Top 20 Places To Take Kids In and Around Hartford
2024's Top 20 Places to Take Hartford Kids, as voted by KidsOutAndAbout.com readers! Our Top 20 results page includes a list of your top picks, including winners in special categories like Favorite Arts Educator, Favorite Sports Educator, and Favorite STEM Educator! Use this list as your starting point, then browse our calendar, sign up for our weekly e-newsletter list of things to do, and be sure to visit our Everything Free page! (Click here for the full list of nominees.)
2024's Top 20 ranking + category winners! Scroll down for more about each venue, with links!
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1. Connecticut Science Center
With 165 interactive exhibits, the Connecticut Science Center provides fun exploration of physics, forensics, geology, astronomy and much more! During your visit, you can also explore Live science demonstrations, experience our tropical Butterfly Encounter or watch a movie in our 3D theater.
2. Romp n' Roll Wethersfield
Romp n’ Roll Wethersfield offers a wide variety of fun and educational gym, art, and music classes for children 3 months through 5 years old. We offer Camps, Kids Night Out, and the best Birthday Parties in the area!
3. Mystic Aquarium
Mystic Aquarium has more than 300 species and an extensive collection of marine mammals, including New England’s only beluga whales. Mystic Aquarium has been a pioneer in offering guests a variety of up close encounters with a wide range of marine animals. Mystic Aquarium held the #2 position last year, too!
4. Kidcity Children's Museum
Kidcity is a children's museum with three floors of imagination play, where kids ages 1 to 7 play pretend with their favorite grown-ups. Our exhibits are handmade and one-of-a-kind, built by in-house artists who love inspiring playfulness in visitors of all ages. A museum is usually a place for looking, but a children's museum is a place for doing! Each of our hands-on exhibits will jumpstart your child's imagination...and yours too. We believe imagination is a muscle -- you’ve got to use it or you lose it!
5. The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts
The Bushnell, a not-for-profit organization, is renowned for community programs, as well as being a leading educator and advocate of the arts.
6. Hammonasset Beach State Park
Connecticut's largest shoreline beach. Kids can swim in the salt water, collect shells, build a sandcastle, sunbathe, relax, and walk along the 3/4 mile boardwalk, gazing upon Long Island Sound. Launch a carry-in boat, take a canoe trip, or fish from the stone breakwater. Summer activities include nature talks, bingo, movies, horseshoes, bocce and volleyball. The children's play area offers a pirate ship, swings, and slides. Visit Meigs Point Nature Center and experience the hands-on saltwater touch tank or search for the hundreds of bird species present at the park.
7. Billy Beez (Holyoke MA)
Run, jump, bounce, slide and climb your way to an active lifestyle! Experience the fun, family fitness of our ultimate indoor play park, featuring interactive play zones, slides, sports courts, our signature Honey Cafe and so much more! Kids of all ages can join us for a day of play, birthday parties, group outings or community fundraisers. Come see what all the buzzzz is about...
8. My local library
Of course, our local library system is not really ONE place, it is MANY places... but it's important to emphasize how valuable libraries are for family learning and fun. The libraries in our area are wonderful about posting their events to the KidsOutAndAbout calendar so you always can get ideas for free things to do with your kids that celebrate education and imagination. KidsOutAndAbout.com takes this opportunity to salute the wonderful children's librarians who serve our community with such dedication.
9. Hartford Yard Goats
The Hartford Yard Goats are a Minor League Baseball team based in Hartford, Connecticut. The Yard Goats, which play in the Eastern League, are the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. The team was founded in 2016 when the New Britain Rock Cats relocated to Hartford.
10. Lyman Orchards
Lyman Orchards is a family-favorite destination for Pick Your Own, the Apple Barrel Farm Market, CT's best Hi-top apple pie, championship and beginner golf, 1741 Pub & Grill, festivals, events, and much more!
11. Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo
Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo creates wonderfully wild experiences for children and families all year 'round. Connecticut's only zoo, celebrating its 98th anniversary this year, features 300 animals representing primarily North and South American species. Guests won't want to miss our critically endangered Amur tigers and leopards, and Mexican and red wolves. Other highlights include the new Farmyard, Spider monkey habitat, the prairie dog exhibit, plus the Pampas Plains featuring maned wolves, Chacoan peccaries and Giant anteaters. Guests must buy tickets in advance at www.beardsleyzoo.org, and bring and wear a mask. Children under two do not need masks. For more information, visit beardsleyzoo.org.
12. Quassy Amusement & Waterpark
Quassy Amusement Park and Waterpark, located in Middlebury, Connecticut, USA, is celebrating its 115th anniversary this season! Be one of the first to experience its brand new ride for the 2023 season, the Super Himilaya. The Park has over 20 rides on its 20 acres, and Quassy is considered "home to the award-winning Wooden Warrior roller coaster." In addition to a variety of fun-filled classic and newer theme park rides, Quassy also has Splash Away Bay waterpark for the whole family to enjoy with private cabanas available to rent. Quassy specializes in catering private parties for school, churches, camps, sporting events, corporate outings and birthday parties.
13. Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk
The nationally recognized aquarium focuses on the fascinating marine life in Long Island Sound and its watershed, including prowling sharks, curious seals, rambunctious river otters, stately sea turtles, pulsing jellyfish and thousands of other animals. The Aquarium also offers: educational programs, including public study cruises out onto the Sound; changing special exhibits; community-science opportunities; and a new 4D movie theater with sensory-enhancing special effects. The not-for-profit attraction is the centerpiece of the popular South Norwalk (or “SoNo”) neighborhood, with fun shops, nightclubs and restaurants.
14. Lake Compounce
Celebrating its 174th season, Lake Compounce is the Premier Family Theme Park & Water Park in New England and the oldest continuously operating amusement park in North America. What makes us the best amusement park in Connecticut for family-friendly fun and excitement? We're home to the top-rated wooden roller coaster in the world, Boulder Dash, as well as the best water park in Connecticut!
Enjoy our classic rides, thrilling coasters, and several attractions you won't find anywhere else in New England. Lake Compounce is your family's destination for special events, family dining options, and a whole season of fun!
15. Hartford Wolf Pack
Born in the summer of 1997, the Hartford Wolf Pack firmly established itself as one of the premier franchises in the American Hockey League, professional hockey’s top player-development league.
16. Dinosaur State Park
We are one of the largest dinosaur track sites in North America. Beneath our geodesic dome, you will find an exceptional display of early Jurassic fossil tracks that were made 200 million years ago. Surrounding our Exhibit Center are more than two miles of nature trails and the Dinosaur State Park Arboretum, containing more than 250 species and cultivars of conifers, as well as katsuras, ginkgoes, magnolias and other living representatives of plant families which appeared in the Age of Dinosaurs.
17. Amelia Park Children's Museum
APCM provides an enriching environment where children and their families can learn about themselves, their communities, and the world around them. Integrated throughout the museum is a broad range of creative exhibits and imaginative hands-on activities, which foster a climate of learning and exploration. Central to the museum's philosophy is that children can learn through the arts, history, science, and the region's rich environmental and cultural diversity.
18. Brownstone Exploration & Discovery Park
Cool off at Connecticut's #1 Water Park - Zip Lines, Wakeboards, Rock Climb, Rope Swing, Water Slides, Inflatable Water Obstacles, Scuba and Swim.
19. Essex Steam Train and Riverboat
The Essex Steam Train and Riverboat has outdoor adventures for the whole family including train and boat excursions along the Connecticut River, Pirate Adventures, Murder Mysteries, Private Parties, Pumpkin Patch Trains, Elf Academy, North Pole Express, and more! Their mission is to keep alive the rich mechanical, industrial, and transportation heritage of our state through the continual operation of vintage steam and diesel locomotives and passenger coaches. New for 2020: Pedal a Rail-Bike on a round trip adventure over easy terrain with stunning scenery along the CT River! 4, 6 and 9.5 miles excursions are on sale now!
20. Sonny's Place
You won't believe how much fun stuff we have: mini golf, driving range, go karts, batting cages, rock wall, arcade and MORE! Our birthday parties can't be beat and Sonny's Place has more fun for kids than anywhere else!
Winners in Special Categories
In the second part of our survey, we asked readers to select their favorites in several categories. Here are their choices.Top Arts Educator: Arts Center East
Arts Center East is home to a rich artistic community. We value our Artist Members, and we invite you to visit our Artist Members page. We are a place where visual artists from across the state and beyond exhibit and sell their work through juried shows and member exhibits. Unique creations of pottery, jewelry, wood crafts, and other gifts made by local artisans fill our year-round gift shop and annual holiday sale. Musical and theatrical performances delight audiences of all ages, and our classrooms are pulsing with the joy of artistic discovery. We are the heart of the arts east of the river.
Top Sports Educator: Romp n' Roll Wethersfield
Romp n' Roll classes and activities are specifically designed to meet the developmental needs of babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, ages 3 months through 5 years. Rather than focusing solely on the physical activity aspect, like other kids gyms, we incorporate art classes, music classes, movement activities, and imagination into our offerings.Indoor children's gym, art and music facility offering drop-offs, camps and the best birthday parties!
Top STEM Educator: Connecticut Science Center
With 165 interactive exhibits, the Connecticut Science Center provides fun exploration of physics, forensics, geology, astronomy and much more! During your visit, you can also explore Live science demonstrations, experience our tropical Butterfly Encounter or watch a movie in our re-opened 3D theater.
