of your own? Leave them in the comments!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Just went to Denver in August and have been to many of these spots! We stumbled upon Heritage Square in search of an Alpine Slide – which is a blast – and I have mixed feelings about it. Maybe it was the time of year, but it was mostly closed up. Many, many empty store fronts, etc. And the one ice cream place had only two employees who, even with a short line, managed to turn getting an ice cream cone into a 30 minute ordeal. I kid you not. Also, they now hold church services in a large building on the property – interesting, to be sure.
And I had to chuckle at your comment about Denver natives being hard to find. I know that many, many residents are from the Chicago area (which is where I am from), including my brother. But what can we say – if you grow up in the FLAT midwest, you come to mountainous Colorado and never want to leave!!
I am a Littleton “native” (now living in Tokyo). The Children’s museum is great too. It is right next door to the aquarium. A little on the pricey side but it has something for everyone, baby room and toddler room on the first floor, fire truck where kids can dress up like fireman and play on it, upstairs they have a recycled materials workshop, science room, craft and art room, “supermarket” with toy foods, shopping cars, registers, etc., dance theater with costumes (my daughter’s favorite), etc. In Colorado Springs, Fargo’s Pizza is one of our favorites, but if you have toddlers be very careful about the 2nd floor, our son nearly gave me a heart attack when he slipped his body right through the railings and nearly fell from the 2nd floor!
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