Top Things to Do with Kids in Philadelphia

Housed in Fairmount Park’s Memorial Hall, the Please Touch Museum is a heaven-on-earth-for-kids attraction, offering two full floors of interactive exhibit zones, plus a fully restored century-old carousel. Kids can play and pretend amid Fairytale Garden, River Adventures and other hands-on fun.

The region’s most popular science museum, The Franklin Institute has a full city block of kid-friendly exhibitions, including the iconic walk-through The Giant Heart, Space, SportsZone, Sir Isaac’s Loft, Amazing Machine, Electricity, Train Factory and Changing Earth. The museum’s 53,000-square-foot Nicholas and Athena Karabots Pavilion features the 8,500-square-foot exhibit Your Brain, along with rotating special exhibitions. The attraction also houses the Fels Planetarium.

America’s first zoo and a foremost conservation organization, the Philadelphia Zoo is home to nearly 1,300 animals, many rare and endangered. The attraction has a first-in-the-world animal travel and exploration train system, Zoo360, enabling primates and big cats to move above and across the main visitor pathway. Exhibits include Big Cat Falls, McNeil Avian Center, PECO Primate Reserve and KidZooU, an interactive wildlife academy of dynamic displays, rare breeds and indoor-outdoor learning.

One of William Penn’s five original squares, Franklin Square is a modern, fun park, with a Philly-themed miniature golf course, playground, carousel and restored marble fountain. When hunger sets in, seasonal SquareBurger delivers with burgers, fries and Cake Shakes (trust us). Summer brings the Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival, while the holidays feature Winter in Franklin Square programming and its Electrical Spectacle Light Show.

Two million gallons of water and 15,000 aquatic animals can’t help but impress. Just across the river in Camden, New Jersey, Adventure Aquarium has a Shark Bridge to cross; hippos and penguins to meet (and smell); stingrays to feed; and horseshoe crabs, starfish and sharks to actually touch. The biggest wow here: Ocean Realm, a 760,000-gallon tank of sea turtles, stingrays, schooling fish and sharks, including an impressive seven-foot Great Hammerhead.

The Americas’ oldest natural history museum, The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University keeps it fresh with Dinosaur Hall, complete with a fossil preparation lab and dig site; Outside In, where kids can meet and interact with the Academy’s living animal ambassadors; historic dioramas and visiting exhibits.

Big Bird, Elmo, Abby, Julia and more stars of Sesame Street come and play at Sesame Place — one of only two parks in the nation based entirely on the long-running children’s television show. Amusement park rides, interactive and educational games, parades, fireworks and character shows add to the sunny day fun, which includes a water park with two new attractions for 2023: Bert & Ernie’s Splashy Shores and Big Bird’s Beach. The park is seasonal spring to fall (water park open Memorial Day through Labor Day), plus special Halloween and Christmas programming.

A 33,000-square-foot plastic-brick paradise, LEGOLAND Discovery Center features a LEGO-themed ride, a LEGO race track to build and race your own cars, a 4D cinema and 10 play areas, including a DUPLO Park for the toddler set. An onsite cafe and store ensure everybody walks away satisfied.

Kids can play their way through a half-dozen explore-able exhibits at The Bucks County Children’s Museum, many of which offer insight into the county’s long history. Play area themes include The Hospital, Town Square, Factory Works, Big Dig, Bucks County Country and Airways to Waterways.

Opened in 1924, the 16-acre Elmwood Park Zoo showcases an animal collection of more than 100 species indigenous to the Americas, as well as African fruit bats and Asian red pandas. Many of the animals — the American bison, peregrine falcon, bald eagle, red panda and American alligator — represent significant wildlife conservation success stories. The zoo also includes a spacious playground featuring interactive animal sculptures.

Just south of the city, Linvilla Orchards is a 300-acre family farm dedicated to agriculture, education and entertainment. Families can explore the Garden Center, pick their own seasonal fruit, hop on a hayride, visit with barnyard animals and buy freshly baked pies to take home.

Pierre S. du Pont’s Longwood Gardens is a famed horticultural destination which inspires kids with an imaginative, child-size space filled with hands-on water features, handcrafted sculptures and secret stairways — all part of the Indoor Children’s Garden in the Conservatory District. For warm weather fun, the Outdoor Children’s Garden offers a splashy Flower Fountain and plenty of seating for adults.

Across 92 acres of sprawling gardens and natural areas, Morris Arboretum & Gardens uses education and imagination to reveal a collaborative relationship with nature through lively exhibits for the whole family. The Garden Railway (running on select dates throughout the year) features a miniature world of trains, bridges and small-scale buildings made of natural materials on a quarter-mile track. The Treetop Canopy Walk exhibition puts visitors 50 feet into the trees for a bird’s-eye view of the forest and includes a larger-than-life Bird’s Nest, and Squirrel Scramble, an expansive hammock-like net which kids can scamper through.

Hundred-year-old Shady Brook Farm in Bucks County (just north of Philadelphia) is a real working farm and home to a fresh market, garden center and plenty of pick-your-own opportunities. Seasonal festivals focus on what’s currently growing and feature hayrides, games and activities for the kids. Parents can enjoy a beer or cocktail and live entertainment at the on-site Stone’s Throw pub. Come wintertime, don’t miss the Holiday Light Show Drive Through Experience with millions of lights illuminating acres of farmland and bonfire with hot cocoa and s’mores for purchase.

Open seasonally (typically summer and winter)

Independence Blue Cross RiverRink brings ice skating in the winter (Winterfest) and roller skating in the summer (Summerfest) to the Delaware River waterfront. Wintertime features special pop-up fire pits, indoor games, cozy couches and hot drinks while summer brings air conditioning, rocking chairs on a wrap-around porch, cool drinks, carnival rides (including a 60-foot Ferris wheel!) and games for the whole family.

Offering parents the best of both worlds, the indoor-outdoor open-concept Craft Hall features a stellar menu of barbecue and pub grub, a selection of craft beers for the grownups, and plenty to keep the little ones happy. With Mainstay Independent Brewing Company located inside, the space — named a Best of Philly Bar for Parents — is explicitly family-friendly until 9 p.m. each day (when all patrons must be 21-plus.) While adults sip and mingle, kids can play in an indoor, pirate-themed playground or game room with Nintendo, shuffleboard, skeeball and more. There’s even a beer garden/dog park for the furry kiddos.

City Hall’s fantastic front yard has a retro-themed roller rink and tree-lined fountains (splashing encouraged) in warm weather, and an ice-skating rink with a ski chalet vibe in winter. Dilworth Park’s year-round pop-up concerts, fitness events, festivals, a cozy cafe and great access to public transit have activated the very center of Center City.

Bucks County’s all-in-one play-shop-and-dine destination Peddler’s Village treats kids to Giggleberry Fair, a carnival-style family fun center with a restored 1922 Philadelphia Toboggan Company Grand Carousel; Giggleberry Mountain, the area’s largest indoor obstacle course; Giggles Discovers, an interactive exploration environment; and the Game Room.

Looking for a playground? A tennis court? Maybe a spray park or pool? The athletic facilities and green spaces of Philadelphia’s Department of Parks & Recreation offer all of those things — and more! — at facilities in every section of the city. Use the department’s Activity Finder tool to find fields, courts, classes and other awesome kid-friendly services available to visitors and locals. Search by type of activity, zero in on any city section on the map and start having fun.

Water-loving kiddos and their families frequent Sister Cities Park, a  warm-day paradise with a pebble-bottom wading pool sheltered by a landscaped hill, along with 10 spouting fountains. The park boasts kid-friendly programming from top museums and attractions, the nature-in-the-city Children’s Discovery Garden, a cafe, and a kiosk selling plastic boats, swim diapers, sunscreen and other essentials during the summer months.

One of the oldest playgrounds in America, Smith Memorial Playground is best known for the circa-1899 Ann Newman Giant Wooden Slide which, at over 60 feet in length, 12 feet in width and 10 feet high, can accommodate a dozen kids at a time. Beyond the iconic slide, the attraction offers children (ages 10 and under) a free, safe place to play, jump, swing, climb and learn about nature. For children 5 and under, Tot-Lot features more than 20 pieces of age-appropriate play equipment.

Open spring, summer and fall

Lauded as one of the best urban beaches in the world by Jetsetter, Spruce Street Harbor Park is an outdoor oasis on the Delaware River waterfront. With tree-slung hammocks, cargo container arcades and concessions, giant board games, bocce, weekend craft markets, misting palm trees and planted barges (with bars for the grownups), the park has become a warm-weather must-do.

Open spring, summer and fall

The 20-zipline TreeTop Quest Philly are designed for ages 6 and up. Open May through November, the self-guided, two-and-a-half-hour course includes 60 obstacles — swings, jumps, tightropes — across four levels of courses of varying degrees of difficulty.

Spread out over 30,000 square feet in Doylestown’s largest park, the Kids Castle Central Park playground is a year-’round outdoor adventureland for kids 5-12 stretching across four “kingdoms” with treehouses, plastic rock walls, a kid-sized pirate ship and dozens of next-level playground rides and interactive games. The centerpiece of the 100-acre park is the Kids Castle itself, a massive eight-story wooden play structure with labyrinthine passages, drawbridges, overlooks, twisty tube slides and kids’ elevator, protected by a giant friendly plastic dragon.

Kids of all ages can live out their backyard tree fort dreams at Treehouse World Adventure Park in West Chester (directly west of Philly’s Center City). The 14-acre compound features nearly a dozen massive themed treehouses — including a pirate ship, a six-car locomotive, an enchanted village and a giant birthday cake — along with two tiny tot-friendly ziplines (and an aerial zipline tour for kids 12-plus), a giant trampoline, a wooded obstacle course, a small animal farm, and opportunities for rock climbing, ax throwing and bungee jumping.

If your family is always on the go, take a trip to Lower Southampton Township to visit zipline park TreeTrails Adventures. The park offers six aerial trails with more than 50 elements including bridges, netted tunnels and elevated swings. TreeTrails’ main courses are open to adults and kids ages 7 and up, from beginner ziplines 10 to 12 feet in the air to advanced zips over 50 feet high. There’s even a side-by-side 1,000-foot-long zipline racetrack and a KidsTrails spot for the younger set, with lines just two to three feet off the ground for kids ages 4 to 7. Experiences are two hours in length and include guided practice time.

Founded in 1976 (for the nation’s bicentennial), the groundbreaking African American Museum tells stories of notable early African Americans through the core exhibit, Audacious Freedom: African Americans in Philadelphia 1776-1876. Other exhibits examine contemporary issues through art and historic artifacts. Special programs include Family Fun Days (hands-on activities and more every second Saturday) and family-friendly celebrations around Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth.

More than 35 helicopters, autogiros and convertiplanes — some of which are fully accessible — fill this suburban aviation destination. Among the many things to do and see at the American Helicopter Museum & Education Center are a scale model room with over 400 replicas, the Girls in Science and Technology program (offered daily for girls aged 6-12) and the annual FamilyFest each June. Several times a year, guests of all ages have a chance to ride in a working helicopter.

Future emergency responders get a head start at the Fireman’s Hall Museum, a restored 1902 firehouse that’s home to some of the nation’s earliest firefighting equipment, including hand, steam and motor fire engines. Also on-site: a comic strip art-styled exhibit where kids can learn about fire prevention and try on firefighter gear and a gallery of 19th-century stove-top parade hats.

On the edge of the Delaware River, little landlubbers can explore the Cruiser Olympia, which participated in the Spanish-American War, and World War II-era Submarine Becuna, both docked outside the Independence Seaport Museum (for an additional fee). Indoors, kids can visit the Ship Model Shack with over 50 ship models and the Seaport Boat Shop live shipbuilding workshop. In the summer months, families can also rent kayaks or museum-built rowboats to explore the calm waters of the basin.

Offering free admission to children under age 5 and discounts to older kids, the Museum of the American Revolution, located in the Historic District, delves into the conflict that created the United States of America. Join the Continental Army or board the deck of a privateer ship. And don’t miss the interactive Revolution Place, a discovery center made especially for ages 5 to 12 that recreates 18th-century Old City via a military encampment, a tavern, a home and a meetinghouse (Saturdays and Sunday).

America’s first and only museum dedicated to the U.S. Constitution, the National Constitution Center includes interactive exhibits; the powerful, multimedia Freedom Rising performance; Signers’ Hall, filled with life-sized statues of the signers of the U.S. Constitution; and house-curated exhibitions. Special family-friendly programs take place throughout the year on civic holidays, including Constitution Day, Presidents Day, Veterans Day, Tax Day, Earth Day and more.

A robust calendar of kid-friendly programming awaits at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the crown jewel of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The museum offers themed guides for kids, family programming throughout the year, and pay-what-you-wish admission on the first Sunday of every month and every Friday after 5 p.m. The best part: Admission is always free for kids 18 and under. Don’t forget your sneakers for a family run up the Rocky Steps.

Dr. Fred Simeone’s impressive collection of racing sports cars — including machines from Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, Aston Martin, Corvette and more — led to the creation of the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum, perfect for gearheads of all ages. The extensive collection features over 75 historic (and just plan cool) rides. Staff members regularly take cars from its collection outside for a spin during scheduled demonstration days.

The Liberty Bell Center and Independence Hall are two of the 25-plus attractions that make up America’s most historic square mile in Independence National Historical Park. The National Park Service’s Junior Ranger program gives kids a chance to earn a special badge sticker and certificate during their visit by attending at least one ranger program and completing five activities in the Junior Ranger Activity Booklet. Interested families with kids 8 to 12 can pick up a booklet from the Independence Visitor Center on the day of their visit. Got the Ranger bug? You can find more challenges at the nearby Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial and the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site.

Nautically inclined kids can visit the nation’s most decorated battleship, docked just across the Delaware River on the Camden waterfront. The Battleship New Jersey offers self-guided tours of its seven levels and half-century of service, with experts available to answer questions in the Captain’s Quarters and Combat Engagement Center. (Guided tours can also be scheduled.) Groups can spend a night aboard with on opportunity to fire saluting guns and sleep in sailor’s bunks during the award-winning Overnight Encampment program. Preschoolers can visit Jason’s Kids Kompartment, a safe play area with a kid-sized boat to captain, games, coloring books and more.

At the Betsy Ross House, America’s most famous flag maker greets guests in her interactive 18th-century upholstery shop. Visitors learn about Betsy’s life, work and legend from the upholsterer herself. Tours are available either self-guided or with an audio guide, appropriate for kids as young as 6, offering lessons in colonial life and the opportunity to solve “history mysteries.”

Available in summer

In Philadelphia’s Historic District, Once Upon A Nation storytelling benches feature free tales and secret stories told by professional (and often costumed) storytellers at a half-dozen locations from the Independence Visitor Center to Franklin Square. Learn fascinating details about some of our nation’s earliest “celebrity” citizens in the places where the history actually happened.

Offering a lighthearted break from the more serious historical sites in Old City and Philadelphia’s Historical District, the Museum of Illusions features a number of Instagrammable exhibits meant to trick the eye. Visitors to this good-for-the-whole-family spot typically spend about an hour among the installations and “Illusion Rooms,” interacting with the space’s holograms, stereograms and optical illusions, all the while learning about vision, perception and the human brain.

Mosaics bloom at this fantasy-like art showplace on South Street, presenting and preserving the work of Philly-based artist Isaiah Zagar. Visitors can take a tour (guided or self-discovery) and snap a few selfies in a wonderland of concrete-sealed mosaics constructed from bicycle spokes, bottles and other knick-knacks. On the second Sunday of each month, the eccentric space hosts PECO Family Jams — afternoons dedicated to family-oriented programs and craft-making opportunities.