Colorado is a great place to visit on a family vacation. Even in winter, Colorado has more to offer than just ski slopes and mountain peaks (although these are awesome!). Denver, the Mile High City, has a huge variety of family-friendly activities to enjoy year round. We took our kids on a week-long excursion to Denver in January, and we discovered so many fun places! We explored world-class museums, an aquarium with mermaids and tigers, a tropical butterfly rainforest, and hands-on play spaces our kids still talk about.
This guide combines everything we experienced on our Denver family trip: what our kids loved at each attraction, how long to plan for each stop, and tips to make the most of your visit.
In this guide:
- Denver Museum of Nature & Science
- Children’s Museum of Denver
- Downtown Aquarium
- Butterfly Pavilion (Westminster)
- Denver Zoo
- Tips for Visiting Denver with Kids
- FAQ
Quick Comparison
| Attraction | Best Ages | Time Needed | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Museum of Nature & Science | All ages | Half to full day | Dinosaurs, gems, space + Discovery Zone play |
| Children’s Museum of Denver | 1–8 | Half day | Hands-on role play & climbing |
| Downtown Aquarium | All ages | 2–3 hours | Sea life, mermaid show, tigers |
| Butterfly Pavilion | All ages | 1–2 hours | Walking among butterflies, holding Rosie |
| Denver Zoo | All ages | Half to full day | Classic zoo favorites |
Denver Museum of Nature & Science
When we travel to a new city, we enjoy finding a handful of family-friendly activities to do with our kids. Our young children most enjoy half-day activities that include things to see, interactive activities and a spot to eat lunch. Our visit to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science provided a great selection of exhibits for our kids to explore. Highlights of our visit included the Prehistoric Journey dinosaur and fossil exhibit, the life-like wildlife panoramas and the Gems & Minerals exhibit. We also saw an IMAX show about flight and a Planetarium presentation. You could easily spend 6 to 8 hours exploring the displays and exhibits!
Prehistoric Journey
My tiny little boy was amazed to see the towering T-Rex skeleton that immediately greeted us at the entrance of the museum. We quickly planned our day with the help of a very friendly museum guide and picked up tickets for the IMAX and Planetarium.
The Prehistoric Journey exhibit took us back to the past into a world of dinosaurs and a completely different ecosystem on earth. We enjoyed seeing which creatures lived in each area, as identified by their fossils found by archaeologists. It was also cool to learn that current archaeological work is taking place to uncover and catalog more prehistoric creatures.
3D IMAX Show & the Discovery Zone
Next we saw an IMAX show about flight which gave us an in-depth look at how the ability to fly impacts the lives of dragonflies, sea birds, bats and even some types of amphibians. My kids love watching nature shows at home. The gorgeous, minuscule detail shown in the IMAX cinematography was even cooler in 3D! The IMAX presentations are about 40 minutes long so they are ideal for kids who are old enough to sit through an entire show. The museum always has a variety of IMAX shows scheduled on various topics, and you can purchase IMAX tickets for each scheduled show at the museum’s front desk.
After the IMAX, we grabbed a few drinks at the Coffee Lab and headed over to the kids’ Discovery Zone. This was our kids’ favorite section of the museum. The Discovery Zone features a sensory water play area, archaeology dig play area, dress up corner with insect and butterfly wings, and spots to climb and crawl through a small cave. The whole area is very colorful and interactive. Another room in the kids’ area has tables with matching and building activities, a kids’ digital drawing table, play ice cream station and boxes with large colorful glowing pins kids can use to make light-up designs. My young children had a lot of fun exploring the activities in the museum’s Discovery Zone.
Egyptian Mummies
Another exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science displayed several mummies and facts about Egyptian embalming, traditions and history. It was fun to introduce my young kids to the Egyptian culture and give them a snapshot of ancient history, especially since I’ve personally been to Cairo, Egypt and have seen the pyramids, the Sphinx and visited the Egyptian Antiquities Museum. This informative exhibit included several mummies and their known histories as well as colorful sarcophagus designs and artifacts. Exposing kids to simple history at a young age creates building blocks for the future!
Gems & Minerals
My girls’ favorite exhibit was the Gems & Minerals displays showing a diverse collection of rocks, crystals and mining techniques and locations where gems have been found. My girls mostly looked at all the glittering colors, but each mineral specimen was labeled with facts about its origin and composition. I thought it was absolutely incredible how many different types of rocks and minerals exist in such a gorgeous variety of colors, textures and shapes. My girls enjoy collecting rocks and exploring, and they wanted to walk through the cavern section of the exhibit several times.
Wildlife Panoramas & Space Odyssey
My kids also enjoyed seeing the life-like wildlife exhibits showing taxidermied animals from different habitats. Like three-dimensional postcards from places near and far, the museum’s wildlife scenes capture moments in time, showcasing the world’s amazing animal species and the delicate ecosystems in which they live.
Our final stop gave us a glimpse into the vastness of space. We learned just how far scientists have probed out into the cosmos to measure the galaxy and how they estimate and catalog the number of stars. The museum’s Space Odyssey is also where the Planetarium is located, where you can watch 360-degree presentations about the mysteries and wonders of space. My daughter wasted no time dressing up as an astronaut and sitting in her spaceship, preparing for launch. Like the IMAX, Planetarium tickets must be purchased separately and scheduled in advance.
Our tips: If you are visiting the museum with young kids, I would recommend prioritizing the exhibits you want to see most so you don’t miss out on the highlights. The Prehistoric Journey and Gems & Minerals exhibits were the most engaging for our kids. We broke up the exhibit tours with a visit to the Discovery Zone so our children enjoyed a break and got a chance to play, and we stopped for lunch at the museum’s cafe towards the end of our visit and bought the kids soft pretzels.
Children’s Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus
A trip to a children’s museum is an easy destination for a memorable family day. Our kids spent a fun-filled afternoon at the Children’s Museum of Denver climbing, role-playing and exploring! We talked to some of the local parents who said they often bring their kids and stay all day. The activities were perfect for our kids, who were ages 6, 4 and 3 at the time of our visit.
Box Canyon Climbing Structure
My toddlers especially enjoyed exploring the wooden climbing structure, which you see shortly after entering the museum. This “Box Canyon” activity is especially fun for young kids who love to climb and crawl through tunnels. The wooden play area includes a combination of steps and tunnels, designed for kids ages 1 to 4.
Prep Kitchen and Farmer’s Market
The play kitchen area was one of my daughter Kiera’s favorite interactive spaces. She had access to lots of kitchen utensils, pretend food, pots, pans and kitchen essentials. Kiera had a blast taking orders and serving up pretend entrees and appetizers. Play spaces like this kitchen often inspire kids’ imaginations.
Next to the play kitchen, kids can shop at the pretend farmer’s market or sell produce to customers. The labeled bins of food were filled with pretend fruits and veggies. The details of this play farmer’s market are just adorable, complete with a cows backdrop, scales for weighing food and little shopping baskets.
Fire Station & Vet Clinic
In another corner of the museum, kids can pretend to be firefighters. They can sit in the fire truck, dress up as a firefighter and slide down the fire pole. My kids also loved cuddling with the stuffed Dalmatian lounging on a firefighter’s cot. In the next room, my daughter explored all the tools and tried on a uniform at the vet clinic. Trays of important veterinarian tools are ready for kids to examine stuffed animals, while holding a clipboard and wearing a smock.
Recycle Assembly Plant
Of course, my kids always love hands-on projects. They found no shortage of tools, materials and simple project instructions at the Recycle Assembly Plant. Kids can practice hammering nails into wood and making simple contraptions. It’s important for kids who are hard at work to wear safety glasses and learn how to carefully use the tools. Because kids are using real tools, we helped our kids successfully use this area of the museum and gave them a few tips. Kiera and Sylvie got to try some new things in the workshop and they had a lot of fun!
Bubbles, Lights & Water Play
In other areas of the museum, kids can play with bubbles and create designs with light. The Big Bubble machine automatically creates huge bubbles using air and a massive bubble wand. Kiera really enjoyed moving oversized Lite-Brite pegs to create designs on an interactive light wall, and 3-year-old Joshua especially liked playing at the water table area and experimenting with mechanical water power. The Children’s Museum of Denver has some great activities for teaching kids about science through play!
Big bubble machine and interactive light peg wall at the Denver children’s museum
Since our visit, the museum has also opened Joy Park, a huge outdoor adventure area with climbing features and slides — one more reason we’d love to go back!
Downtown Aquarium
One day of our Denver trip, we explored the Downtown Aquarium — conveniently located right across from the Children’s Museum. The minute you step inside, you can’t wait to see more: the creatively designed escalator looks like a giant fish which swallows you up as you head to the main floor! Our kids enjoyed seeing the colorful aquatic exhibits, touching stingrays, and watching the live Mystic Mermaid show during lunch at the Aquarium Restaurant.
Colorful Marine Exhibits & the Stingray Touch Pool
The Denver Aquarium introduced us to a wide variety of ocean creatures up close. A large starfish suctioned to the glass of one exhibit allowed us to see amazing details like its mouth and hundreds of little feelers. A bunch of stingrays swimming around the touch pool offered a unique hands-on experience — the aquarium guide instructed our kids to gently touch with two fingers. The backs of the stingrays felt slippery and slimy! My girls thought it was so cool to be able to touch the stingrays and be splashed by their flapping fins.
Sharks & Rays Up Close
Kids can glimpse the magnitude of the ocean through the aquarium’s large panoramic displays. My little guy watched sharks swimming by just inches behind a large wall of glass. The shark tank held a variety of species including Sand Tiger sharks, Sandbar sharks, Zebra sharks, Blacktip sharks and Bamboo sharks.
Lunch with Mermaids at the Aquarium Restaurant
After our initial walk through, we stopped for our lunch reservations at the Aquarium Restaurant. Our kids enjoyed views of huge stingrays swimming in the 50,000-gallon centerpiece aquarium right next to our table. During lunch, my kids were thrilled to see the Mystic Mermaids show. We watched two actors dressed like mermaids swim with the sea life, performing choreographed flips and twirls to “Under the Sea” — and blowing trails of bubbles in the shape of a heart! We even got to meet the mermaids afterward for a photo.
The Mystic Mermaids show is the highlight of a visit to the Denver Aquarium, especially for little kids who love mermaids. The shows happen several times a day, so it’s worth planning your aquarium visit around the show times!
Tigers & Otters
To our surprise, we discovered some extra exhibits at the Denver Aquarium. Our kids loved watching the tigers prowl around the Rainforest Exhibit. One of the tigers swam right up to the glass window, which was awesome and somewhat unnerving — the tiger’s massive size emphasized the fact that we were separated by just inches of glass! The otters were a playful group, flipping and swimming around their pool.
We were able to see all the exhibits in about 2 and a half hours. You could spend longer reading all the signs and descriptions that share additional details about each creature and exhibit.
Butterfly Pavilion (Westminster)
If your family is headed to Denver, you won’t want to miss the Butterfly Pavilion — located in Westminster, about 20 minutes north of downtown Denver. This butterfly habitat is a great family destination year round, and it would be an especially great pick for a rainy or snowy day.
Meet Rosie the Tarantula
The first thing we saw was the Survival exhibit. We had the chance to examine scorpions behind the glass, see some beetles, and my daughter held Rosie the tarantula! My daughter said the tarantula tickled her hand. We also enjoyed the “Finding Nemo” Open Ocean exhibit, complete with fish resembling Dory, Nemo and his dad Marlin.
Wings of the Tropics
The main exhibit, Wings of the Tropics, is a 7,200 square-foot tropical rainforest that’s home to countless butterflies and 200+ plant species from around the world. My kids had fun following the pathways and discovering butterflies hidden among the plants and flowers — it’s a kid-friendly place to explore and play a game of I-Spy. Kids will enjoy seeing butterflies sipping on orange slices and watching large and small butterflies flutter through the tropical foliage.
The Butterfly Pavilion releases newly emerged butterflies into the rainforest sanctuary each day, and we had the chance to see the daily butterfly release of 10 to 12 brand new butterflies!
Butterfly Facts We Learned
If you see a butterfly out in nature, don’t touch it! Trying to handle a butterfly can take days off its already short life. This is just one of the facts we learned at the Butterfly Pavilion. Many butterflies live for about one month, and the smallest butterflies you may see in your yard often only live for one week — Monarchs are one of the few species that average nine months. We also learned about the most common butterfly type, the brush-footed butterfly, which includes more than 6,000 species and drinks nectar using a long built-in straw.
The Pavilion offers many things to discover in addition to butterflies — we even spotted a family of turtles lounging on some rocks. This habitat receives butterflies from tropical farms, so the variety of species changes throughout the year. You never know which butterflies you’ll see during your next visit!
Denver Zoo
Finally, if you visit Denver with your family, a trip to the Denver Zoo is always memorable. The Denver Zoo is home to a lively assortment of animals including giraffes, hippos, elephants, lions, zebras, komodo dragons and flamingos. Visiting the zoo expands kids’ understanding of the natural world beyond what they encounter in everyday life. The zoo made our list of places to visit next time we’re in Denver — we can’t wait to go back!
Tips for Visiting Denver with Kids
- Pair up the Children’s Museum and the Aquarium. They’re located right across from each other, so you can do one in the morning and one after lunch.
- Book shows in advance. IMAX and Planetarium tickets at the Museum of Nature & Science are separate purchases, and the Aquarium Restaurant takes lunch reservations — plan around the Mystic Mermaids show times.
- Winter is a great time to visit. All of these attractions are indoors (the Butterfly Pavilion is a literal tropical rainforest!), making Denver a surprisingly good cold-weather family destination.
- Pace young kids. We found half-day visits with a lunch stop worked best for our crew — prioritize each attraction’s highlights rather than trying to see everything.
- Watch for altitude effects. Denver sits at 5,280 feet — keep kids drinking extra water, especially the first day or two.
Denver with Kids FAQ
What are the best things to do in Denver with kids? Our family’s favorites were the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (dinosaurs, gems and the hands-on Discovery Zone), the Children’s Museum of Denver, the Downtown Aquarium with its Mystic Mermaids show, and the Butterfly Pavilion’s walk-through tropical rainforest.
Is the Downtown Aquarium in Denver worth it? We think so! Plan about 2–3 hours. The stingray touch pool, shark tank, tigers and the mermaid show during lunch at the Aquarium Restaurant made it one of our kids’ favorite Denver stops.
Is the Butterfly Pavilion in Denver? The Butterfly Pavilion is actually in Westminster, about 20 minutes north of downtown Denver — an easy add-on to a Denver family trip and a perfect indoor activity in any weather.
How long do you need at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science? You could easily spend 6 to 8 hours. With young kids, we recommend a half day: pick your top exhibits, add one IMAX or Planetarium show, and break up the visit with playtime in the Discovery Zone.
What can toddlers do in Denver? The Children’s Museum of Denver is toddler heaven — the Box Canyon climbing structure is designed for ages 1–4. The Discovery Zone at the Museum of Nature & Science and the Butterfly Pavilion also work great for very young kids.
Hi, I’m Katie! I’m a homeschool mom who’s traveling the world with my husband and 4 kids. We raised our family in North Idaho and currently live in Mérida, Mexico. I love Jesus, coffee, creative projects, photography, and traveling. I hope you enjoy our creative ideas and family adventures!
