Summer break’s start means the search is on for parents and caregivers to find engaging activities for kids. And if the neighborhood pool starts to lose its luster, consider these cut-above-the-rest museums, nature centers, and theaters, which are guaranteed to pique everyone’s interest.
For aspiring creatives
ImaginOn: The Joe & Joan Martin Center
Charlotte, North Carolina
To Adam Burke, artistic director of the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, it’s hard to express how cool ImaginOn is. “People don’t get it until they come here, until they see it, until they experience what it is,” he says. Here, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library flagship branch and the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte come together under one roof to bring literature to life, from canonical titles (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) to under-the-radar classics (Esperanza Rising). Purchase tickets to a show or spend the day enjoying free fun in the Spangler Library for Children, the preteen space, or the teen space. Over the summer, ImaginOn also hosts a traveling exhibit from a children’s museum. “I see adults even lighting up because they’re with their children, there are manipulatives out on the floor, there are lights flashing. Their smiles are just as bright as their children or the children they brought to the exhibit,” says Garrette Smith, regional manager of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library at ImaginOn.
Atlanta, Georgia
“Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?” It turns out, you don’t have to look further than Midtown Atlanta, where a beloved museum and theater celebrates performers of the stringed, sock, and shadow variety. Visitors can attend a show to experience the art in action (think Harold and the Purple Crayon, Pete the Cat, and even adult-only productions like The Ghastly Dreadfuls), then explore the Worlds of Puppetry Museum, home to the Global Gallery and the Jim Henson Collection. Wave to Kermit in his director’s chair, browse original props from productions like Fraggle Rock and The Muppet Show, and read up on Henson’s creative process.
For scientists in training
Columbia, South Carolina
Plenty of children’s museums offer exhibits on human anatomy, but Columbia’s EdVenture takes this concept to the next level with the help of a forty-foot-tall teaching tool. Eddie is a towering sculpture of a ten-year-old, hollowed out for visitors to explore. Enter using the stairs behind Eddie and go inside his brain, heart, and stomach, a journey that feels like a nostalgic nod to Joanna Cole’s The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body. Seven labs throughout the building—like the Tinker Tech Lab, A-Ha! Maker Space, and Tesla Theater, where a musical Tesla coil generates lightning—also offer special programs.
Coconut Creek, Florida
Billed as the world’s biggest butterfly park, this South Florida facility is home to approximately 20,000 butterflies, plus birds and other bugs. Meander through botanical gardens and across a suspension bridge, then take in the aviaries, a simulated tropical rainforest, and the Butterfly Museum and Bug Zoo. Visitors can even purchase nectar to feed vibrant lorikeets. Beyond the attractions, Butterfly World is a research center and laboratory, having raised over a million butterflies on site.
Durham, North Carolina
Situated on eighty-four acres just north of downtown Durham, the Museum of Life and Science is a must-see for families on a sunny day. Indoor exhibits like Aerospace (which boasts Apollo-era space artifacts) or the Launch Lab (with wind tables and paper airplane launchers to demonstrate gravity and flight) act as hands-on classrooms. But outside, the property becomes magical. Visitors can explore Hideaway Woods with its Treehouse Village and a babbling stream for wading; embark on the Dinosaur Trail, which is dotted with to-scale dinos; and get a closer look at lemurs and tortoises. Make sure to say hello to Martha and Oka, the museum’s pair of resident red wolves, a critically endangered species only found in the wilds of the Tar Heel State.
For adventure lovers
Lynchburg, Virginia
At this downtown Lynchburg institution, an indoor climbing structure known as Amazement Tower connects the building’s four floors, allowing kids to navigate between them via ladders, tunnels, slides, and even a zipline. If you successfully direct your child away from the Tower, there are ten permanent exhibits and a rotating gallery to check out; “On the James” lets kids try their hand at steering a miniature batteau boat through canals, while the Emmy Lou Thomson Big Red Barn houses livestock and crop replicas for pretend play. Amazement Square is also Virginia’s only museum to become a Certified Autism Center.
Washington, D.C.
Impressing your preteen or teen with a family outing is not an easy task. Fortunately, the target audience for the International Spy Museum—the largest publicly displayed collection of espionage artifacts—is middle and high school students. “I always tell families of teens, ‘You will be the cool parent or caregiver if you bring your kiddos here,’” says Lucy Stirn, the museum’s director of youth education. While that’s debatable, a shoe with a concealed microphone or a camera for a spying pigeon is likely to capture anyone’s attention. Included with purchase of a ticket is Undercover Mission, an interactive experience woven into the permanent exhibits, during which visitors can choose a cover identity, get in disguise, and even build a gadget. Admission for children ages six and below is free, and the Top Secret Family Guide helps parents of younger participants navigate around sensitive content.
